LRTAWA – Rural transport ‘front and centre’ at Brunswick Show

LRTAWA by David Fyfe, President, Livestock and Rural Transport Association of Western Australia (Inc)

Rural transport ‘front and centre’ at Brunswick Show

Hats off to the Brunswick Agricultural Society for putting rural transport ‘front and centre’ of their 90th anniversary show this year. It probably helped that one of the Livestock and Rural Transport Association’s long time committee members Mark Talbot is also President of the Brunswick Agricultural Society and his passion for rural transport is boundless.

The show returned in fine form after a last minute cancellation in 2020 due to Covid-19. Under the theme of Celebrating Rural Transport the display of agricultural and transport equipment through the years from a horse and cart onwards, visually depicted the change and innovation in the transport industry.

It was also an excellent opportunity to showcase careers in transport. The LRTAWA booth had streams of people moving through during the day and we were able to have many conversations with interested people, but particularly the very young.

Muscle Mite as always was a beacon for big and little children. Hopefully we sowed a couple of seeds of interest in some young minds that transport is a great career. It was a reminder about how important it is to constantly be talking about the industry and sharing insights whenever the chance arises.

Whilst the industry is working hard to attract people and encourage careers, transport is facing a few headwinds. Our costs are rising. The price of fuel has skyrocketed almost overnight, the cost of spare parts has increased and that supposes you can actually obtain parts and equipment. The competition for drivers is seeing wages increase.

Inevitably these costs must be passed on, so it is probably time for transporters to reassess their rates to recoup some of these increasing costs.

Rising costs are only one challenge ahead. Navigating the uncertainty of the WA Government vaccine mandate is creating headaches for employers and contractors.

Whilst I’ll stop short of making comments about the merits or otherwise of the announcement, I am concerned that employers have been placed in a difficult position. They are at the frontline of implementing the policy which was announced on 20th October. At the time of writing this article on the 11th November we still had not seen the formal directions to give effect to the announcement notwithstanding the deadline for the vaccination one for the group of people in

Muscle Mite at Brunswick Show

Inevitably these costs must be passed on, so it is probably time for transporters to reassess their rates to recoup some of these increasing costs

phase one is only a few weeks away.

The result of this is that employment decisions are being made on very little supporting information and employers are potentially being exposed. What protections exist for them if they terminate or stand down an employee because they have not been vaccinated. Employers also need clarification under both state and federal laws about what is ‘lawful and reasonable’ in these current circumstances.

Do the majority of employers know the appropriate process for altering the conditions of employment during the life of a contract and to what extent does the State of Emergency Declaration override other workplace laws and obligations including federal laws e.g. The Privacy Act which applies to employers with an annual turnover of $3m or more and a few other select employers?

Clear directions from the Government on these issues would give employers greater confidence when implementing these rules.

If these few things were not enough, I’m left scratching my head about the latest fatigue proposal from the National Transport Commission.

The review of the National Heavy Vehicle Law began in 2018 and recently made recommendations for change. Among those recommendations was a proposal to modify the general schedule relating to fatigue which is reproduced on these pages in case you haven’t seen it.

This suggestion has been roundly rejected by most of industry and it is to be hoped it isn’t accepted by government.

The loss of driving hours would have a disastrous impact on productivity, the income of many drivers, return on capital investment and make some journeys unviable. It is another good reason for WA to defend its fatigue system, a position the LRTAWA has strongly held for some time.

Lastly, we desperately need the road train assembly area in Kewdale to be expanded.

The freight task is growing and this area isn’t big enough to accommodate the number of vehicles that want to use it. The problem as we all know is made worse by a small group who abuse the purpose of the area and use it as free depot. Despite many requests to have the area policed more closely, it seems to be one of those issues that government can’t find a solution to. We’ll keep trying on that one, but in the mean time we need more space.