Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A review into the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal has been undertaken in accordance with the Road Safety Remuneration Act 2012 and is now being considered by the government. I want to make a few comments about the importance of this review to private contractors in the road transport industry across Australia and in my electorate of Swan and, of course, Deputy Speaker Price, in your electorate of Durack, which relies heavily on road transport. I also see the member for Solomon here, waving, and saying that the Northern Territory relies heavily on transport as well.

The report is likely to contain analysis of the Payments Order, which I will talk about in a minute. The Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal was created by the former Labor government, with functions relating to the road transport industry, and began to operate on 1 July 2012. It was established by the former Labor government as part of a deal with the Transport Workers Union. This rings alarm bells immediately. I know how the TWU operates in my electorate, which is the transport hub in Western Australia—it has the railheads and all the freight yards which service not only your electorate, Deputy Speaker Price, but also the eastern states—and, certainly, the way they operate is not usually in the public interest. So it is very concerning that the previous government's mode of operation was to govern by doing deals with unions like the TWU. Many of the members of the tribunal were appointed by Bill Shorten when he was the workplace relations minister, and a collection of his mates such as former TWU boss Steve Hutchins had been making decisions.

When we look at the sorts of decisions that have been made by the tribunal we can see that they have not necessarily been made in the interest of road safety, which they claim them to be. The Contractor Driver Minimum Payments Road Safety Remuneration Order 2016 is one such example. It is a payment order that imposes significant obligations on businesses that engage contractor drivers directly or contract with third parties that engage contractor drivers, or owner drivers as we know them to be. The order mandates a range of conditions that will make it difficult for private owner contractors to continue to operate in the transport industry and it drives them towards having to join a union.

I spoke with a contractor this morning. He said that it is unproductive. He said that he will have to let his subbies go, because there is just no money in the work and the jobs that he does. He said that there will be no money in their jobs for that extra payment and there will be no improvement to safety, as the unions are claiming there will be. None at all! The unions and their representatives on bodies such as this are acting in their own self-interest in trying to increase union membership. I support the review and, for that matter, I also support the building construction and registered organisations legislation that is vital in tackling union corruption and militancy that is damaging the economy in this country, particularly in my state of Western Australia. All three of these policies, including the review, were coalition election commitments. I look forward to the review being announced and what actions will be taken.