It is nice to see some common sense returning to legislation around roading and cars. Over the last month or so we have seen the rescinding of the blanket speed reductions mandated by the last labour government, which seemed to be ideologically driven, rather than by any real science – the hidden agenda seemed to be to make it more and more difficult for people to drive their cars with an aim of forcing them out of them. Whilst we support targeted speed reductions (such as around schools either side of opening and closing times), blanket reductions over significant areas such as central Auckland 24/7 or on rural roads never seemed to make sense, in busy times in city centres the speed is self-regulated by the traffic but at quieter times it seemed overkill.

Now, today as I write this, the Government has announced changes to the Clean Car Standards that acknowledge the unreality of the previous standards. New Zealand has no car manufacturing industry and the bulk of vehicles we import are aligned to Australian specifications to assist the car companies in manufacturing a reasonable volume of vehicles to a common standard. The previous rules brought in restrictions on emissions much faster than Australia and many overseas markets. This would have resulted in either, specific specifications needed for a very small volume of New Zealand destined cars significantly raising prices, or more likely a significant reduction in the models available as manufacturers decided it was no longer economical to cater for the stand-alone New Zealand requirements. Now the requirements have been aligned with Australia (which recently reviewed their standards). Aimee Wiley, chief executive officer of the MIA, says: “New Zealand’s emission targets cannot outpace those of our supply markets without imposing financial burdens on consumers. This will still see the desired emissions reduction, just over a more realistic time frame for the industry with less significant effects on consumers.”