Transfund New Zealand, often simply referred to as Transfund, was a

Crown entity A Crown entity (from the Commonwealth term ''Crown'') is an organisation that forms part of New Zealand's state sector established under the Crown Entities Act 2004, a unique umbrella governance and accountability statute. The Crown Entities Act i ...

from 1996 to 2004 responsible for transport funding allocation. The organisation was headed by a chief executive who reported to a board, and the board was answerable to the

Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government agen ...

. Transfund existed for 101 months, was set up under the

Fourth National Government of New Zealand The Fourth National Government of New Zealand (also known as the Bolger–Shipley Government) was the government of New Zealand from 2 November 1990 to 27 November 1999. Following electoral reforms in the 1996 election, Jim Bolger formed a coal ...

, had two ministers under National and then three ministers under Labour, and was disestablished under the

Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand The Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand was the List of New Zealand governments, government of New Zealand from 10 December 1999 to 19 November 2008. New Zealand Labour Party, Labour Party leader Helen Clark negotiated a coalition with Jim A ...

. There were three chairpersons of the board, and two permanent plus one acting chief executive. Transfund was merged with the

Land Transport Safety Authority Land Transport New Zealand was a Crown entity in New Zealand, tasked with promoting safe and functional transport by land, and includes responsibilities such as driver and vehicle licensing. It was created on 1 December 2004 by the Land Transpor ...

and succeeded by

Land Transport New Zealand Land Transport New Zealand was a Crown entity in New Zealand, tasked with promoting safe and functional transport by land, and includes responsibilities such as driver and vehicle licensing. It was created on 1 December 2004 by the Land Transpor ...

. The outgoing board chair and chief executive were both given the respective position at Land Transport New Zealand.

Establishment

Transfund was set up in 1996 as the Crown's agency to manage the National Roads Fund. The funding of state highways had previously been the responsibility of

Transit New Zealand Transit New Zealand (Māori: Ararau Aotearoa), which existed from 1989 to 2008, was the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for operating and planning the New Zealand state highway network (10,894 km, about 12% of New Zealand's roads). It ...

, and it was desired that road funding for Transit NZ and other road controlling authorities (mainly city and district councils) became more equitable. Other functions of Transfund had come across from the

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government age ...

. Another role of Transfund was to provide state funding for public transport. The enabling legislation for Transfund was the Transit New Zealand Amendment Act 1995, which came into force on 1 July 1996. The

(LTSA) was established with the same legislation on the same day. Transfund had its head office in downtown Wellington in BP House located at 20 Customhouse Quay, which was demolished after the

2013 Seddon earthquake The 2013 Seddon earthquake measured 6.5 on the scale and was centred in New Zealand's Cook Strait, around east of the town of Seddon in Marlborough. The earthquake struck at 5:09:30 pm on Sunday 21 July 2013 (05:09 UTC) at a depth of , ...

Governance and leadership

At the head of Transfund was a chief executive officer. Governance was provided by a board. The board was answerable to the

. Michael Gross chaired the Transfund establishment board and, once the organisation was established, chaired its board. Gross was succeeded by David Stubbs as chairperson in late 2002. Early in 2014, Stubbs was promoted to be chairman of Transit New Zealand, and his deputy

Jan Wright Dame Janice Claire Wright was New Zealand's third Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. She was sworn in as Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment for a five-year term on 5 March 2007, and was reappointed for a further five ye ...

succeeded him as chairperson in February 2004. Wright was subsequently the inaugural chairperson for Transfund's successor organisation. Transfund's founding chief executive was Martin Gummer, who started in February 1997 and left in October 2002 to go to the Auckland Regional Transport Network Limited. Peter Wright was acting chief executive until Wayne Donnelly arrived in March 2003. Donnelly went to Transfund's successor organisation as their incumbent chief executive.

Disestablishment

Transport Minister

Pete Hodgson Peter Colin Hodgson (born 13 June 1950) is a former New Zealand politician of the Labour Party and Member of Parliament for Dunedin North from 1990 to 2011. Early life Hodgson was born in Whangarei, and received a Bachelor's degree in veteri ...

reorganised the land transport sector in 2004. Both Transfund and the LTSA had their policy functions transferred to the Ministry of Transport. The operational functions of both organisations were merged into a new organisation named

. The enabling legislation for this merger was the Land Transport Management Amendment Act 2004, which came into force on 1 December 2004.

References

{{Reflist New Zealand Crown entities Transport authorities in New Zealand Funding bodies of New Zealand 1996 establishments in New Zealand 2004 disestablishments in New Zealand