National road freight association Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand has expressed concerns that construction workforce shortages could disrupt the government’s ambitious infrastructure plans, including much needed roading improvements.

Recent media reporting has revealed officials advised the coalition Government that the engineering and construction workforce will have to increase by more than 50% by 2026/2017 in order to deliver their intended infrastructure programme. This follows consistent workforce warnings from officials, including in the Ministry of Transport’s November 2023 briefing to the Incoming Minister of Transport.

Dom Kalasih, Interim Chief Executive of Transporting New Zealand, says that a combination of long-term infrastructure planning, domestic workforce development, and flexible migration settings will be needed to deliver the infrastructure New Zealand desperately needs.

"If the Government doesn’t get our infrastructure planning processes, domestic training and migration settings right, their programme just won’t get delivered and New Zealand won’t get the benefit of safer, more productive and efficient transport infrastructure.

"We’ve had a series of really positive infrastructure announcements, and we’ll see more once the Fast-track Approvals bill proceeds - let’s get focused on delivery."

Kalasih said the Government had taken some positive first steps regarding infrastructure planning and providing assurance to private sector infrastructure partners.

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"The government’s establishment of the National Infrastructure Agency, and the move to a 10-year National Land Transport Programme are both highly positive developments, that will provide more certainty to commercial partners including engineering and construction firms."

Kalasih said that more clarity was required from the government on how migrant workers would be utilised to fill labour gaps.

"We’d really encourage the Government to consider how we can make our immigration settings more welcoming to the skilled migrants we need. These construction workforce shortages are being well sign-posted, let’s get the work underway now."

"Last year’s temporary pathway to residency for bus and truck drivers was really effective at addressing critical labour shortages that were disrupting the transport system. However, our sector had to wait till things hit crisis-point until we saw government intervention. We need to be looking ahead."

Kalasih says that ensuring that the Government’s vocational and tertiary education reforms provided industry led, fit-for-purpose training, with a focus on in-work study, would also be key to success in the medium to long term.

"The transport and automotive sector was clear in our recent submission on the Te Pūkenga reforms: we need vocational training to deliver graduates who are work-ready and adaptable."

About Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand

Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand is the peak national membership association representing the road freight transport industry. Our members operate urban, rural and inter- regional commercial freight transport services throughout the country.

Road is the dominant freight mode in New Zealand, transporting 92.8% of the freight task on a tonnage basis, and 75.1% on a tonne-km basis. The road freight transport industry employs over 34,000 people across more than 4,700 businesses, with an annual turnover of $6 billion.

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