Over to you WESTERN ROADS FEDERATION by Cam Dumesny, CEO
No political will
T
he last few years we have all been struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic but as 2021 wore on, I realised there was another, much more serious pandemic that we are dealing with right across the world. Over the last month, Western Australia has experienced its first taste of serious supply disruptions, as the east-west rail line was closed for nearly a month due to flooding. The Road Transport industry stepped in to immediately help. Sea freight was organised, albeit the first ship comes in about a month after the rail was shut. Air freight was a limited option, as air flights (hence belly cargo) had already been severely cut, with most air freight already moving by road between the east and west. These disruptions will increase as COVID-19 related labour shortages bite in the next month or so.
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WATM • March 2022
National Crisis Both WA and the NT were severely impacted by the SA floods. The NT lost both road and rail connections to SA for a couple of weeks (rail still not online). Meanwhile, WA lost the east-west rail connection. But the East Coast was already stretched with COVID-19 related supply disruptions and hence had little spare capacity to assist supplying WA and the NT. Oh, and don't forget the Great Northern Highway connecting Perth and Darwin was cut due to flooding in the Kimberley. And we still have an ongoing global shipping and international airfreight problem.
Government Interest Clearly, a crisis on this scale against the backdrop of an on-going global supply chain challenge would be a call to action, for immediate coordinated planning
between State and Federal Governments. Culminating it being the lead and dominant item on the agenda of the twice a year meeting of the State and Federal transport Ministers.
No Prizes for Guessing No, the issue was not on the agenda, it wasn't even raised. Nor was the on-going skills shortage mentioned. Rising Inflation Should Attract Ministerial Interest? Rising freight costs and supply disruptions are one of the key factors in driving Australia's increasing rate of inflation. For those of us old enough to remember high inflation and high interest rates ( I remember locking in a two year fixed housing rate at 16.25% and being consider a genius - which we all know I am not). The inflation rate at the time ranged between 7 to 9%. Whilst I believe our industry should
