A blueprint for the future of freight

It’s a vital document that has an impact on the lives of every single Australian, every single day – but few could know it even exists.

It’s the National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy, and it’s currently in the process of being updated.

National Secretary Mark Diamond said the RTBU was instrumental in getting the review of the strategy brought forward to this year.

“The COVID-19 pandemic and various natural disasters, including fires and floods, have exposed serious vulnerabilities in our national supply chains.

“We’ve seen supply chains seriously disrupted, leaving communities,and even entire states, stranded and without access to basics like food and medicine for extended periods.

“It is now clear that Australia cannot leave the security of its national supply chains in the hands of market forces alone – because if you leave all your eggs in the cheapest basket, eventually they’re going to get broken.

“There is a clear need for governments to take more control and to ensure that our supply chains are resilient and flexible enough to handle major shocks.

“We need to have a national freight system where road, rail, sea and air transport operators complement each other, and are able to back each other up when disruptions occur.

“We need to identify the parts of our rail network that are most vulnerable to being affected by extreme weather,and make sure that infrastructure is built to a standard that can withstand those events.”

Mark said the RTBU had made a submission to the review and participated in a number of workshops to ensure that transport workers were heard in the review process.

“Under the previous Federal Government, workers and their unions were frozen out of decisions about the future of our Australia’s freight networks. Instead, the Government was only listening to the advice of big business and multinational consulting firms.

“Transport workers, however, have an important perspective that needs to be heard, and needs to be respected.

“That’s why one of the things we have stressed is that workers must be consulted at every step of the way when decisions about the future of freight networks are being made.”

Mark said the new Freight and Supply Chain Strategy also needed to address the need to decarbonise transport networks, and the uneven playing field between different modes of freight transport.

“Rail freight operators have to pay access fees to track owners - something that the road freight sector doesn’t have to worry about. At the same time, investment in high-quality rail infrastructure has been pitiful compared to the billions sunk into the national highway system.

“This imbalance has the unintended consequence of adding more trucks to busy roads and increasing transport-related carbon emissions.

“The National Freight and Supply Chain must recognise the huge benefits of a safe, sustainable and wellmaintained national rail freight network.”