Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment, Senator Cash. Can that super minister update the Senate on the strong and decisive action that the government has taken to stand up for the owner-drivers in the heavy vehicle industry?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator O'Sullivan not only for his question but also for his keen passion for ensuring that owner-drivers are doing what they do best—being out on the roads working.

It is a fact that truck drivers are the lifeblood of the Australian economy. In fact, the road freight transport industry employs around 200,000 people. Any threat to this industry will have large flow-on effects ultimately to consumers. Tens of thousands of owner-truck drivers—many, we know, have taken out mortgages to buy their trucks—were being driven out of business by Mr Shorten's Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal. Last night, as we know, we on this side of the chamber, with a number of the crossbenchers, ensured that these owner-drivers get back onto the road by passing a bill to abolish this shonky deal that was done between Bill Shorten, the TWU and former prime minister Julia Gillard.

I am pleased to advise the Senate that this morning the bill received royal assent. This means that the tribunal and its devastating pay order will cease to exist from midnight on 21 April. I say on behalf of the government to owner-drivers: as small business owners, you are the backbone of the Australian economy. We back you and we want to see you succeed. Unlike those on the other side, we want to see you back in business. I received a text this morning from an owner-driver, Gordo. He delivered his last load almost two weeks ago and his truck has been parked up as a result of Labor's RSRT. This is the text he sent me this morning: 'Thanks, I start my old job back tomorrow.' That is what we do: we put people into business. You put them out of business.

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister inform the Senate of any misleading statements in relation to owner-drivers and road safety?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, I can. The national secretary of the TWU, Tony Sheldon, yesterday said this about owner-drivers in an article in The Sydney Morning Herald:

He/she speeds, drives longer than permitted, skips mandatory rest breaks, forgoes truck maintenance and might even take drugs to drive those extra hours.

Mr Sheldon thought it was appropriate to label owner-drivers as people who break the law, do not maintain their vehicles and take drugs. This is an outrageous allegation and Mr Sheldon should apologise to owner-drivers for calling them those things. Making customers pay more to owner-drivers—rates that are non-viable—so that they can no longer work does not make our roads safer. Threatening owner drivers with $54,000 fines does not make roads safer. Taking their homes and their trucks because of this pay order does not make roads safer.

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister also advise the Senate whether there are any threats to owner-drivers in the heavy vehicle industry?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, I can. We heard it in the speeches given by those on the other side last night. Again, it was all but confirmed by Mr Shorten—the alternative Prime Minister of this country, should Labor be elected—that under a future Labor government the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal and its devastating pay orders will be returned. There should be no doubt that a vote for Bill Shorten and Labor is going to be a vote to decimate the owner-drivers of Australia. Why? Because the TWU—like the CFMEU and the MUA—has donated $8.3 million to the Labor Party since 1996.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So $8.3 million is the price that Labor will pay to put the hardworking mum-and-dad owner-drivers—small business owners, the backbone of our economy—out of business. That is what you might do, but it is certainly not what we do. (Time expired)