Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Can I just say how great it is to be in the chamber after a wonderful week away talking to the people across the electorate. And my electorate is an electorate that understands the trucking industry.

Unfortunately, for a very long time our rail has been let go. We have not spent or invested enough in rail as a country. But it does mean that we have been using trucks. And we do have the advantage of trucks. As a truck owner myself, and as someone who has a heavy combination licence, I do understand the trucking industry. I have used it to transport grain, wool and many products that we produce on our farm to the market. Across our electorate, we produce $5.3 billion worth of exportable commodities. That is quite a large amount of stuff.

But the thing that is driving safety is not so much the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal; it is improving roads. That is really what our focus should be. I do not have a problem per se with this attempt to move a motion in the House, except that we have conducted a review and the appropriate way to do governance is to look at things thoroughly. Information creates good policy, and when we want to grandstand on an issue, such as moving a motion like this before the results of that review have been released, you get the feeling that we are not actually allowing good information to create good policy.

Our trucking industry is important. But what is also very important is our that our trucking industry is profitable. People get good wages when the business is profitable. And when you have profitable businesses they also invest significantly in newer trucks: those trucks have better braking capacity, they have airbags on their trailers and they have the capacity to be safer. My great concern with this motion is that it is attempting to hold up something, such as the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal, which may be under the guise of a pay discussion rather than the guise of the safety discussion. Let us have our review, let us have our findings and let us then make a decision.

The review involves assessment of the regulatory and economic burden of the road safety remuneration system on participants in the road transport industry and the Australian economy generally. It is an examination of whether other Commonwealth, state and territory regulations and initiatives provide a more appropriate means of improving safety outcomes in the road transport industry; it is an examination of any available evidence about the impacts of the road safety remuneration system on improving road safety; it is an assessment of the operation and conduct of the tribunal and the extent to which it has achieved its aims and objectives; and it is a consultation with the relevant stakeholders as necessary.

The Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal has been running for a little bit of time, and so it is appropriate that we see the findings of that review. And seeing those findings will ultimately create a good outcome. The previous speaker mentioned the 'deadly cocktails to stay awake'. Can I tell you, Mr Deputy Speaker Broadbent, that the laws around drugs, or even having any drug in the cabin of a truck, are very strict. We are not removing 'deadly cocktails to stay awake' by paying truck drivers more as a result of the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal; we are actually removing those drugs by very strong laws and very strong policing. That has been something that our truck drivers have been very involved with, and taken great ownership of.

In fact, mass management is something that our trucking industry and our small businesses have welcomed. It is the ability for a trucking business, provided that they do good record keeping and have really good maintenance, to be able to carry a little bit more on our roads. Things like that have really reaped great benefits, and they are the sorts of things we should be looking at.

As I come to my conclusion, can I say that our government is very committed to safe roads. I think everyone in this House is committed to safe roads. As a CFA member, I have spent all night holding onto a fire hose from a fire truck at fatalities. I do know how traumatic it is for the family involved. But the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal is having a review. We should let the review run its course, and then we will have the findings of the review before we have a debate about trying to say how good it is before the review has had a chance to hand down its findings.

Debate adjourned.

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