Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I want to acknowledge the member for Barker for bringing forward this motion to the House this evening. I am also calling on the government to rule out the proposed increase in the heavy-vehicle road user charge because, if it goes ahead, the tax increase would affect nearly every owner-operator and transport business right around not just my south-west but the whole of Australia. It will push up the cost of living even further for families, increase the cost of doing business and increase the risk to our transport and logistics operators. For those who may not be aware, my father was a pioneer of transport, cartage and earthmoving in the south-west, and my broader family is still deeply involved with the transport sector, so it's something that I have a lot of interest in and a direct passion for.

When we consider that there are 60,000 small and family owned businesses already operating on really tight margins, with, as we've heard previously, the average transport business having five trucks and being a small business, we know that they cannot pass on the increased costs from a 10 per cent annual increase. This is not about safe rates, as one of the operators that sent me an email said. He said the government is overlooking the impact that this will have on remote areas, where quite often—and this is something that not everybody understands—the value of the transport is more than the value of the product. That may be fruit and vegetables going into remote areas and stores, where, otherwise, communities would be seriously disadvantaged. That's often overlooked, and I think it has been overlooked by this government in looking at this particular issue. When you look at Wyndham, for instance, freight forwarders are simply not sending food that is not of a high profit margin for them, so we end up with, basically, fruit and vegetables disadvantaged to the chicken and chips on each load. That is no good for individuals. I had another email, and this was from a small operator:

We are in the transport business and I know if that you put this $.10 levy on the tax Fuel a lot of small businesses like mine and multiple others will not be able to cope with another Tax I think we pay enough tax already by our registrations and insurances and multiple other things that we have to pay out we are finding it already hard enough to deliver the goods around Australia especially around W.A. You will find that if this $.10 goes on there will be a lot of companies that will not be able to survive this which will up the cost of everybody else getting things delivered …

That really says it all.

I just want people who are listening and maybe watching to think about, for instance, your breakfast. If you're having cereal, the fertiliser and grain comes on the back of a truck. The grain is carted from the farm to the processor on the back of a truck. Then it is the same when it goes to go a small manufacturer, a supermarket or a distribution centre: it goes on a truck. To produce the milk that goes on your cereal, my farm operates with fertiliser, feed and cattle carted by a truck. The milk goes in a refrigerated truck to the processor and then on to the supermarket once it has been manufactured. That's only breakfast, and that's just cereal.

Before I finish, to every truck driver that is out there: just know there are a lot of us in this place who are as passionate as you are about this industry and really respect and value what you do, day and night. I know very well about the long-distance truck drivers, the drivers of B-doubles and road trains. The work you do is extraordinary. My dad always said there were two types of truck drivers: drivers and operators. He said, 'A driver will hang onto the wheel, and an operator will care about the machine, the truck, and look after it so that, when it comes back, it's in mint condition, as much as they can manage.' So, to all of the operators out there, I say thank you very much. I'm well and truly on your side. I respect what you do. I know that my colleagues on this side of the House who've had a lot of experience in this space respect that as well. I also want to really thank the very small operators, the small businesses—some of our livestock transporters and others—who often find it very difficult to operate in very remote communities, but they keep doing the work we need them to do to keep Australia moving. I thank them very much for their efforts.

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