Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

My colleagues are teasing me. They want me to name the roads minister; that is a big call. His first name is Tony. On a serious note, it is important to have a system where our sentinel drivers all through the country are able to directly communicate with roads authorities and have defects in roads fixed. Too often we focus on building new roads; not often enough do we focus on the maintenance of existing roads.

It is very important for us to appreciate that these men and women run their families by phone. Ron said to me, ‘Very few people in my industry are not on their second marriage.’ We fail to appreciate that these are men and women who, uniquely, need to go away from home, often at short notice and for extended periods of time, and the stresses on families are in no circumstances to be underestimated.

I think Coles and Woolworths have a bit to answer for. I know that they are trying to do the best they can to manage the trucks as they come through the loading bays, but when a truck driver arrives six hours early and has to wait six hours before he can unload and is not even allowed to use the toilet, I say: Coles and Woolworths, if you are listening, just have a listen to some of the drivers; they need a better go. A lot of these drivers and owners are providing free storage to supermarkets. You have a truck out in the road for four, five or six hours that is completely loaded up—that is free storage, and the drivers and owners are paying for it. There is no question that, whilst there is goodwill on the part of the supermarket owners and operators, there needs to be a lot more of that and a lot more common sense.

We need plain common sense when it comes to fatigue laws. There is no question that fatigue laws, generally speaking, need to be supported and strengthened. When Rod Hannifey, who is based in Dubbo, drove for 10 minutes around the block in Melbourne and then pulled over, I said to him, ‘Mate, what are you doing?’ He said, ‘I’m filling in my logbook.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, I’ve got to fill in the logbook.’ I said, ‘Mate, we just went round the block.’ He said, ‘Yeah, I know, but I’m away from base.’ Filling in the logbook then triggers a compulsory rest period in the trip from Melbourne to Dubbo. I understand the motive, but it is a lack of plain common sense. These people are seriously battling. If they are fined they will lose not only money but demerit points. So plain common sense must be applied in some of these fatigue laws.

Another issue is pay. I asked Rod: ‘What sort of pay do these blokes get? What sort of money do you get?’ He said that, generally speaking, if you are away from home for five days and you drive 200,000 kilometres a year—about 4,000 kilometres a week—you would expect to bring in about $80,000 gross or you might max out at $100,000. A lot of people listening to this debate would say, ‘Gee, that’s a lot of money.’ However, I would not want to have to feed seven kids, be away from home for at least five days a week and have all the stress of doing what these men and women do for that kind of money. I think we should take our hats off to them.

There are a number of other very important issues, and one of them is car drivers—for instance, this bloke in a Barina who pulled out of a road stop and sat on 80 kilometres an hour. We have a 60-tonne truck doing 100 kilometres an hour, the merging lane is too short and this bloke in the Barina pulls out in front of the truck. So what happens? Of course, the truckie has to hit the brakes. Goodness knows if there was someone behind us with a caravan. When drivers are being educated for their road licence, is it too much to ask for them to watch a 10-minute simulation to give them an understanding of what it is like to be in a major articulated vehicle out on the road?

There is the issue of caravans and the drivers who tow them. Another issue is the twin headlights on new motorbikes. These lights can give truck drivers the perception that there is a car some distance away when in fact it is a motorcycle that is relatively close. A further issue that I think we should focus on is fog lights. A lot of drivers have fog lights on their cars—and they are called fog lights for good reason. You put them on when there is fog; however, these lights are blinding to other drivers, especially at night. Also, imagine being a truck driver out on the road and trying to do something as simple as getting to a dentist or a doctor or dealing with kids or with any of the problems that occur in domestic relationships.

In conclusion, I think the government has already shown itself to be hostile to the interests of working Australians—dare I say working families. It has certainly shown itself to be hostile to the interests of Australia’s road industry. Further to all those people losing their jobs, can I give you one more figure: there were 3,600 truck repossessions in the first six months of this year. Behind every one of those repossessions is a story of heartbreak. Somebody with a mortgage, somebody with debt, has had their truck repossessed. Worse still, the finance companies have stopped repossessing because they do not think they will get their money back. (Time expired)

Debate adjourned.

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