Taking the lead with rural contracting

By the time you read this, hundreds of rural contractors from around the country will have met in
four free regional roadshows, explains Andrew Olsen, the CEO of Rural Contractors NZ.

The Association has built good reserves over the years, aided now by an expanding partner network that supports us financially and gets the prime spots at the roadshows and conference to engage with our members. It’s an absolute win-win.

Speaking of wins, Rural Contractors NZ has had a few of late.

Some of the credit for that goes to the current Government. When we knock on the Beehive door, we tend to get a quick response more often than not. Even if there is no immediate fix, there’s mostly a commitment to try and sort out the issues that make it harder for rural contractors to continue doing what they do to keep farms and farmers viable.

For example, we approached Immigration Minister Erica Stanford upon taking office nearly 18 months ago about the difficulty our members often face in bringing in skilled seasonal machinery operators. Erica couldn’t fix it immediately, but she talked directly to us and made some interim adjustments, which have helped. We are now also en route to a policy change which will give surer footing to RCNZ members who require skilled operators from overseas.

Transport continues to be of significant interest to RCNZ. We have a seat on the Minister-endorsed Road Transport Policy Group, where we continue to debate the difference between agricultural machines and other commercial road users.

The current settings for permitting overweight agricultural machines are way too complex and riddled with red tape. The issue is now in front of the Minister for Regulation, David Seymour, who met with an RCNZ delegation within three weeks. During that meeting, there was clear agreement on the challenges facing heavy agricultural vehicle permitting. The Minister acknowledged the problem and expressed support for removing red tape and creating a national standard. He has referred the matter to his officials at the Ministry, who will begin engaging with other agencies to explore alternative permitting and/or exemption options.

 Our roadshow keynote speaker was WorkSafe. We all support a safe workplace, but members expressed a high level of anxiety when it came to a depot visit from the regulator. We pointed out that engaging with industry was now the agency’s priority, and we advocated that it work with us on the roadshows to make it clear to the business what was required to be prepared for a WorkSafe visit.

The result was a comprehensive presentation on being better prepared for a visit and maintaining a safe workplace. The presentations will be available on the RCNZ website for members.

Now, in the middle of winter, we’ve had our four roadshows, and we’re getting ready for spring. If you’re not a member and want to be part of this vibrant group of good buggers, please get in touch or apply via the RCNZ website.