Review into National Heavy Vehicle Law an epic failure

AAfter three years of consultations, meetings and communiques, the National Transport Commission has failed in its attempt to deliver an effective and meaningful review of the National Heavy Vehicle Law”, says WA Labor Senator Glenn Sterle.

“The review began in November 2018 and was intended to produce outcomes that would improve safety and productivity.

“However, all it has done since then is produce summaries of findings, regulatory impact statements and reports to Transport Ministers which have gone nowhere. In fact, recently the National Transport Commission gave representatives from the road transport industry a week’s notice to participate in a half-baked workshop to consider their proposed changes to fatigue management.

“The proposed changes would see fatigue standard hours cut by 22 hours a week which would reduce the wages of truck drivers and drive transport companies to the wall,” said Senator Sterle.

“In one example, the NTC’s proposed ‘General Schedule’ would reduce the income of a typical local delivery driver by about $24,000 per year. I shudder to think how much this would reduce the wages of an interstate driver.

“At a time where we are already seeing the road transport industry having the living daylights squeezed out of it by those at the top of the supply chain, sham contracting on the rise and wage theft rampant, the failure of the NTC to deliver anything constructive since 2018 is a slap in the face to Australia’s essential truck drivers and transport companies.

“Rather than attempting to cut the wages of hard-working truck drivers and completely crushing any hope of sustainability for our transport companies, the Federal Government and the NTC need to ‘bin’ this review and respond seriously to the recommendations of the recent Senate report into the importance of a viable, safe, sustainable and efficient road transport industry.

On the same subject, the ATA is consulting its members urgently about its future engagement with the Heavy Vehicle National Law review process, said ATA Chair David Smith.

“The review started in November 2018. The ATA and its members have spent hundreds of hours drafting submissions and engaging in meetings. But the review has not produced a single legislative amendment that could be introduced into parliament,” Mr Smith said.

“Despite ministers’ commitment to simplify the HVNL and focus on productivity and safety, the NTC’s highest consultation priority with industry seems to be the operational details of fatigue management.

“The NTC’s proposal for the fatigue management general schedule would reduce the income of a typical local delivery driver by about $24,000 per year. It would make it impossible for general schedule drivers to operate between capital cities.

“Despite the catastrophic impact of the proposal on the industry’s productivity and the incomes of its workers, the NTC circulated this proposal for just one week of industry consultation.

“It is not good enough. The review has failed.”

CHANGES PROPOSED TO ANIMAL CRUELTY LAWS

For those working in NSW, be aware that the Animal Justice Party is seeking to rewrite the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (POCTAA).

The party is proposing to include the introduction of the Animal Rights agenda as a definition of what cruelty means. The proposed changes introduce the 5 Freedoms of Animals, change the definition of cruelty to now be the overarching concept of Harm, and also include psychological suffering as a form of animal cruelty. These changes could make any interaction with any animal fall within the scope of POCTAA.

The changes could mean that if you push cattle up a race or yell at your dog someone could claim that this psychological harm and the practice could be stopped. This is outrageous.