The organisation's aim is to "enable New Zealanders to flourish, reflecting transport’s role in shaping society, economy and environment".
[4] The Ministry also provides twice-yearly forecasts to the New Zealand Treasury on revenue accrued from petrol excise duty, road user charges and motor vehicle licensing and registration.
In addition to transport and aviation, the Ministry began to take on roles that were related to weather forecasting, managing and operating lighthouses, and traffic enforcement.
These focus areas include:[13] This follows the Ministry's previous road safety strategy, “Safer Journeys” which made some progress, but "was not implemented as intended".
[22] The state of current roading infrastructure has also been a key point of debate, with marquee Wellington motorway Transmission Gully receiving media attention in 2022 for lasting eight months before needing resurfacing.
[22] The Clean Car Initiative is a policy plan developed by the Ministry of Transport, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the country's vehicle fleet.
[25] The main goal of the initiative is to transition the country's vehicle fleet towards lower-emission options, with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and contributing to New Zealand's commitments to the Paris Agreement on climate change.
[26] By promoting the adoption of cleaner cars, the government hopes to reduce the country's dependence on fossil fuels and support the growth of a low-carbon economy.
[32] The Clean Car Standard (CSS) is another government initiative that aims to reduce CO2 emission levels by focusing on the supply of zero and low-carbon vehicles.
[33] In March 2023 the draft long-term electric vehicle charging strategy for New Zealand's Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) was released.
The objective of this plan is for electric vehicle charging infrastructure to be accessible, economical, convenient, secure, and reliable to facilitate EV adoption.
[38] However, public transport, and its systems, have required a major change in order to effectively serve the growing number of patrons.
[39] This review was conducted in order to develop a policy that would increase the use of urban bus and ferry services, while simultaneously, decreasing reliance on government funding.
[39] The Minister's decision to review the PTMA reflected the governments concern of regional councils control over bus and ferry operators and this was not encouraging for potential private investment or innovation.
[42] Harrison ultimately pleaded guilty to three charges of dishonestly taking or using a document and was sentenced to three years and seven months in prison.
[43] The case prompted a review of the Ministry's financial controls and resulted in increased scrutiny of public sector fraud in New Zealand.