Truckworld

The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) has congratulated Prime Minister Gillard on her success at forming government.

The Chairman of the ATA, David Simon, said the ATA was looking forward to continuing its productive work with the Government over the next three years.

“Our joint efforts have already seen the establishment of the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program, funding to upgrade level crossing safety, the introduction of an Australian Design Rule for front underrun protection, and the start of work on the national heavy vehicle regulator,” Mr Simon said.

“In the next three years, we look forward to working with the Government on improving heavy vehicle safety further. We are working closely with the National Road Safety Council on the next National Road Safety Strategy, and will be pressing for extra counter-fatigue measures like the construction of more rest areas.

“On the economic side, the ATA is especially keen to be involved in the forthcoming tax summit.

“The Henry Review made a number of recommendations about imposing mass-distance-location pricing on the trucking industry, which would see trucking operators charged on the basis of the roads they use, how far they travel, and how much their vehicles weigh. The recommendations could impose enormous and as yet unknown compliance costs on trucking operators.

“At the same time, the COAG Road Reform Plan Project Board is conducting a separate feasibility study into mass-distance-location pricing. The work published by CRRP so far does not address any of the Henry Review recommendations.

“The Government needs to bring together these two work programs, and develop tax reforms that emphasise simplicity rather than theoretical economic perfection.

“The ATA has developed an alternative to mass-distance-location pricing, fuel based charging. It would raise the same amount of money, so the trucking industry would continue to pay its way.

Under fuel based charging:

• truck and trailer registration charges would be reduced substantially, because the current high registration charges involve lump sums that are difficult for small businesses to pay;
• the road user charge (currently 22.6 cents per litre) would be split into two charging classes, with larger trucks paying fuel tax at a higher rate; and
• road asset managers like local governments would be able to apply for funding to upgrade their roads to handle safer trucks with greater capacity.