Agmates Editor Steve Truman writes:
A leading transport body says Australia’s Road Transport industry is on the verge of collapse.
The South Australian Road Transport Association says Road Transport companies are going out of business every day.
Sky rocketing fuel prices and Government over regulation are crippling the industry. New government Fatigue management laws and log book fines are causing a chronic shortage of heavy transport drivers.
Fuel prices have doubled in the last 2 years, state Governments are hiking truck and trailer registration fees and freight customers are refusing to pay increased freight rates.
Truck auction businesses are recording a huge increase in the number of trucks and trailers being offered with second hand values plummeting as operators chose to scale down their operations or exit the industry completely.
Queensland Road transport operator Mick Pattel (pictured below) has had enough. He is orchestrating a meeting of transport operators across the country to discuss an organized transport industry SHUTDOWN set to start on Monday the 28th of July 2008.
In an interview with Agmates Mr Pattel who operates a livestock transport business at Richmand in North QLD told us:
“The entire country operates day to day on road transport, be it food in the supermarkets or fuel for cars, planes and boats.
Unless governments State & Federal start listening and acting we will shut the county down. I have made repeated attempts to speak to federal and state transport ministers without any result.
In fact I was told by a staff member of Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured) that the minister would never speak to me. The bureaucrats solution was simple - ‘just pass the increased cost onto your customers, whats the problem?’
I explained to him that my customers are farmers who did not have the ability to pass those costs onto anybody. His response was - ‘thats not your problem’. My reply was that it was because if they all went broke, then I have no business.
This shutdown is too pressure the Government to reverse the new National Transport Reforms passed by the Federal Parliament recently and to meet the list of demands developed at the industry meetings held so far around Australia.
The List of Demands that the Industry is seeking is:
1. Disbanding of the National Transport Commission immediately.
2. No electronic recording systems, or work dairies.
3. No changes in the present log book format.
4. No demerit points on log books, or driving hours regulations.
5. Recoupment of demerit points for professional drivers who earn their living from their licence to be reduced to 12 months not the existing 36 months.
6. No penalty to drivers exceeding prescribed driving time when attempting to reach a vacant heavy vehicle rest area or when marginally over driving hours in compliance with defacto hours proposed under the new NTC ruling for all drivers irrespective of participation of fatigue management programs, and in any case ‘reasonable defence’ is to apply where compliance is not possible.
7. All fines for logbook breaches to be capped at an agreed fixed amount and relate to safety breaches only.
8. All fines and loss of demerit points for logbook breaches to be rescinded, fines and points to be reimbursed, all licences lost as a result of this legislation to be reinstated to previous status.
9. No increases or changes in registration charges for any truck or bus over 4 tonnes, charges to be set in concrete at current levels.
10. No increase or indexation of fuel excise.
11. No fuel based carbon charges or taxes.
12. No changes or variations to the Federal Fuel Energy Grants Scheme or to the State Bulk End User Rebates both of these are to remain in place indefinitely.
13. Authorities to endorse a driver intercept report sheet to create a reporting system to identify rude and unethical enforcement officers.
14. Main Roads Authorities in all States to construct and maintain all weather road train termination pads of adequate size.
15. A priority funded program to provide all weather heavy vehicle rest areas that are designed to provide adequate parking and amenities for the different truck trailer configurations according to truck traffic density.
16. That the log book period be changed from any 24 hour period to midnight to midnight on any calendar day.
17. That an inspection by an officer of either Queensland Transport or the Queensland Police Service of a drivers log book cannot be inspected past 14 days prior to the interception date.
Mick Pattel warned that unless the Federal and State Transport Ministers start too realize that the whole viability of the transport industry is on the line, the shutdown would definitely go ahead. He said:
“These blokes have no idea of the financial pressure truck operators are under.
The Canberra bureaucrat I’ve spoken to told me that the shut down will never happen. He said that truck drivers could never organize themselves enough to put together a nation wide transport shutdown.
What these blokes don’t realize is that you are dealing with people here who’s whole livelyhood is at stake. Transport operators and their families have their backs to the wall and are cornered. Have you ever known a truckie not to come out fighting in that situation.
We are giving them plenty of time to avoid this. When people find there is bugger all food on supermarket shelves and no fuel at service stations - they won’t be blaming us, it will be Minister Albenese and his state counterparts that will have to answer too the people.
