In April, the government released its Quarter 2 Action Plan for New Zealand, which listed 38 points that it expected to achieve by the end of June. (The full plan can be found on the Beehive website.) While many of these dreams will affect most of us, two have direct relevance: No.9, “Begin public consultation on changes to the Driver Licensing System”, and No.10, “Take Cabinet decisions on the fleetwide transition to Road User Charges”.

Consultation on number No.9 closed on 9 June. I was hoping to see the emergence of the proposals that were consulted on back in 2019 that reached the draft Driver Licensing Rule stage before they got lost somewhere, with only two of these non-controversial proposals from the draft rule finding their way into the current proposal – reduced eyesight testing and enhanced requirements for course providers.

Other proposals in the draft rule had good potential outcomes for our industry as they focused on licence classes 2, 3, 4 and 5 and occupational endorsements. I did ask the Ministry of Transport why these were not included in the current proposals and was told that at this time, there are no plans to revisit the 2019 amendments further.

Item No.10 in the action plan, road user charges, has been signalled for some time and will remove tax paid on fuel at the pump with all road users paying RUC. While we have not seen the detailed proposals, let us hope they also require mandatory use of electronic RUC payment systems; the technology is proven, so surely it is time to ditch the old-fashioned printed label system?

I RECENTLY finished a book by Michael Bassett, The Mother of all Departments. Published in 1997, it traces the history of the Department of Internal Affairs from its beginning in 1840 to when the book was written. Originally named the Colonial Secretary’s Office, it was called the “Mother of all Departments” because of its very broad and wide-ranging responsibilities, including public works, health, justice, social welfare and many more. It was interesting to read that not long after its inception, concern was raised about the growing size of the public service. The book describes the many attempts to rein this in over the years, but looking around at what we have today, what’s changed?

RECENTLY, I read that the Public Service Association (PSA) and the government are now heading to mediation over allowing people to work from home. The minister, Judith Collins, is quoted as saying that she “did not have a problem with people working from home as long as they have an agreement with their manager, also saying that it (working from home) is not a right, it is something that is negotiated”. This made me wonder if we are not heading back towards the days, and the ensuing divides this brought, of white- and blue-collar workers. Can somebody please explain how truck drivers, firefighters or surgeons and a myriad of other essential occupations can work from home?

IN MY LAST column, I briefly discussed productivity and the need for systems to measure this. One way to do this, I thought, would be to measure the volume (weight) of freight moved by road in New Zealand. Simple, I thought, ask the Ministry of Transport. So, I did, and was surprised to be told that the most recent data it has on road freight volume was collected in 2017/18. From my recollections, the world has turned upside down since then, so I doubt if what was collected back then can still be considered reliable indicators.

I understand that there is growing concern about the number of clowns available for circuses and the like; it appears that many of them are now becoming politicians – the pay is better!

The Accidental Trucker