Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Trucking is the lifeblood of our nation. Our drivers and our freight vehicles keep the Australian economy flowing, transporting millions of tonnes of freight around our nation each year. Every day, around 4,000 heavy trucks make the 12-hour journey between Sydney and Melbourne and the 3,600-kilometre journey between Sydney and Brisbane. Some of them are B-doubles: a prime mover and two semitrailers with a combined loaded weight of up to 68 tonnes and a length of 25 metres. Trucks transport millions of tonnes of goods each year, and demand is expected to double in the future. Large amounts of freight are moved on Tasmanian roads, and I've spoken previously about the lack of rest stops for drivers. Interestingly, truck driving employs around 200,000 workers across Australia, and it's clear that trucks and drivers are a vital part of our economy. However, improvements to the sector need to be made, and they need to be made urgently because driving trucks in Australia is one of the deadliest jobs.

A study by Monash University of 12 years worth of data shows that truck drivers are 13 times more likely to die at work than workers in any other profession. The long hours, social isolation, time pressure and lack of job control also make it one of the unhealthiest jobs. Approximately 40 per cent of all workplace deaths in Australia involve road transport workers, and the study found that truck drivers are exposed to a variety of occupational stresses such as constant time pressures, social isolation, disrespectful treatment from others, driving hazards, and violence or fear of violence. It also found that around one million weeks of work were lost over this time period because of injury. Seventeen per cent of this working time loss was due to vehicle crashes. The remaining eight per cent of these lost weeks was due to other causes such as slips and trips, falls, noise, and physical and psychological stress. Musculoskeletal injuries and fractures made up the vast bulk of accepted claims. But mental health is a major factor when the amount of time off needed is taken into consideration. Half of the drivers with mental health conditions were off work for 10 weeks or longer.

In government, Labor was very aware of the issues in the trucking industry. We created the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal to investigate these issues and to set safe rates. Between 2012 and 2016, the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal set pay and conditions for drivers in the road transport industry and held wealthy companies to account for low-cost contracts which put drivers and other road users at risk, because what we on this side knew and what the tribunal proved is that better working conditions for drivers mean safer roads for all Australians. Safe rates guarantee that every truckie on our road is behind the wheel of a well-maintained vehicle, won't have to risk falling asleep on the job just to make a living and isn't trying to meet an impossible deadline. Unfortunately, the Liberal government scrapped the tribunal in 2016, despite evidence showing that it was working.

Research showed a 50 per cent decline in fatal heavy truck crashes after the tribunal was established in 2012 and an approximately 25 per cent decline in the number of resultant deaths. The tribunal made the industry safer. It ensured that truck drivers were not under as much pressure to accept unsafe loads and unsafe turnaround times, and ensured that they were paid a rate that allowed for the required maintenance of their vehicles. But the government, in its wisdom, decided that truck drivers were not worth worrying about and that boosting the profits of major companies was more important than drivers' lives. So the improvements that were beginning to take effect have been rolled back. A Macquarie University study from February showed that one in 10 truck drivers works over 80 hours a week; one in six owner-drivers said that drivers can't refuse an unsafe load; and 42 per cent of owner-drivers said the reason drivers do not report safety breaches is the fear of losing their jobs. These are shocking statistics. Safe rates save lives, not just for truck drivers but for all road users. The government's own report showed that the safe rate system would reduce truck crashes by 28 per cent.

A Transport Workers Union witness to a recent hearing of the Senate education and employment committee, which I am a member of, told us that around 50 truck drivers would still be alive today if the tribunal was allowed to continue. That is 50 families torn apart for no reason other than corporate greed. The government has clearly got a lot to answer for. Australian drivers need the powers of the tribunal to be restored, and this vital work needs to been continued in some way. Truck drivers need safe rates to ensure that they can do their job safely and that at the end of the day they can get home safely.

On another note, I want to speak on an issue of great importance to the people of Tasmania. I know Senator Urquhart will be very interested in this. The government don't know what they're doing from one day to the next, as we know. Dysfunction has risen to a whole new level. They've flip-flopped on their policies time and again since Mr Morrison's supporters joined Peter Dutton's supporters to roll Malcolm Turnbull so that they could then elect Mr Morrison as leader. Their policy is being done on the run, and it's poorly thought through. It's for short-term political advantage, and they don't really care if the interests of the nation or of individual states in our Commonwealth are impacted.

A case in point is the government's dysfunctional approach to the issue of the GST distribution. Under the Morrison government, Tasmania could still be up to $248 million worse off. It is clear that the Morrison government don't really care for Tasmanians at all. Their policy on the run could see significant reductions in funds available for Tasmanian hospitals and schools, and we're all well aware of the crisis in the Tasmanian health system. Tasmanians are extremely concerned about the state of our hospitals. Similarly, our schools are already under-resourced after years of Liberal cuts, and it's clear that Tasmania cannot afford to lose even one dollar of GST.

Tasmanian Labor senators and members first raised our concerns about Tasmania's GST prior to the Productivity Commission inquiry. We've been raising our concerns about how Tasmania could be impacted by changes to the GST for a very, very long time now. We saw the government try to delay the report of the Productivity Commission until after the Tasmanian state election in March, and then we saw both the state and federal Liberals try and brush aside concerns during the recent Braddon by-election. But now that we're at the pointy end, the government can no longer delay and cloud the issue. For weeks and weeks the government have refused to guarantee that no state would be worse off. Labor has been calling on Mr Morrison to support an amendment to legislate a guarantee that no state or territory will be worse off under the changes to the GST. Last week, the Tasmanian federal parliamentary Labor Party—our Senate team and my colleagues over in the House, Julie Collins, Ross Hart, Justine Keay and Brian Mitchell—wrote to all four Liberal senators calling on them to support this amendment, which will protect in legislation our state's share for the long term. They had refused to make that pledge.

Just over a week ago in Hobart, the Treasurer rejected a plan to include the legislative guarantee that Labor had been calling for. Prime Minister Morrison and Treasurer Frydenberg said that this legislative guarantee wasn't necessary. Labor said that it was. However, yesterday the Prime Minister and Treasurer were forced into partially agreeing with Labor on the distribution of the GST. While a good step forward, it's embarrassing for the Liberals that the Liberal government continues to make up this policy on the run, when Tasmania stands to lose a reported $248 million without protections. The government has been following Labor on this every step of the way, but more details must be released about the Liberal government's plans. The Tasmanian federal Labor members and senators continue to hold concerns about the future of our state's GST share for the long term.

I know Prime Minister Morrison has characterised Tasmanians as 'beggars'—I think his actual word was 'mendicants'. Whether he did so with or without the alleged expletive is immaterial. It's still an offensive way to describe one of the founding states of the Commonwealth. Australia is a Commonwealth, a federation of states, and all states contribute in a variety of ways to our great nation. We are stronger when we work together to ensure that the needs of all Australians are met. The greatest risk for the future prosperity of Tasmania is Prime Minister Morrison and his government.

Tasmanians must be assured that any change to the way the GST is distributed does not leave our state any worse off now or into the future under any government. We need a Prime Minister who respects all of the states, not one willing to sell out some states in order to gain votes elsewhere. We don't need a Prime Minister who is lagging behind Labor's suggestions, as has happened with the GST. He has finally partially capitulated to agreeing with Labor on the distribution of GST. As I said, while it is a good step forward, it is embarrassing that the Liberal government continues to make up this policy on the run. (Time expired)