Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges the vital role the Australian trucking industry plays in the transportation of goods along the supply chain;

(2) recognises that the trucking industry is an industry made up of, amongst others, almost 60,000 small and family-owned businesses, operating on tight margins;

(3) notes that that the National Transport Commission anticipates that by imposing a 10 per cent annual increase to the heavy vehicle road user charge the tax paid on fuel would increase from 27.2 cents per litre to 36.2 cents per litre by July 2025, equating an additional $1.35 billion per year by 2025-26;

(4) recognises that many heavy vehicle road users are unable to pass on the increased costs, which will impact viability of logistics business, leading to inevitable collapse over coming months;

(5) calls on the Government to rule out increasing the heavy vehicle road user charge by 10 per cent in the interests of the heavy vehicle sector.

If there's one thing that the last 11 months of the federal Labor government has shown—and what is shaping, sadly, to be the Albanese Labor legacy—it is that almost everything costs more under Labor. Fruit and vegetables are up 8.5 per cent, bread and cereals are up 12.2 per cent and dairy products are up 14.9 per cent. I'm not even going to go into the price of households' energy bills. The fact is: this Labor government is hell-bent on implementing policies whose net effect is to increase the cost of living for every Australian.

Last week I spoke about how those opposite have opened tenders for water buybacks to recover water for the environment in the Murray-Darling Basin. I spoke about how this policy would drive up the cost of fresh fruit and vegetables because less productive water available for irrigation of crops means more expensive water, and more expensive water means more expensive fruits and vegetables.

Today I'm speaking on how Labor's plans to increase truckie taxes will drive up cost-of-living pressures on local families and businesses and accelerate closures for families and small operations in the transport sector. The proposed 10 per cent—10 per cent!—annual increase to the heavy vehicle road users charge would see the tax that heavy vehicle operators pay at fuel pumps go from the current 27.2 cents per litre up to 36.2 cents per litre by 1 July 2025. The proposal also includes the state and territory governments raising the road components of heavy vehicle registration charges by up to 10 per cent per year for three years. It's a 10 per cent double whammy.

All the goods we buy get to the shops where the consumer is by travelling on the back of a truck—everything, whether it be grown locally on a farm or made in a factory. At a time of high inflation and with the cost-of-living crisis impacting families, it beggars belief that the Labor government wants to excessively increase taxes on transport, which is an essential input into everything we buy. It's a reckless proposal that will only exacerbate the reality that everything costs more under Labor. Labor wants to increase taxes on our nation's truckies to pay for road maintenance. This is despite cancelling, cutting and delaying road infrastructure projects in October's budget and failing to approve a single project under the Northern Australian Roads Program over their nine months in office.

Labor is proposing to increase the heavy vehicle road user charge on fuel and truck registration charges by up to 10 per cent. As I said, this will lift the fuel cost at the bowser from 27.2c per litre to 36c per litre. This is not the right time to be increasing road user charges, particularly heavy vehicle road user charges. Those opposite either have a tin ear or don't want to listen. Everywhere I go, the first, second and third issue of concern for people is cost-of-living pressures. If you were trying to develop a policy which inevitably would drive up the cost of everything we buy, whether it's at the supermarket, the mall, the rural store or even a fair, you would increase the road user charges, because, as I said, every good we buy got to the shop—or, if not to the shop, got to our porch—on the back of a truck and, in many cases, on successive trucks. So I implore those opposite: can you just pause for a minute and listen to your constituents, unless of course, like Senator Farrell, you're going to stand on your pins and say, 'I haven't had anyone approach me on these issues.'

