Party vows to work with industry

The National Party has pledged to work with the automotive sector as it seeks to change a number of transport policy settings if it gains power after this year’s general election.

Simeon Brown, transport spokesman, says working with the industry is “critically important” to creating a cleaner fleet and making our roads safer.

His comments came in a speech as the Motor Trade Association (MTA) launched its strategic publication – Driving New Zealand Forward: Future Proofing the Automotive Industry – at parliament on May 9.

Brown, pictured, was one of a number of politicians to address representatives from across the automotive and affiliated industries during the event.

He thanked the MTA for its report, which makes a number of requests of the next government, as National looks towards the election in October. 

“It is critically important as we prepare our policies that we engage with the sector and that we listen to what your views are,” said Brown. 

“Thank you for the pragmatic views you have put forward, as Bob [Boniface, MTA president] said are grounded in reality ... Unfortunately, transport policy in New Zealand at the moment, in our view, is not grounded in reality.”

Among the transport policies in National’s sights are those around the clean car programme, with the party previously saying it will abolish the discount scheme and modify the clean car standard.

“We can’t dictate to the rest of the world what kind of cars they should be importing to New Zealand,” he added. 

“We need to work with the sector and we are committed in the National Party to doing that across a number of areas.”

On the issue of industry skills and training, Brown said the government's current settings – whether for immigration policies or the reforms around Te Pukenga, which saw the merger of the country's 16 institutes of technology and polytechnics – are not meeting the needs of New Zealand businesses.

National wants to adjust immigration settings to make them data-driven so the green list follows the job requirements “and not who’s in the minister’s office trying to shout the loudest”.

“We also want to make sure that our industry training is led by industry … and focus on putting industry back in the driving seat of industry training,” said Brown. “You'll see more from the National Party around that as we get closer to the election.” 

He echoed MTA’s call to make sure road maintenance money is spent on roads and noted building and maintaining the road network will be a priority for National at the election.

The party also wants to make sure its policies on reducing emissions are focused on the future, deliver a good charging network for New Zealand’s growing electric vehicle fleet, and ensure there is sufficient generation and renewable energy to power it.

“Finally, the National Party wants to be focused on working with New Zealanders,” Brown told guests at the launch. 

“We want to make sure our roads are better not slower, we want to make sure they're safer, we want to make sure the industry has the skills and the policy settings it needs, and, most importantly, we want to make sure we work with you, not against you. 

“That's our commitment and we look forward to engaging with you over the coming weeks as we finalise our policies.”