The core purpose of regulatory services at Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is to improve safety and reduce harm for everyone using the land transport system.
We have set a goal of becoming a best-practice regulator and will work relentlessly to get there.
While we have a lot more to do, we’ve come a long way since the systemic regulatory compliance issues came to the fore 12 months ago.
We’ve returned to first principles and are focused on our core safety purpose as regulators.
We’re realigning our regulatory functions to deliver on four safety pillars – safer vehicles, safer drivers, safer commercial transport and safer rail – so everyone using the land transport system can have safer journeys.
We’ve strengthened our risk management and enforcement approach.
New decision-making processes and a better file management tool have been introduced to keep track of non-compliance cases.
We’ve also dealt with the backlog of 850 open compliance files identified last October.
Within six months the backlog was gone, and we had taken more than 400 enforcement actions against service providers, drivers and transport service operators who had failed to meet required standards.
Our focus on regulatory compliance is now embedded at every level of the organisation.
In January, a new regulatory services group was formed that brought together all the teams responsible for regulatory compliance at Waka Kotahi.
I joined as general manager of the group in April, to be a catalyst for change and continuous improvement.
In September the Minister for Transport announced the appointment of Catherine Taylor to the Waka Kotahi board.
Catherine brings deep regulatory expertise, including knowledge of regulatory roles and experience being a regulator.
Under my leadership, and with the full support of interim chief executive Mark Ratcliffe and the Waka Kotahi board, we are in the process of significantly increasing our internal capability and resourcing.
We’re recruiting for up to 100 positions across our regulatory services group over the next 18 months.
Our front-line people work incredibly hard to improve safety on the land transport system.
Being a firm and fair regulator means setting rules that are clear to you and applied consistently by us.
It also gives us a responsibility to design systems that provide end-to-end support.
We’ll use data, evidence and insights to quickly detect non-compliance and we’ll deal with non-compliance in a firm and fair way.
Our job is to make it easy for the majority who comply with the rules and to take action against the minority who don’t.
In summary, one year on from the regulatory compliance failures coming to the fore, we know where we need to get to and we’re on our way to getting there.
We acknowledge there is more work to do – addressing systemic issues takes time, investment and commitment.
Turning around a regulator also requires collaboration with other government agencies and industry – we can’t do this alone.
We work closely with our minister, the Ministry of Transport, WorkSafe and the NZ Police on setting our regulatory environment.
We are also committed to developing a deep understanding of the sectors we regulate.
We’re actively listening to regulated parties and asking for more detail about the core issues they face.
We’re identifying opportunities to work together to ensure our approach to regulatory compliance is firm and fair.
We’re building on the strong relationships that are already in place and working on improving relationships that need to be strengthened.
When we work with bodies that represent the collective voice of individuals and organisations within the sector, we can achieve more, faster.
Not all sectors are organised in this way, so we’re putting effort into one-to-one relationships where we need to.
Again, we’ve made progress in this space and we’ve still got some way to go.
So how does us being a firm and fair regulator affect you? As I said, our job is to make it easy for the majority who comply with the rules and to act against the minority who don’t.
If you pay your road user charges (RUC) on time, your vehicles are regularly serviced and they meet all requirements when inspected for a certificate of fitness (CoF) or at a roadside check, you have nothing to be concerned about.
If your drivers are fit and proper, and they fulfil the obligations of their operating licence, the same principle applies.
But in instances of non-compliance, we will take action in our role as a firm and fair regulator.
Improving safety and reducing harm for everyone using the land transport system is our purpose.
