Shane Jones introduced Stan Semenoff as possible NZTA board member
Tuesday, 28 May 2019
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones introduced Northland trucking boss Stan Semenoff to Transport Minister Phil Twyford as a possible director of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA).
Semenoff is currently fighting moves by NZTA to have the operating licence of his company, Stan Semenoff Logging revoked.
The transport safety regulator is arguing that the top management and shareholders are not fit and proper people to run a transport company, claiming the company has systemic safety problems.
In Question Time in Parliament on Tuesday, National MP Paul Goldsmith asked whether Jones had lobbied for Semenoff to be added to the NZTA board.
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'Last June at an event in Whangarei, Minister Jones introduced me to Mr Semenoff and suggested Mr Semenoff was interested in being on the NZTA Board,' Twyford said.
'I had a brief informal chat with the NZTA chair about it and the matter wasn't taken any further or given any more consideration.'
Twyford said he could not recall when he discussed the matter with the NZTA chair.
In early August 2018, ministers were briefed on the possible action by NZTA against Semenoff.
This would have streamlined the process for Semenoff to hire migrants, without the need to advertise each position in New Zealand first.
Jones also raised the matter directly with Immigration New Zealand.
In March, Jones raised the NZTA action against Semenoff directly with the chief executive of NZTA, giving a media interview later warning about the economic implications for Northland if the company would not operate.
On April 10, Stuff asked the Transport Minister Phil Twyford's office if Stan Semenoff had been nominated for a position on the NZTA board, and if so, who by.
A spokeswoman said Semenoff was 'never nominated for a position on the NZTA board'.
Earlier in May, during a hearing on the NZTA case, video was played in the High Court in Auckland, which appeared to show Semenoff instructing a Filipino driver to falsify his logbook or his job would be at risk.
Asked if it was appropriate to have a transport operator on the NZTA board, Transport Forum chief executive Nick Leggett said board appointments were up to the minister.
'Obviously we trust the MOT and the minister to get it right.
'Any governance appointee in the public sector would be held to a pretty high standard.'
The issue of conflicts of interest involving transport operator board members arose in 2017
Then deputy chair of the Civil Aviation Authority board Peter Griffiths resigned after admitting 'an error of judgement' in passing on information about the suspension of Tauranga-based airline Sunair Aviation to Barrier Air, a company he part owned.