Extensive measures in place to manage KiwiRail director’s conflict of interests
KiwiRail’s chair questioned the extensive conflicts of a newly-appointed board member, suggesting they would test his loyalty, documents obtained by RNZ show.
Scott O’Donnell’s appointment went ahead, but with a slew of measures in place to manage any conflicts between his new role and the 10 companies he is involved in – many of them in transport.
O’Donnell is also one of the four directors of Dynes Transport Tapanui, which donated $20,000 to NZ First in July 2024.
Minister for Rail and NZ First party leader Winston Peters said the donation played no part in O’Donnell’s appointment.
Let me see if I can get this completely straight.
A Trucking Pimp for the Trucking industry, THE VERY INDUSTRY THAT IS DESTROYING YOUR ROADS YOU STUPID SLEEPY HOBBITS gets appointed to KiwiRail (after donating to Winston of course) and is in a. position to stymie everything KiwRail does to keep Trucks using our roads.
How stupid is you sleepy hobbit?
The one thing (other than the push to privatise roads and create a mass surveillance network) that I don’t ever understand about the perpetual moaning about roads and how right wing drivers seem to have a traumatic meltdown whenever they see an orange road cone, is how they never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever blame the things that creates the vast majority of the pot holes – TRUCKS!
Maintenance is the overlooked and unsexy part of funding new roads, but it’s incredibly important. And when discussing how to pay for it, it’s important to ask: what does the damage? The answer, overwhelmingly, is trucks. Approximately 80% of all road maintenance costs in New Zealand are the result of the damage caused by trucks. According to some estimates, one truck does the equivalent damage to a road of 800 to 1000 cars.
This is a spiralling problem. As rail has declined due to underfunding, freight has shifted to roads, leading to heavier trucking volumes, more road damage and higher costs to taxpayers.
…80% of the damage comes from Trucks and because the Trucking Industry has its hands around the balls of the National, ACT and NZF Parties, they are forever allowed to be blameless when it comes to the wear and tear of our roads!
Instead of properly funding rail and domestic sea shipping, we have allowed the Trucks to just buy their way onto the roads, roads they then destroy and we all end up paying more for.
Right wing drivers are not only selfish, they refuse to blame the Truckers and instead howl endlessly about bike lanes and parking.
You are so easily manipulated sleepy hobbits.
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I see the MMP distrust now. And wasn’t Richard P less a pebble in our shoe as a stone in the kidney! But what’s to be done with this grotesque growth of policy and parsimony or plentitude depending on which is favoured?
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