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I look forward to getting into the meat of the motion in a moment, but first I must address some of the issues the member for Barker has raised. The crocodile tears from those opposite about the cost of living cannot be ignored. This is a mob that, over nine years in government, had a deliberate policy to keep wages low in this country. They were very happy to see penalty rates cut for low-income workers and shift workers, they were very happy, when the opposition leader was the health minister, to see Medicare increases, and, of course, we know they also voted in December against energy price relief. Yet they come into this place and cry these crocodile tears about the cost of living, when, for nine years, they did just about everything possible to drive up the cost of living for households and keep wages low. This government, since coming to office, has introduced cheaper medicines. That's one concrete step we've taken. We're introducing cheaper child care, which is a major issue for families, and of course we're backing higher wages. These are some of the very important things we are doing to address the cost of living. The reason for the cost-of-living increases are well known and well ventilated. The war in Ukraine has driven global inflation higher, and not just in Australia. It didn't start under our government; it started under their government. Of course it's continuing now, and we are addressing it, as we take advice on how to do that.

I stand before you today to talk about the vital role that trucking plays in the transportation of goods along the supply chain. Australians rely on trucking, and I'm proud to stand here as a supporter of the Australian trucking industry. In my home state of Tasmania, transport is the backbone of our economy. It facilitates growth in key sectors of construction, agriculture, aquaculture and exports. More than 12,000 Tasmanians are employed in transport and logistics, and I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank each and every one of them. It's worth noting that, in his latter years, shortly before his retirement, my late father was an owner-driver, an independent operator of a small flatbed truck. He did a number of jobs over his years—merchant seaman, machinist, nurse—but his last job before his retirement was as an independent flatbed truck owner-operator.

The Albanese Labor government is delivering on a $140 million heavy vehicle rest area initiative. These are being rolled out across my electorate. It's fantastic to see them going in. We are also committing to an $80 million Freight Capacity Upgrade Program which further improves freight access on Tasmania's state road network. This program will increase the freight capacity of critical and regional freight routes throughout Tasmania by strengthening or replacing various bridges and improving sections of road. The first stage includes the strengthening of 11 bridges, the replacement of two bridges and road improvements at 14 sites across Tasmania. In my electorate this includes replacing Sassafras Creek Bridge and strengthening the Wellard Bridge and the Denison Canal Bridge.

The Albanese government is committed to improving road safety and freight efficiency, and this investment will ease congested roads while also creating opportunities for Tasmanians. When I say we are committed to improving road safety and freight efficiency, that goes directly to the member for Barker's motion, because you need money to improve and maintain roads. I think the member for Barker forgets this—that trucks travel on roads, and roads need money to be maintained and upgraded. This may have escaped the notice of the member for Barker, but trucks are getting heavier and bigger, and there are more of them, and the road network needs to take account of that. That's why it's important to have the funding. It is really important, and I'm sure my good friend the member for Spence will go into this in some detail. This is a collaborative approach. The approach that the member for Barker is barking about in fact is a collaborative approach. It's not just the federal government. We are doing this in partnership with the states and territories and industry groups. This is people talking together, finding out what is the best way forward for the industry to make sure that we have the road network that we need to keep goods moving and to have a safe environment for the truck drivers, who we all have so much incredible respect for. They do incredible work, day in, day out. The Labor government will always stand with truck drivers and their families, because there is nothing more important, frankly, than making sure a truck driver comes home to their family safe and sound.

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to speak in support of the motion from the member for Barker. Like the member for Barker, I represent a significant food bowl, and it isn't just delicious apples, pears, plums and tomatoes that come from the fertile irrigated soils of the Goulburn Valley. Those early orchardists soon realised they needed to transport their goods to market, so they bought a truck. Many started carting fruit for others, and then they bought another truck and then another, and, as well as carting produce to market, they started carting goods back from the capital cities and later expanded to general freight and interstate transport. Nicholls is a real trucking area, particularly around the greater Shepparton region. The result is that, historically, around 30 per cent of all heavy vehicles registered in Victoria are based in my electorate.

That is why I have no hesitation in speaking against this proposal for up to 10 per cent annual increases in heavy vehicle charges for three years running. As soon as I heard about it, I did what you should do as a local member and I met up with transport operators and representatives from the fruit industry in my electorate. Their message to me was that this would mean that smaller players and independents would be unable to pay the proposed tax increases or pass them on, making them unviable and the industry less competitive. They said that larger transport companies would pass on the costs, and primary producers would have to absorb some of the pain, making them less profitable and viable, and costs would also be borne by the end user, the consumer, and Australians would end up paying more for the clean, healthily grown food that this nation is so renowned for producing.

