Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the amendments currently before the House. This legislation is vital for road safety. It is vital for those truck drivers who carry our freight between cities and within cities. It is also vital for other road users.

I find it extraordinary, frankly, that the previous speaker said that he could not see a causal link between wage rates and conditions and safety on the road. I ask him to read National road safetyeyes on the road ahead: inquiry into national road safetya June 2004 report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Transport and Regional Services, then chaired by the member for Hinkler. This was a bipartisan issue and that committee treated it as such when the Howard government established that inquiry. I was a member of that committee in my first term of parliament.

This is an issue which has the support of not just the Transport Workers Union but significant players in the industry, including, dare I say it, the most significant trucker in this country, Lindsay Fox. This has the support of those businesses which operate in accordance with law and which operate in the interests of their workforce as well as other road users. This has the support of other road users and motoring organisations. This has the support of all those who have been impacted by road deaths involving heavy vehicles. In 2010, fatalities and injuries cost the community $2.7 billion.

Yet what we see before this parliament today is not just opposition from the 'no-alition', but filibustering of the debate and abuse of the processes of this parliament. Opposition members have got up and just tried to take up the time of this parliament.

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