As I look at the raft of challenges New Zealand faces as we climb out of one of the deepest recessions seen in generations, they all pin back to years, or decades in some cases, of complacency. Too many instances of “we will worry about that later”, in an attempt to avoid facing the reality of ageing infrastructure, population, systems and regulatory frameworks.

Last year and the first quarter of 2025 have seen numerous realisation moments and subsequent difficult conversations as solutions were sought.

All aspects of the economy are impacted, and most importantly for our members, it is the freight-generating sectors of manufacturing and civil construction that appear to be hardest hit. This government is, however, making hard decisions and facing up to some of the consequences of past governments’ complacency.

Meaningful changes to the Resource Management Act 1991 are underway to reduce compliance costs and timelines. Changes to the Health and Safety Act 2015 have been signalled, returning the focus to preventing serious harm and away from tick-box perceived risk mitigation.

The growing gap between the revenue collected in the National Land Transport Fund and the fund’s demands are being addressed as part of moving away from fuel excise duties to road user charges.

Major infrastructure projects in roading, health, energy and water management are all in a fast-track process. Regulatory reform across agencies is underway with a very clear aim of reducing red tape.

National Road Carriers continues to call for an increased focus on increasing 104 New Zealand Trucking June 2025 productivity across agencies and answers to long-term workforce challenges that the ageing population, combined with a return to economic growth, will bring.

We are also looking to lock in the principle of the continuous evolution of our regulatory settings and the infrastructure, both physical (roads, etc) and systemic, so that complacency can never again take hold.  New Zealand governments, central and local, cannot be allowed to ignore the need to address the unpopular or costly in favour of kicking the can down the political road.

You can play your part by pointing out your frustrations. What is holding your business back? If it’s already on the list, we can give it another nudge, and if it needs adding to someone’s list, we will do that. Don’t let complacency win.

As transport infrastructure underinvestment is addressed, we will see increased disruption. A great example is the replacement of the Cook Strait rail linkspan at Picton. This vital piece of infrastructure has been decaying for decades but until a firm decision was made on the future of rail enabled ferries, any upgrade was potentially money wasted.

With the decision now made, the linkspan and berth need replacing with urgency if we want to avoid the risk of the new ferries not being able to dock when they arrive in 2029. You only need to look across to Tasmania to see what not aligning port infrastructure with ship builds can do.

On our roads, bridge decks need replacing or upgrading and these will require full closures. These disruptions will only receive industry support if the disruptions deliver a better network.