Transport companies and supply chains are still recovering from the disruption of the pandemic and are dealing with higher fuel prices and operating costs. The cost-of-living pressures are hitting all Australians through more expensive grocery prices, inflated fuel costs, soaring energy costs and rising interest rates, causing mortgage stress. So at a time when Australian families are already struggling to balance their household budgets we have a government that literally wants to drive a truck through it like a proverbial wrecking ball.

Every heavy vehicle that uses Australian roads pays a vehicle registration fee. Operators also pay a road user charge on diesel and fuel. State and territory governments use the money to maintain and improve the roads for heavy vehicles. Truckies have no issue with tax, but Labor is proposing to increase these heavy vehicle road user charges on fuel and these truck registration charges by up to 10 per cent per year for three years. That would lift the fuel tax truckies pay from 27.2 cents a litre to 36.2 cents a litre by 1 July, according to the National Transport Commission, raising an additional $2.6 billion over three years.

There's no support for this huge hike. The industry groups I've talked to—farmers and truckies—are not supportive. Not one submission in response to the implementation options paper supported the 10 per cent cost-recovery model. There's another option on the table to increase charges by 18 per cent over three years. This would also have widespread negative impacts. The Australian Trucking Association submitted in response to the options paper that truck charges should be frozen for 2023-24, followed by modest annual increases of 2.7 per cent.

The former coalition government froze the heavy vehicle road user charge in 2020 in consideration of the economic impacts on the transport sector and economy from the COVID-19 pandemic and border restrictions. Common sense was applied, and common sense should apply here. That's what we do in the Nationals—bring common sense to Canberra.

Australian families are already getting the inflationary hamburger with the lot. The cost of bread and cereal is up 12.2 per cent, the cost of fruit and vegetables is up 8.5 per cent, the cost of dairy is up 14.9 per cent and the cost of meat is up 8.2 per cent, based on some terrible policies towards agriculture, quite frankly. This will just add to it. Don't add to the already high cost of living under Labor. Apply some common sense and scrap the truckie tax increases.

Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the important matter of making sure that our trucking industry across Australia is safe, is sustainable and works for all Australians. Transport workers keep our country moving. Our supply chains rely on them every day. Those workers show up and have shown up all the way through COVID. It is altogether welcome that those opposite finally recognise that the trucking industry is made up of hundreds of thousands of hardworking Australians. They want to embrace that, after 10 years of not having done so. They're just late to the party on this. It's great that they're there finally, but it has taken them 10 years, 10 years of undermining and taking advantage of this workforce and this industry. Finally you've come to the table. That's great news. We welcome you. You're a little bit late and you've stuffed up a few things along the way, but you finally got there, so that's ripping good news.

Make no mistake, those opposite, despite what they say in here, are not on the side of truckies nor logistics workers in general. They've done everything in their power to make it harder to be a truck driver in this country. They did that for the last decade while they were in government. Our roads are the workplaces of so many Australians. In my electorate of Hawke we know what it means to work in the transport industry. More than 2,300 are people employed in road freight and transport in Hawke alone. This industry has the second-highest employment rate out of any industry in our community. It's second only to health care and community services. We're surrounded by freight and logistics businesses. We're not far from the port of Melbourne and are bounded by the Western Highway, Australia's second-biggest freight corridor. This matters to my community. My community gets it.

Road transport is a major contributor to Australia's economy, delivering around $31.1 billion in the 12 months to June 2022, and it will keep growing. Our road transport workers are the backbone of our nation's supply chains. We found that during COVID. Supporting our transport industry by paying our truck drivers fairly means safer and more secure work conditions for those workers and safer roads for our community. Pressure on our nation's truck drivers has real-life consequences, and those consequences, as we know, can be disastrous. There are always improvements to be made in this sector, and I'll be on the side of the transport workers every step of the way.

