Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to make a contribution to the second reading debate on the Interstate Road Transport Charge Amendment Bill 2008 and the Road Transport Charges (Australian Capital Territory) Repeal Bill 2008. I am very honoured to follow my National and Liberal colleagues who spoke last night in the other place and then here today on this particular legislation, because I do not know that a bill that shows such hypocrisy from a government has come into this place for quite some time.

On 29 February, as people would realise by now, the Australian Transport Council made adjustments to the cost recovery charge setting mechanism that applies to the trucking industry—that is the formal term. Basically, they lifted registration charges and made changes to the diesel fuel excise system. Those registration charges on the trucking industry go straight to the hearts of those truckies, their families, the trucking companies and the people that they deliver to. The Labor government know this and they are hiding behind weasel words over there to try to justify what is an incredibly bad decision and very bad legislation.

What we have seen with the heavy vehicle registration charges is that there is some kind of belief that the trucking sector is not paying its way. I know that the trucking sector takes its responsibilities for paying its way very seriously. It knows that it has a responsibility to the Australian people, to the communities out there, to ensure that it does pay its way—and it does. But what have we seen from the Labor government? We have seen them bring in legislation that is going to mean that truckies are going to pay 69 per cent more in registration fees. I do not know if I am missing something here, but slugging truckies with an extra 69 per cent charge is not something that is productive either for the industry or for the country as a whole and yet we see the Labor government, with no qualms at all on the other side, speaking about this as the best thing since sliced bread. Well it is not. It is hurting those industries and it is going to hurt communities right across the board.

Let us look at what this will actually do. For example, the registration charges for B-doubles will increase from $8,041 to $14,340, including a multicombination prime mover charge of $7,050; and B-triple charges will skyrocket to $20,340, including, again, that multicombination prime mover charge of $7,050. Do you know who drives these trucks? Mostly people in working families. To my mind it is appalling to be slugging them with more charges when they come from working families that the Labor government professes to know so much about. It is not fair and it is not right.

The other thing the government is doing with this legislation is increasing the diesel excise, or the road user charge. I have only been in this place for three years, but I have been involved in politics for quite some time and one of my very first memories of becoming involved in politics was when people were complaining about the indexation on fuel. They complained and complained about it, so the previous coalition government did the right thing seven years ago and removed it. Yet what do we see with this legislation? It is back. The wonderful indexation that we saw under the Paul Keating government is back—in another form, mind you—under the Rudd government. What this government has done is to increase that excise from 19.633c to 21c. That might not sound like very much, but I can tell you it is. Billions of litres of diesel fuel get used by the trucking industry in this country every year, and this indexation is coming back. Whilst it might have escaped the notice of people out there in the Australian community until now, I can tell you right now that they are going to know about it from today, because it is wrong. I cannot understand how the Labor government can sit over there and profess to be doing everything it can for working families—and, mind you, making sure it does everything it can to bring down inflation—when this very measure targets both those things.

What is really interesting is that on 12 April last year at the Australian Trucking Convention in Cairns—Innovation and productivity in Australian trucking: unlocking tomorrow’s prosperity—Martin Ferguson, who was the then shadow minister for transport, roads and tourism, said:

We appreciate the importance of the trucking industry and we are committed to investment in the infrastructure and regulatory framework needed to improve its efficiency and viability for the long term.

I started my speech by talking about hypocrisy. If that is not the most hypocritical thing that we could possibly see coming from the Labor government, I do not know what is. Last April the then opposition were saying, ‘We’re going to support the trucking industry; we’re going to make sure we get the regulatory framework right.’ What have they done? They have brought in bills that slug the trucking industry, that raise registration and that bring back indexation.

I might not be particularly bright, but putting those two things together—this quote from the then opposition and what they are bringing into this chamber today—shows the absolute hypocrisy, and they should be ashamed that they would on the one hand profess to support the trucking industry and on the other hand rip the rug out from underneath it with these bills. Unfortunately, time precludes me from saying more on this matter, but it is indicative of their approach in a whole range of policy areas—all the things they said prior to the election, now we are seeing something different; all the flip-flops from what they said before,