Commercial Influences on Healthy Transport: Interest Group Engagement With Transport Ministers in Aotearoa/New Zealand 2017–2022

Abstract

Objective: Transport is a major determinant of population and planetary health, causing significant and ongoing harm. The scale and pace of policy action to create a healthy, low-carbon transport system is inadequate. Using a commercial determinants of health framework may offer a useful approach to understand the lack of action to reduce this harm. Methods: We examined the diaries of the Aotearoa New Zealand ministers of transport for 5 years to look at the interest groups they met with. Interest groups (IGs) were classified firstly into commercial, non-commercial or iwi/hapū (the Crown's Indigenous treaty partners) and, secondly, by the focus of the group. Findings: Over the 5-year period, there were five ministers and associate ministers who encountered 974 transport-related IGs during 880 meetings. Most of these IGs (74%) were commercial (18% business associations and 56% firms). Health and safety organisations represented 3.6% of total encounters (health alone was 0.7%). The most common IG focus was air travel. Conclusions and Implications for Health Promotion: Commercial IGs were heterogeneous, but they had opportunities to influence ministers of transport at three times the rate of non-commercial IGs. Efforts are needed to understand the absence of health IGs in these meetings and to increase the involvement of health in transport policy. Measures to increase transparency around corporate political activity are needed.