Wilson Tuckey (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Defence (Road Transport Legislation Exemption) Bill 2005 is important legislation inasmuch as it will set some exemptions. Primarily, it attempts to harmonise heavy haulage transport circumstances for our defence department and highlights the issue of this government being obliged to come forward and make laws so that our defence forces can operate in a timely and proper maner.

It is a matter that has concerned me for many years. I suffered some embarrassment in this place in complaining to one state transport minister about the differentiation that existed in his state and the state of Western Australia just on simple laws relating to the operation of a truck. I am interested to see that the government has decided to ensure that at least our defence forces have some consistency in the way they might operate and, more particularly, are exempt from certain requirements that, of themselves, are quite reasonable. If you have a series of tanks to transport around the place you cannot take the wheels off to make sure they meet the axle-loading requirements of various states. Configurations have always been an outstanding issue in this regard.

The National Transport Commission gets a mention. It has been another attempt that has failed in these serious issues. It seems much more intent on putting up licence fees and adding to the cost of the road transport industry than it is on addressing other matters that are of importance. It is important, notwithstanding that this particular legislation looks at the national arrangements for road activities, that rail is going to be a significant aspect from time to time for the activities of the defence forces, more particularly now that there is a connection between the major network and Darwin. Darwin is now, quite properly, one of the major areas where the defence forces are located. It will add to their capacity to move their equipment around the place, but they of course cannot operate to the schedules of a rail system and road transport is of extreme importance.

Road transport, as I said, is a vexing factor in my state of Western Australia. Through the efforts of previous governments you can now drive a double transport rig, a B-double, even a two-bottom road train, around the metropolitan area of Perth. Certain parties reckoned at the time that the end of the world would come tomorrow and that pedestrians would get run over and squeezed on a very regular basis. That has been operating now for some time and the simple fact is that none of those things have happened. It is interesting to note that, be it the defence forces or others, if you are able on rural roads and regional roads of a reasonable quality to move a three-trailer rig, you can do so economically at 80 kilometres an hour. Of course, trucks can be engine regulated—in other words, they cannot be driven over a given speed which is 100 kilometres. There is a good question as to whether a three-trailer unit operating at 80 kilometres is a better safety situation than a two-trailer unit or a single-trailer unit doing 100 kilometres.

All roads end up with motorists on them and I find it amazing, I might add, in this circumstance that we often hear that the road transport industry gets preferential treatment over rail because it seems to have roads everywhere. The roads are built for motorists; it is a coincidence that the trucks operate on them and, of course, they are highly competitive with rail. Mr Deputy Speaker Wilkie, I am interested, and I am sure you would be yourself, to discover announcements yesterday that Queensland Rail, a government institution, has purchased the private sector interests in the Australian Railroad Group, and the Australian Railroad Group will consequently have a responsibility associated with these defence arrangements. The Australian Railroad Group was a private sector business that purchased the railway assets particularly in Western Australia, I think under the efforts of the Court government, and the outcome is that they have now been purchased by Queensland Rail. This seems in many respects to be quite a proactive problem.

I read with some interest in the Australian yesterday that the Western Australian Minister for Planning and Infrastructure, Alannah MacTiernan, said she could see some positives in the sale but would examine the transaction in detail. She said it was ironic that the Queensland government might now be running the Western Australian railroad after the state government privatised it in 2000. I would think that is a fairly diffident response to this new investment, which also includes Babcock and Brown, a major investment bank, retaining the infrastructure. In other words, Queensland Rail has bought the rolling stock and intends to manage the business and Babcock and Brown are looking at the rail lines. From a defence perspective, an upgrade of the Western Australian rail system—the tracks, the sleepers, the signalling and all those things that go with them—would be very positive. However, I am a bit concerned about this situation.

Queensland Rail were active in Western Australia on a previous occasion. They were a potential bidder for the southern passenger railway system, which eventually was won principally by Leightons. They moved out of the bidding process about halfway through, at some considerable cost. I believe over $1 million was the cost of their investment in that tendering process up until the time they left. The reason they left was that they chose the wrong partner. They were in partnership with the BGC Group, the Buckeridge group, and were told by the Western Australian government that, whilst they retained that arrangement, they would never get the contract. They got kicked out of WA, so I hope they have sorted things out with the CFMEU this time.

The CFMEU runs Queensland Rail in Queensland, so I guess they have a few friends in that regard—it is dominating the Western Australian parliament. The other day, Leightons—because they became a bit cheeky in asking for some more money on the southern railway project—were immediately demoted in terms of a major road tender that is presently around the place.

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