The industry comes with its own set of challenges, particularly when it comes to safety. Sadly, road transport remains Australia's deadliest industry. Truck crashes are leaving families devastated and wreaking havoc across our communities. Incidents of injury, death and chronic health impacts are all too common, and, when coupled with perilous working conditions and wage theft, it's clear that this is an industry that sorely needs reform. This is all part of the push for a fairer system—one that recognises the pressures faced by transport workers and operators, and rebalances the system. The top end of the supply chain shouldn't be the only ones that reap the dividends of the hard work put in every step of the way by transport workers. Better conditions and safer rates are the basic premise of improvements that need to be made to this system, and we have a Labor government that's on your side when it comes to this, so that mums and dads come home to their kids and can provide for their families, put food on the table and keep the lights on.

The Liberals have form when it comes to undermining transport workers and our transport industry. In 2008, the National Transport Commission found that low rates of pay for truck drivers were linked to dangerous outcomes for transport workers and for the community. Following this, the Labor government established the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal, which secured minimum pay rates and lifted standards across the industry. But, as they always do, in 2016, the previous Liberal government got rid of the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal, Australia's road safety watchdog, and turned their backs on transport workers across our country. As usual, we're moving to clean up standards in the industry, with the key outcome from our recent Jobs and Skills Summit being to consider allowing the Fair Work Commission to set fair minimum standards to ensure that road transport industry is safe, sustainable and viable. So, while those opposite push for out-there changes that make things abjectly worse for transport workers that and disregard the industry when they say that they need certainty and responsible oversight, it's Labor that time and time again has to clean up their mess. Rather than throwing stones from the sidelines, we're getting on with the job of governing for all Australians. That's what responsible governments do. That's what this government must do to clean up the mess left by the previous government and back in transport workers across our country. We'll keep working collaboratively to make sure we get this right because every worker in Australia deserves a safe work place, especially our transport workers who keep our country moving.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker Sharkie, for the opportunity to contribute to this debate. Before coming to this parliament I was fortunate to have 25 years in the transport sector. I was a small business man. I owned a company by the name of CQX, or Central Queensland Express, and Toowoomba Express Couriers. I employed 105 people in the sector and I ran 14 depots around Queensland in regional and remote areas. I want to commend the member for Barker for bringing this very technical motion before the House. I fear, listening to the valued contribution from those opposite, that they may have picked up the wrong speaking points when coming into the parliament to make a contribution to what is something that will have an enormous shockwave through the transport industry. I can only assume that the member for Barker has brought this motion forward because of the collapse the other day the other day of Scott's Refrigerated Logistics, which, I believe, is in his electorate. It shows how fragile the industry is. As a former transport minister in this space, I would like to shed some light on Scott's of Mount Gambier, if you want to search it.

Honourable Member:

An honourable member interjecting—

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, but they've got depots all around the country with their refrigerated warehousing. When we get to what the member for Barker is fighting against, it's a 10 per cent annual increase. This increase just doesn't happen organically. Normally, we hold it at CPI. It's a decision that's made by each of the state transport ministers and the federal transport and infrastructure minister. During COVID we froze those numbers because the industry was on its knees. We owe a great debt of gratitude to the transport industry during COVID for getting everything that's in this place. Everything that's on our shelves, everything we wear, all our clothing and all our food arrives through the transport sector. The transport industry clip the ticket.

At the moment, the transport industry has been absorbing a CPI cost of around 2.4. I think the last time I met with the ministers was when we applied a CPI cost. This calculation that's been put forward by the department for a 10 or 11 per cent increase was done on a sliding scale, and they're applying a depreciation model of the assets of our roadways. That's fine if you're having to borrow money and you're applying that depreciation schedule across the board. But the bulk of the funding from the states is done on a fifty-fifty ratio, so my argument is that the depreciation schedule shouldn't be applied at the 11 per cent—that's the accounting side of it—because the industry cannot substantiate or handle a 10 per cent increase. Making arguments around safe rates couldn't be any further from the motion that the member for Barker has put forward. This is not about the safe rates of truck drivers who, as a nation and a parliament, we owe a great debt of gratitude to for what they do. Without them, as the slogan goes, our country would stop, and there are no truer words.

