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

In June last year I spoke about the enforcement anomalies that face our hardworking truck drivers every day in Queensland, New South Wales, ACT, Victoria and South Australia—but not in my great state of WA and the Territory. More than a year has passed and still the situation persists. Truckies are still pursued, fined and prosecuted for simple spelling mistakes in their log books, while motorists who break the law and endanger lives face lesser fines. Fining truck drivers for spelling mistakes does nothing for fatigue management nor does it drive down the number of accidents and fatalities on our roads, but it does contribute to state and territory revenues. It is a national tragedy that states and territories continue to use minor errors made by our hardworking truckies to raise revenue while there is carnage on our roads.

Road safety must be a national priority, and we need urgent action from all levels of government. Issues like training, licensing, enforcement of safety laws must be priorities. Nationally, we have a shortage of 26,000 transport workers. The shortage is particularly difficult to address, considering these enormous safety challenges alongside the petty and vindictive targeting of truckies for minor errors in their logbooks.

In New South Wales, drivers who are caught using a mobile phone while driving are fined $362. In South Australia, driving up to 20 kilometres over the speed limit attracts a fine of $455. In Queensland, if a driver fails to give way while doing a U-turn, they face a fine of $483. Truckies who have minor spelling mistakes in their logbook—where they slept last night, for crying out loud—are fined $780. I've written to all of the state ministers for police, road safety and transport in this nation for a second time, hoping that some common sense will prevail. Enforce the law. Make our roads safe, and stop pinging truck drivers for a damned spelling mistake.