Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Casey for his question. He recognises how important the trucking industry is to the Australian economy and indeed his own local community, where there is substantial agribusiness in the wine industry, berries, apples and flowers, all of which require the trucking industry to bring them to market. So extra costs imposed on the trucking industry add to the costs of producers and of course increase the cost of living for consumers. The trucking industry has welcomed strongly this government's commitment to $50 billion worth of investments mainly in our national road system. They are also very pleased with the commitment for $248 million for the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program and $565 million to fix up road black spots. All of these things help build a better road system. But if Labor were still in office the story would be very different today. They would be forcing legislation through the parliament this week to impose the carbon tax on the trucking industry, to add close to 7c a litre to their fuel costs, add to the cost of moving things around the nation, add to the costs of business and add to the costs of consumers.

In addition, our government has not increased the road user charge this year—something Labor never did. They raised the road user charge every year on the trucking industry to add to their costs. But this government has not increased the road user charge and that is of enormous benefit to the industry.

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