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

Last Friday, I had the privilege of chairing a national road transport industry round table here in parliament. Thirty-seven industry leaders from right across the road transport sector came together for the day to talk about the priorities for the next tranche of transport reform. State and territory transport associations were at the table alongside representatives from the big trucking companies, small-to-medium operators, owner-drivers, the bus industry and the Transport Workers' Union. We all agreed that we need to continue to work together to address the challenges facing our industry. We all agreed that we need to continue to work together to improve the lot of our transport operators.

Put simply, we have an ageing workforce, and we don't have enough drivers, forklift drivers, receival staff, loaders, tyre fitters, diesel mechanics, admin staff, sales staff and managers—it goes on and on. We need to train and retain these people, especially the ones that we have. A recent survey released by the National Road Transport Association revealed there are 26,049 unfilled truck driver positions in 2024. That's just the drivers. Those numbers are expected to get worse. Colleagues, this is a crisis for our trucking industry, which means it is a crisis for our national economy. If we can't find those additional drivers, train them and develop career paths for them, there will be significant impacts on our supply chains and on our country. Forty-seven per cent of truck drivers working in Australia today are aged 55 years or older, whilst just 5.2 per cent are younger than 25 years. The average age is 49.

We face similar challenges filling other roles in the transport industry, as I've said. We all learnt through COVID that the supply chain is the backbone of our economy, but, without enough drivers, the entire system is at risk. This is the challenge we came together to talk about last week. The round table heard from the various state transport associations about their activities and priorities around the recruitment, retention and training of drivers. Large transport operators talked about their individual activities aimed at recruiting and retaining their truck driver workforce. We all agreed that foreign drivers are welcome in this country. However, as an industry, we know there are flawed and discredited state training schemes where—listen to this—drivers can obtain a licence within a few hours, having never driven a truck before. All truck drivers, no matter where they come from, must be trained and licensed to Australian standards.

The peak representative bodies that attended all expressed the need for national action and leadership. We kicked off the round table by hearing from Peter Anderson from ARTIO and Michael Kaine from the Transport Workers' Union. Both reminded the group of the importance of working together and of what has already been achieved. When industry and workers come together, we can achieve great things in this nation. Thirty-day payments, secure employment and fair rates of pay, with a specific road transport advisory group advising the Fair Work Commission, are all reforms supported by industry, owner-drivers and transport workers. But, as we all agreed on Friday, there is a lot more to be done. The round table agreed that the next priority must be the development of career pathways for drivers, the finalisation of skills and licensing and the development of a national training agenda and package. Industry desperately needs access to fit-for-purpose training.

Many other issues were raised by the group, like the need to recognise transport as an essential service and the need for small and big transport operators to work together to bring young people into the industry and nurture them. The group also repeatedly expressed their frustrations with the divide between Commonwealth and states. If industry leaders can come together and agree on a set of priorities for the road transport sector, I ask: why can't state, territory and Commonwealth transport ministers do the same? Roundtable participants suggested that making transport reform a priority for National Cabinet might be a way of breaking this deadlock. Of course, the bus industry faces similar challenges. However, their operators face the additional challenge of the removal of the incentives for bus operators to take on apprentices and for training new bus drivers.

There was a real buzz in the air throughout the day, particularly when the Prime Minister dropped in to say hello and share his views on the importance of the transport industry. Prime Minister, I thank you for that, and so do they. As I mentioned earlier, most of those in the room last week have worked together over many years to develop support for the important reforms contained in the closing-the-loopholes legislation. We have so much more to do, and we will continue to push for greater standards in the road transport industry.