Australian trucking industry releases key election issues

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Big Rigs  /  June 7, 2016

The Australian Trucking Association has today released fact sheets on the trucking industry’s key issues for the 2016 election campaign: the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal, the need for practical measures to improve road safety, and supporting stronger trucking businesses.

The ATA is the peak body representing the trucking industry. Its members include state and sector trucking associations, major logistics companies and businesses with leading expertise in truck technology. The ATA represents many thousands of trucking businesses, ranging from owner-drivers to large fleets.

The Chief Executive of the ATA, Chris Melham, renewed his call for political parties and candidates to confirm they would not re-establish the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal or any similar price-fixing mechanism.

"Small trucking businesses subject to the RSRT’s price-fixing order found that it was inflexible and increased costs by 20-30 per cent. This made them uncompetitive," Mr Melham said.

"The tribunal also imposed an enormous paperwork burden on businesses. One independent report estimated the total compliance cost to the industry at $56 million a year for each of the tribunal’s two orders – $2,000 per year for each affected business."

Mr Melham urged political parties and candidates to support practical measures that would genuinely improve road safety.

"Earlier in the election campaign, the ATA released authoritative new figures showing that the rate of fatal articulated truck crashes fell 80 per cent between 1982 and 2015," he said.

"But even one accident is too many. The next government must press on with measures to improve safety, including intelligence led, targeted enforcement to deal with the small minority of businesses that ignore the law.

"We also want to see the next government mandate truck and trailer stability control technology from 2019 for new model trucks and trailers and from 2020 for new trucks and trailers, with appropriate exemptions.

"Many fatal accidents involving trucks are due to other vehicles. We are calling for a share of the $15.6 million allocated to the NHVR from the abolition of the RSRT to go to an information campaign for car drivers about how to share the road safely with trucks. The campaign should run nationally, including in Western Australia and the Northern Territory."

Mr Melham said the next government must also support stronger trucking businesses.

"The trucking industry consists almost entirely of small businesses. They face important financial and business challenges," he said.

"The ATA is calling on political parties and candidates to announce they would, if elected, agree to work with the industry on the development of a mandatory code under the Competition and Consumer Act. The code would cover payment terms for small trucking businesses and related issues, including a ban on unfair set offs and pay when paid arrangements," he said.

"The National Transport Commission has concluded that truck and bus operators will be overtaxed by more than half a billion dollars over the next two years.

"Australia’s transport ministers agreed to freeze revenue from truck and bus registration charges and the road user charge on fuel to prevent the overcharging becoming worse.

"The next government should reduce the road user charge to 25.3 cents per litre in 2017-18, following the Coalition Government’s decision to reduce it for 2016-17. This further reduction is needed to deliver the commitment to freeze revenue from the charge.

"The next government must also start work on establishing an independent economic regulator for road charges and regulated service delivery standards for roads, to take effect once the revenue freeze ends in 2017-18. The overtaxing must end; the industry must get the roads it pays for," he said.

Later in the election campaign, the ATA will issue state-by-state report cards about how the parties and candidates compare.