I'm sharing with the parliament that, as a former transport operator, an increase like that is not something that can be simply passed on to the sector. There is a thing called an annualised fuel levy that you can pass on. But if you're contracted—and I know, from the contracts that I had with major companies—there's no provision to actually pass that on. When you think about transport companies, please, as an Australian public, do not think that the biggest transport operators are the norm. The average transport operator in Australia has got five trucks, and they're not those big companies with the flash logos that automatically come to your mind. They're mums and dads. They're family businesses. Most of the dads are in the truck driving, and there are two or three other drivers. Mum is at home doing the bookkeeping, and, on the weekends—I tell you what—they're doing oil and grease changes. They cannot handle a 10 per cent increase.

For those on the other side, when you want to speak against this, get up close and leave your name on the microphone. If you're going to own a 10 per cent increase to the transport sector— (Time expired)

Honourable members interjecting—

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the next member, I ask that we please respect each other in this place, and can we please ensure that the member who is on their feet is heard in silence.

Dan Repacholi (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to contribute to the debate on the trucking industry. Since I was elected the member for Hunter I've been doing lots driving—a lot of driving to and from Canberra and a lot of driving all around my electorate, which spans from Muswellbrook in the north all the way to Wyee in the south. This alone has been enough for me to gain an even greater respect for our truckies, because, while I say I do a lot of driving, it's nothing compared to what those in the trucking industry do. They often drive through the day and night in large vehicles, doing hard hours and spending time away from their families.

I have no doubt that being a truck driver is a tough job. It is an industry filled with hard workers, who all make their own fair share of sacrifices to show up to work every day and provide for their families. As I drive around I see a lot of trucks of all sizes carrying all sorts of goods. Sometimes as I drive behind these trucks all around my electorate I notice a sign on the back of a truck that reads 'Without trucks Australia stops'. This could not be any truer. Trucks, and the truckies who drive them, are the reason our supermarkets have food on the shelves. They are the reason our servos have fuel in their bowsers. They are a big reason why our farmers can get their produce to market and to export and why our cattle farmers can put steak on our plates.

Road transport is a major part of our economy. In the 12 months to June 2022, the industry contributed $31.1 billion to our economy. To put it simply, truck drivers and the trucking industry are the reason we are able to move goods to all corners of the huge country that we live in and live the way that we do. For this we all owe a great deal of appreciation and a great debt to this industry and those who are in it. My electorate of Hunter knows how important the trucking industry is and so do I. There are parts of my electorate that do not even have a train station or a train line which is currently in use. The only way that these parts of my electorate—like Cessnock, which has a population nearing 60,000—can get goods that are needed by all who live there is by having them transported by trucks. Another part of my electorate, Morisset, is located smack-bang in the middle of one of the busiest transportation routes in this country. It is the perfect spot for truck drivers going between Melbourne and Brisbane to stop and have a rest before continuing their long and tiring journeys. So, yes, I understand the importance of the trucking industry, and my electorate understands the importance of the trucking industry. The government understands the importance of the trucking industry and the heavy reliance that we all have on it as a nation.

State and territory transport ministers, along with the Commonwealth, have collectively asked the National Transport Commission to undertake consultation on the next increase to the road user charge. This is not a process the Commonwealth undertakes independently. The National Transport Commission has been consulting on a range of charge options. Consultation is what responsible governments do, and I can advise those opposite that no final decision has yet been reached on this heavy-vehicle charge. Rather than whingeing from the sidelines or opposing for opposition's sake, this government will continue working collaboratively with the states and territories to deliver more certainty for the road transport sector and to ensure investment in our regional roads can continue. This is what governments must do to clean up the mess left from the previous government.

