Patrick Secker (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was very interesting to hear the new member for Longman. The only comment I can make is that he is certainly not a patch on the previous member. I speak tonight on the devastating impact that the Rudd government increase in heavy vehicle charges will have on the transport industry in my electorate of Barker. Much of the freight industry in South Australia is based in the south-east of the state in my electorate of Barker. Transport is vital to the state’s economy and its communities. It is responsible for moving goods to and from every part of South Australia, within Australia and overseas.

Transport accounts for approximately 4½ per cent of the state’s employment and five per cent of the state’s gross domestic product, contributing more than $3 billion annually from companies such as Scotts Transport, K&S Freighters, SWF Transport, Ielasi Carriers, McKenzie Freighters and many others. While putting a dollar value on freight transport is impressive, it does not do justice to the other benefits that the freight industry also provides. These include enabling domestic and global trade, supporting economic development by meeting the needs of the business community, and providing communities with access to goods and services so that they can function effectively.

South Australia’s road and rail network also forms a critical part of Australia’s land transport network, connecting the east and west, and north and south of Australia. Heavy vehicle transport industries are being hit by diesel prices. The price of diesel is presently hovering around the $1.80 mark, an increase of about one-third on what it was last year, and trucking companies in my electorate, as in the rest of the country, are feeling the pinch. It is particularly difficult for the small business that subcontracts heavy-vehicle drivers who cart loads on behalf of another transport company at the mercy of a preset rate which cannot keep pace with rises in external costs such as fuel. Subcontractors in this situation have no choice but to absorb these costs themselves, sending many out of business.

As if fuel prices were not enough, the increase in truck registration charges which was recently pushed through by the Rudd government will hit our transport companies hard, with many businesses in my electorate unable to shoulder the increases themselves. Every increase in truck registration and onroad costs causes a flow-on. The recent transport increases were made more difficult given that the transport companies regularly quote transport costs up to 12 months in advance.

Last month the Rudd Labor government amended the Interstate Road Transport Charge Act, increasing heavy vehicle registrations, with increases of more than $6,000 for B-double trucks. This pushes the annual registration fees for B-doubles to more than $14,000. Like many members in this parliament, I believe in user-pays but I also believe that the trucking industry is already paying its fair share. In fact, they presented to the government the facts that showed that they were already paying their fair share.

The increase in B-double and B-triple registration prices does not make sense because these vehicles have a better record of safety and environmental performance, and are more efficient. It will mean that many transport companies will have to turn to smaller, less efficient trucks, with the general public having to share the road with one-third more trucks than necessary—although if they ever did that I am sure that this government would tax them even more. Nor is there any guarantee that the extra revenue raised will go into road upgrades in South Australia. The charges could be used to build a bridge in Queensland or simply disappear into the black hole of consolidated revenue and be lost through Labor’s economic mismanagement of the states.

The hike in vehicle registration fees is just one of a raft of measures imposed on the transport industry, including an increase in the road user charge. Earlier this year, the Rudd Labor government announced that it would increase the road user charge from 1 January 2009 by an extra 1.5c a litre, which will be indexed annually at a rate higher than the CPI. This will result in nothing more than major increases in food prices and the driving up of inflation. Transport is a major industry in the electorate of Barker and our industries and communities rely heavily on the transport industry. Heavy vehicles already pay registration charges which vary by truck type and axle loads and they already pay a diesel fuel excise. (Time expired)