Govt Passes ‘Warrant Of Fitness’ – But Fails On Industry Training

Progress on roads of national significance, immigration, and clean car standards has earned the Government a pass in their annual ‘Warrant of Fitness’ check, the Motor Trade Association (MTA) says.

The Government also earns passes for action to ease the driver licence testing backlog and increasing fees for tow truck operators.

MTA Chief Executive Lee Marshall says the Government has moved quickly and positively in some key areas affecting the automotive and transport sectors in its first year.

“Much of the policy change that MTA called for before the election has been actioned,” Mr Marshall says.

“The Government promised to roll up its sleeves and address a number of key areas, and deserves credit for doing so.”

But while the overall rating is a pass, the Government gets fail ratings for the prolonged indecision on industry training following the disestablishment of Te Pūkenga, a lack of action on a Warrant of Fitness review, and silence on red tape affecting the sector.

“It’s frankly ridiculous that we still have to give Government a fail for the complete lack of direction in the post-Te Pūkenga world,” Mr Marshall says.

“They’ve now had more than a year – given it was an early pre-election policy for National – to come up with a new model to attract and train people, and address the labour shortage affecting many automotive businesses.

“And they’ve had plenty of advice from MTA and industry on what training should look like – for industry, by industry – and still the speed of progress would give glaciers a bad name.”

The Government Warrant of Fitness is a creative format for a serious rating of the Government’s performance.

In the first edition six months ago, the Government was deemed roadworthy but with fails for crime, immigration and industry training.

Despite steps to address sentencing and introducing community beat patrols, action on crime remains a fail, as service stations remain one of the most vulnerable targets for criminals.

“Good on the Government for tackling the retail crime with a range of measures – what we’d like to see next is action to specifically protect service stations, which are the victims of violent crime at least twice a week on average,” Mr Marshall says.

“Overall though, we are pleased the Government has engaged with and listened to industry and we look forward to working with them to drive more positive change next year.”

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