The National Road Freighters Association (NRFA) is asking members to lobby their local MPs to support the recommendations in the recent Senate inquiry report into the road transport industry.
NRFA president Rod Hannifey said the federal election campaign is the perfect chance for truckies to find out whether their federal MP has the industry’s best interests at heart.
“With this election, we have the opportunity to say to any candidate, are you aware of it, will you support it, and if not, I might be reconsidering who I vote for.
“Because we are all so sick to death of having these inquiries with the best of intent and then having any government, of any and all persuasions sit on them and do absolutely nothing about them when we know the industry is struggling, and we know we are hard done by, and we don’t get recognised.
“Yet, here’s a bipartisan government inquiry that’s come up with these things to help us and nothing’s being done.”
Hannifey said the NRFA is also sending a delegation of eight to the Trucking Australia conference on the Gold Coast from May 4-6 to lobby associations for their support of the inquiry recommendations.
After more than seven months of radio silence to the inquiry into the road transport industry, the federal government finally tabled its response earlier this month.
Landing quietly amongst the noise of the federal budget announcement, the 21-page comeback to the Without Australia Stops: the development of a viable, safe, sustainable and efficient road transport industry report, contained few surprises for Labor supporters.
The government said it does not support four of the 10 recommendations made by the Glenn-Sterle led Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee, including the setting up of an independent body to oversee pay rates and contract terms.
The other six recommendations are designated a ‘noted’ status, which is government-speak for ‘we know they’re good ideas, but we won’t take any of them up in the format suggested’, a source familiar with reports of this kind tells us.