Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Good on you, Senator Faruqi. There is no room for racism in any corner of this great society and home we call Australia. I stand beside you and other people of colour and, of course, our First Nations people.

On a brighter note, I would like to touch on a magnificent event that occurred here in Canberra on Saturday but also in the other major cities around Australia. It was the convoy. The Transport Workers Union joined with the Australian Road Transport Industrial Organisation. Two groups that would never be on the same fence industrially ever came together—and they have been coming together for a long time now—along with NatRoad, the National Road Transport Association, and the National Road Freighters Association in convoys around the country to highlight to politicians, particularly in this building, the inadequacies and the dangers of the road transport industry. Our trucking families are now coming together, united, unified, with all the voices of the road transport industry, to say, 'Enough is enough; we can't continue to keep going down this path of destruction.' In the last two years since that magnificent report from the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee entitled Without trucks Australia stops came out on 25 August 2021, we have lost over 100 truck drivers. Those deaths should never have occurred. Those fathers, brothers and sons should still be with us today. It's the most dangerous industry here in Australia.

It's not only that. We have had no fewer than 500 transport companies shut up shop, fold, close their doors or be put into administration. They just couldn't keep going. Think about that—500. We could think about small family businesses where mum and dad started with one truck and then suddenly had two, four or five. Or we could talk about some at the bigger end of the scale, like Scott's transport. Forty per cent of the refrigerated transport task in this nation was carried on the back of Scott's transport trucks. Some 1,500 employees woke up one day to find that they had no job because they had been crunched so hard and, once they were put on their knees, they could not get up. This is a transport company that has been working predominantly for Coles. Coles got out of this very easily. Coles felt a little bit of guilt at the time. They thought: 'Oh, my God. We have been screwing you down for so long and not paying you for 30 or 45 days, so we will help you out and pay you for seven days.' Guess what? They still went broke. I take my hat off to Coles because at this point they know they can't continue going down this path.

But the people of Australia did not even flinch. They didn't miss a beat on the shopping radar because the transport industry did what it does every single second, minute and hour of the day. We keep picking up, dropping off and delivering. So the goods were still there. Don't worry. There was a lot of panic, but the transport industry came through. Thank goodness!

So hence there's been the convoy. I was here in Canberra for the convoy. I was proud to be part of it and to speak at the convoy. At the convoy here in Canberra, we had over 300 trucks. These weren't trucks from Canberra. Think about this. There were a few Canberra trucks that joined in, absolutely, and we appreciated that. But these trucks came from Sydney on a Saturday morning. Think about this while you are lying in bed on a cold Saturday morning. You might stay in bed for another half-hour, then get up and have a nice cup of coffee and a bit of toast. These dedicated drivers, with the support of their truck owners, the companies—they provided vehicles for these drivers—got out of bed at about five in the morning to muster in Sydney to drive to Goulburn and meet at eight o'clock to pick up other trucks to come down to join the convoy in Canberra and send the message across to the federal government, which I am a proud member of, that: 'We cannot keep going like this. We have to have transport reform, and we have to have transport reform now.' Also think about this: not only did those drivers—and I sincerely thank them and the companies that provided the vehicles—give up fuel for what they had to do but they lost about 10 hours of the day.

If you think about the trucking industry—and I know how it works better than anyone in this joint and the other place—it's not a nine till five, five days a week operation. These men and women are living and breathing this stuff 24 hours a day. They might not have the steering wheel in their hand for the whole 24 hours, but the mind doesn't stop. The mind doesn't clock off. It clicks in at one o'clock in the morning saying: 'I haven't done this, haven't done that. Oops, I haven't paid that bill. My goodness, I've got to remember to tell so-and-so that there's a flat on the trailer.' We don't want roses thrown at our feet, but we do want to be rewarded properly. We want to be respected, and we want to be treated like the rest of Australia. There is nothing wrong in the vernacular use of the English language for the road transport industry to say: 'We want to be safe. We want to be sustainable. We want to be viable, and, God help us, we want a bit of profit, too.' They don't only want cost recovery; they want a bit of profit, and so they should. Every other industry proudly talks about it, so why shouldn't they?

This was the Canberra convoy that came down from Sydney. There were over 300 vehicles, and there were 450 drivers. A lot of drivers jumped in the trucks to buddy up with their mates to come down. You should have seen the range of vehicles we had, predominantly prime movers. But there were also vehicles for general freight, refrigerated freight, oil and gas, the mining industry, parcel delivery, cement, the construction industry. There was a magnificent fleet here, including the magnificent fleet from Ashton haulage. They had about 10 trucks in the convoy—they really opened my eyes. I saw a fellow walking around with one of their flags wrapped around him, so I introduced myself to him, the proud owner of the company. He was just one of the 450 that came down.

There were also convoys in other cities on that Saturday. In Brisbane there were 150 vehicles, and 200 drivers went to that one, buddying up with their mates. In Melbourne there were 70 with 150 drivers. I saw the footage on the bridge, unbelievable. In Perth there were 50 vehicles and 80 drivers. In Adelaide there were 30 vehicles with 60 drivers. In Darwin there were 15 trucks with 30 drivers. The attendance doesn't sound huge, but that is huge because for the first time in history—and I stand in this building and won't be shamed or shouted at or corrected when I'm speaking because I'm right—the road transport industry is unified. They're unified and coming together and absolutely looking towards the green chamber over there for the next tranche of industrial relations legislation where transport, under Minister Burke, will have our own section, finally. Finally, we will have the ability to be heard by government and have our input into government so that our voices in the road transport industry are heard. In this legislation the bureaucracy and governments might start making decisions for the road transport industry after having to listen to transport operators. What a concept that is!

At 63 I am still shocked to think it is taken that long, but sadly it has. As someone who has been in the transport industry for 46 years, this day can't come soon enough. But here's the challenge: we know the legislation will go through the House and then it will come over here. We know that the Labor Party, the party of government, will be 100 per cent behind these new industrial laws to protect the transport workers and, finally, hold to account the gig economy—don't forget them. But the test will come. We know the Greens will support these laws because the Greens always support anything to do with supporting workers. The test will come with the crossbench. I've been having conversations with the crossbench, and I know the transport operators and transport company owners and drivers and gig economy drivers have been having very good conversations. The crossbench is engaging, and I thank the crossbench for that. I look forward to the crossbench coming together and supporting our legislation. But here's the big question: where will that lots sit? Where will the Liberal-National coalition sit?

Over the years—it really makes me want to vomit, but I have had to put up with it—I've see Liberal-National ministers who can't wait to put a fluoro vest on and get into the cab of a Kenworth, make sure it has some bling, hold the steering wheel with one hand, get out there and say: 'I love the trucking industry. I have such close connections to the transport industry. I once had a next-door neighbour whose grandfather had a long-lost cousin who had a truck. I love the industry.' Well, we've seen your love for the trucking industry because people in the trucking industry have been in this building. They wanted to meet with you. Sadly, it hasn't happened. But they'll all be down here when this legislation hits this place, and I will be looking for all those truck-loving LNP member in the Senate to see where their vote will go. I hope to goodness—this should not be political. You should be on their side with us. You should be supporting that magnificent industry, and let's keep it safe, sustainable, viable and profitable.