There is not a single member in the Labor Party who wants to see the trucking industry doing it tough. As I said, we understand how important this industry is and we appreciate the industry. More importantly, we support the trucking industry. We want to see them continue doing the important work that they do in order to pay their bills and support their families. I want to finish by once again saying thank you to all in the trucking industry: thank you to the truck drivers, thank you to the admin workers, thank you to the freight coordinators, thank you to the forkies—and I must thank all the families of the drivers who are waiting for their husbands and their wives to come home to their kids. This is one of the most dangerous industries we have in Australia, and I thank them for all they do. I really wish they all get home safely to their families.

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to 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.

Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion moved by the member for Barker. The member never fails to bring about a lively debate during private member's business. As we have come to know, it's all bark and no bite from him at times. Yet we can still reach across the chamber and agree on a number of things across a number of policy areas. In fact, it would be quite easy to agree with the statement in the member for Barker's motion which acknowledges the vital role the Australian trucking industry plays in the transportation of goods along the supply chain. If this was ever a surprise to anyone, the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic certainly put an end to anyone's misgivings about the importance of our trucking industry and freight more generally.

Road transport keeps Australia moving. The industry generated a whopping $31.1 billion for our economy in the 12 months prior to June 2022. It's an industry that has been growing year by year, both in what it generates for our economy and by way of tonne kilometres travelled across Australia. The member for Barker, and indeed anyone who knows me well enough, would know my background as a proud member and senior official of the Transport Workers Union. On top of that, I have had more than five years driving in the cash-in-transit industry. Whilst the road user charge is indeed ranked amongst issues faced by those in the industry, I'm sure the member for Barker would agree that there are issues such as adequate rest stops for a truck drivers, dealing with issues around fatigue. I will just correct the record. The member for Wright made a comment earlier regarding Scott's of Mount Gambier. The company that went broke just a over a week ago was Scott's Refrigerated Logistics. The reason I know that is that I've represented those workers for more than half a decade. So I know those drivers, and I know those people that are inside those facilities packing those trucks. I won't take lectures from those opposite regarding my knowledge.

As well as discussing some of those matters and trying to correct the record, I think it's worth noting that, in reference to the figure $31.1 billion which I quoted earlier, I'm aware that at the same time $33 billion was invested in our roads. I can recall the member for Barker moving a motion in this place earlier this year regarding road funding. Despite all else, he pleaded with this chamber to call on the government to spend 100 per cent of what was raised by the fuel excise on roads. However, I know that the member for Barker would have been aware that the heavy vehicle road user charge is set by state, territory and Commonwealth governments cooperatively. The charge is to assist with funding repairs and maintenance from wear and tear from heavy vehicles traversing our roads. As important a job that road transport does in our economy as part of our supply chain, the fact is that heavy vehicles' use of roads will cause a need for repairs over time, and the more funding that goes into pre-emptive repairs rather than repairing large defects to the roads makes roads safer for all road users.

Previous members spoke about this. You're 13 times more likely to die on the road as a truck driver in this country. It's an absolute travesty. We do need roads which are safe and which allow our freight to be delivered around this country in the safest possible way. The member for Barker should also know that the freeze of the charge in 2021—which was done in support of truck drivers, rather than in spite of them—had what I'd like to believe were some unintended consequences. The road user charge does not directly increase the cost of diesel in the way you'd think it would; rather it decreases the fuel tax credit a heavy vehicle user can claim. Logically, knowing this, you can see the consequences this would have on truckies who were, only moments earlier, jubilant to hear of a freeze being put in place. Ultimately, transport ministers in all levels of government and of all political persuasions have asked for an increase to be set over a number of years in the future to allow for certainty in the industry. This is an outcome that everyone from active participants to observers can see is a positive step in the right direction in the industry.

I want to close on one final thing. This is a really important matter and, if it matters so much to the member for Barker, he would have shown some respect and stayed in this chamber until the close of this debate. I thank the House.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order for the next day of sitting.