Members Protected with Towing Roster Retention

The MTA has successfully lobbied the Northern Territory government to retain the Darwin and Alice Springs towing rosters.

This followed advice in May that the government intended to repeal the Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading (Tow Truck Operators Code of Practice) Regulations 1999 (Tow Truck Regulations).

“If passed, that would have meant there would be no tow roster in Darwin and Alice Springs,” said Kaes Cillessen, the MTA’s Industry and Government Engagement Manager.

“Generally, we tend to shy away from regulation of the automotive industry.

“But towing is an area where our industry members recognise the benefit of it in terms of fairness and keeping unscrupulous operators out of the game.”

The MTA strongly warned the government about the dangers of removing the roster.

“WA is a good example. They are reviewing their regulations because of links to organised crime, intimidation at accident scenes, price gouging and bribery of public officers for crash information.

“The Gold Coast also demonstrates serious problems caused by inadequate regulation.

“However, we were able to successfully argue against the proposal to remove the roster in the NT.”

Members also highlighted that in some instances, NT Police have directed the NT Fire and Rescue Service to use their appliances to move vehicles onto road verges at the taxpayer’s expense, rather than making use of the established towing roster which more sensibly shifts costs to vehicle owners and their insurers.

“...it was a win for our members... we were able to get the government to listen to the concerns of industry and the potential risks to the broader NT public.”

Pleasingly, the NT Government listened to the MTA’s concerns, with Attorney-General Selena Uibo calling a meeting to better understand the issues at play. As a result, the Attorney-General directed the then Acting and now newly appointed Commissioner of Consumer Affairs to ask that NT Police continue to honour the towing rosters in place, as well as propose steps towards longer term modernisation of towing in the Northern Territory.

“The MTA will remain an important stakeholder in the future,” said Kaes.

“So it was a win for our members in that we were able to get the government to listen to the concerns of industry and the potential risks to the broader NT public.”