Motorsport legend Greg Murphy and Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter are set to meet again next week when the road safety advocate will host her at a practical driver training day.

Murphy said it was a big step forward to have a Government Minister willing to engage and see for herself the benefits of practical training in a controlled environment as part of preparing people to be better skilled and aware drivers.

The pair first meet in Parliament, two months ago after Murphy, who believes the New Zealand drivers licensing system is broken, called on the Minister to include practical training as part of the Government’s Road to Zero Strategy.

This time, Murphy will host Minister Genter, in Taupo (Tuesday October 1) where she will meet with learner and restricted drivers taking part in a practical skills and safety training day.

“My message is simple, we must improve how New Zealanders are driving or more people will keep dying on our roads,” Murphy said.

“When the Minister and I first met I raised serious concerns about my experience with the New Zealand Drivers Licensing system which I believe needs far more resource to provide drivers with a much better “toolbox” of skills including some specific practical training.”

Along with meeting driving instructors and the developers of the Holden Street Smart Programme, Minister Genter will have the opportunity of meeting with the young drivers going through some of practical training stations including driver distraction, emergency braking and reaction times.

Murphy said he hoped that the Minister would come away with an even greater understanding about why practical training in a controlled environment was critical to helping save lives and reduce accidents on New Zealand roads.

“Investing in safer roads and pushing for safer vehicles alone is not going to reduce the road toll or car crashes.

“At this practical training day we will have young drivers turning up in the cars they are learning to drive. The reality is few young drivers can afford a new vehicle with all the latest safety features, so we have to make sure that they are aware, prepared and know how to drive to the conditions, in their own.”

Media Statement

Ngāti Ruanui legal team under QC Richard Fowler concluded with compelling performances from lawyers Horiana Irwin-Easthorpe and Natalie Coates. Irwin-Easthorpe referred to Judge Joe Williams writings and took the court through the provisions of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) Act that include kaitiakitanga as an active interest stating the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) Decision Making Committee (DMC) carried out a lip service exercise towards Māori and Iwi interests. Lawyer Natalie Coates argued that the Iwi interests are encapsulated by the Treaty Settlements and giving affect to the Tiriti were ignored along with fishing rights in the EEZ. They argued that you cannot separate the connections between Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Tikanga and the role of Kaitiaki, which must be considered together.

The Court of Appeal Judges Panel noted the legal team arguments and how the link to the EEZ Act purpose was a powerful one.

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said, “A full range of issues have been set out over the last two days about adaptive management prohibition and what went wrong with the decision made by the EPA including not having enough information to even allow the Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) application to proceed to a decision. The Court of Appeal will need to consider many different arguments but Ngāti Ruanui is optimistic that based on the legal errors the appeal will be successful in rejecting the application as a whole”.

© Scoop Media