www.autofile.co.nz
NOVEMBER 2019
THE TRUSTED VOICE OF THE AUTO INDUSTRY FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS
Agency has failed in regulatory role Investigation flags senior management and past boards for not enforcing standards as Beehive pledges action
T
he NZTA will recruit up to 100 staff to work across its regulatory services group over the next 18 months as part of a package of measures likely to cost upwards of $45 million. The announcement comes as the agency says work is “well under way” to tackle shortcomings uncovered during an investigation of its operations by MartinJenkins, which consults across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. The independent review was ordered by the Ministry of Transport (MoT) after the NZTA’s board of directors raised concerns in October 2018 that its regulatory function wasn’t performing as it should. MartinJenkins’ report is a damning indictment of what many experts in the automotive industry have feared for years – and that’s the NZTA has failed in enforcing compliance. It reveals the agency has put businesses ahead of safety for most of its 11-year history, creating a regulatory regime that may have
cash injection
$45m FROM 2019/21 $30m for regulatory + $15m for recertification
led to a motorist’s death and endangered the lives of thousands of people. It adds frontline staff in vehicle safety have felt neglected and afraid to speak out for fear of
being restructured out the door. The report acknowledges that commercial businesses seek to make a profit while issuing permissions on the NZTA’s behalf, but adds, “this is a privilege… the agency’s role is to audit reliability, remedy shortcomings and, when necessary, revoke permissions in the interests of the public”. The agency’s access and use group, which the motor-vehicle industry is also involved with, has come in for some serious flak with staff competency at a senior level from 2012 onwards being “primarily in customer service and operations, and not regulatory management or practice”. Many problems entered the public domain when concerns surfaced around the NZTA’s regime that allowed its service providers, such as some warrant of fitness (WOF) issuers, to neglect safety. For example, Dargaville Diesel Specialists (DDS) was permitted to continue issuing warrants despite the agency being repeatedly
Specialised training that’s proven to increase profits
Farewell to John Nicholls
p 8 p 16
Going green at Frankfurt p 21
Commission targets dealers’ practices
Finance awards at conference
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GLOBAL VEHICLE LOGISTICS NZ - JAPAN - AUSTRALIA - UK - EUROPE
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