Dom Kalasih: Transporting NZ CEO on the Government combining ministries into the Ministry of Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport

A transport voice says there's some sense to the Government's new mega-Ministry idea. 

It wants to abolish the environment, housing and urban development, and transport ministries and introduce a new Ministry of Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport – M CERT. 

It argues these areas are undergoing reforms and right now the system's too fragmented.  

Transporting NZ's Dom Kalasih told Andrew Dickens navigating across multiple agencies can carry challenges, and sometimes "less is more".  

He says transport's one part of a larger eco-system so taking a more unified connected approach makes some sense. 

However, there’s a worry that projects that are already on the go, such as road user and congestion charges, may not be achieved as efficiently. 

Kalasih says the sector’s just started to gain momentum in these areas.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gone in other days when we're going to have separate
ministries for transport, the environment and housing, they're all going
to be merged into one mega ministry called MSERT, the
Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport. So let's talk
to Don Callacy, who is the CEO of Transporting New Zealand,
and of course the new ministry will affect his sector.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hello Don, morning Andrew.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Are you happy with this news or is it a whatever?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
I think that there is some sensibility to it. I
think navigating across different ministries and agencies can be difficult.
So sometimes having less is small and ultimately transports one
part of a larger ecosystem, and so you know, taking
a more unified, connected approach does make some sense.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Okay, Well, transport has an awful lot of work in
front of it, the transition to electronic road user charges
and congestion pricing, and there's a whole lot of technical
work as well, and now it's being merged into one
big mega ministry where they're thinking about other stuff as well.
Are you worried that that sort of work might actually
not be done as efficiently as when you had a

(01:09):
dedicated ministry of transport.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
I think there is a risk and that is something
we're worried about. We've just sort of started to get
some momentum in those areas and we don't want to
lose that. But look in terms of a mega ministry,
I had a quick look last night and from what
I can gather, bringing those three ministries together, plus you've

(01:36):
got some DIA, you're probably looking at about thirteen hundred,
maybe fourteen hundred people at the most. But if you
look at other agencies and ministries, MB's got about six
thousand people. MDTA has got about three thousand people. So
you know, big organizations like this, they're already existing and

(01:58):
they're working to various degree of success. It is what
it is, and we'll be doing everything we can to
help the new ministry.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
Good Man, good comments, and I thank you so much.
This don kelass from Transporting New Zealand. For more from
Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to news Talks.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
It'd be from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.