Meetings of transport operators continue to be very well attended across the country in the lead up to the Shutdown scheduled to start in 4 weeks time.
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Have Your say! Do you support the truck drivers SHUTDOWN.
Related Posts
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- Truckies Protest in New Zealand as Australian National Shutdown Looms
- Call for Farmers, Fishermen & Truckies to Stand United.
- Hobbs Says QLD Government Forcing Truck Drivers to Break Law
- Truckies to Hold talks with Minister John Mickel
Tags: Mick Pattel, Transport
Mick,
If you are going to do a proposed shut down. It needs to be for an extended period of time. i.e at least 10 working days. Anything under this will be classed as a joke.
As a business operator who relies on road transport, I completely support your actions and hope that there are many more people out there who feel likewise.
Thanks Ross for your support, the shutdown is to run until we get a result, possibly two weeks, to go back without a result will achieve nothing.
Good on you Mick,
I fully support you guys.
I hope you can hold out in unity.
As a former farmer I know you`ve been taken for granted too long & all industries should realise we rely on each other to a greater or lesser degree.
cheers
Leon Ashby
Go there Mick and all you truckies,
I am NOT a truckie but am involved in another industry that is being threatened by bureaucratic blunders and nightmare legislations that can only have been designed by persons with absolutely no idea what they are doing or else they have done a degree and have no knowledge of the real world. The whole issue of blunders and red tape is now beyond a joke.
I trust you guys can organise this and show the barstards up!
Good luck - I will be stocking up to support you blokes!
If the farmers could teach the wharfies a thing or two about shipping sheep in South Australia some years ago surely the truckies shouldn’t have much trouble with Rudd the dud and his bureaucrat cronies.
Even Coles and Woolworths might learn a thing or two.
Andrew Taylor.
It is a sorry fact that governments in Australia today are non-consultative and really are not listening to their constituents.
Their agenda should be driven by the people and for the people of Australia. Their belief that they know best and have “mandate” to do whatever they please must come to an end eventually.
There is a continual barrage of rubbish eminating from Canberra, including many subjects written about on the AGMATES website.
These include carbon trading (or another tax based on false science), excessive regulation, and the sale of the peoples assets to private enterprise.
Blockades,demonstrations, strikes and mass resignations etc appear to be the only avenue whereby the government will even take notice.
It appears that government is addicted to fuel excise and this is why we are now lagging the world in alternative transport and alternative energy supplies for transport. Any alternative energy source can only be in a form that government can still reap their excise from.
With the distances we need to cover in Australia to do business, we need the most cost effective transport in the world if we are to compete with other countries. It is time for the removal of fuel excise totally.
Go ahead with your shutdown, you have my support.
There needs to be much more of this activity if we are to regain our Australian democracy and arrest the never ending increase in bureaucratic control over everything we do.
Bureaucratic decisions lacking in any shape or form of common sense are crippling too many Australians and/or their businesses and must be brought to heel.
I’m totally behind your stand.
Good luck.
Mick,
This may be it I’d like to think it is, if not maybe go again. We really have to shut all the servos down to achieve it or get the message across.
Me old mate said the bureaucrats are a bit sorta thick. So to get message to sink in you gotta write it on a big steel peg and get ya hammer and knock it in to their thick heads till it sorta gets right into their um … I think it is their brain.
Go for it my friend. I’d say 90% of Australia is behind ya.
Mike
Mick It on .
We have had thousands of drivers tell us they are going out . We will win because we are right .
The government is there or should be there to work for the people and be governed by the people . To many drivers are dying because these thick heads have not listened to people like us that have been in the industry for a long time .
The Shut down will go ahead .
People will be with out food in the shops in three days no petrol in four days , water will have to be rationed in five days and electricity will be rationed in ten days and that will lead to industry shut downs .
If we all work together and put up a united front we can and will win .
I thoroughly support the concerns of Truck drivers across the Nation.
I would also like to point out that The purported Governments they are up against are no longer what the People believe them to be.
In particular, The State of Queensland, as it used to be known, is it not now Queensland Government* a full blown private Corporation, outside of the Commonwealth and controlled by the cabinet for the benefit of the cabinet, with no obligation or liability to the citizens of the state.
In other words , until the people of The State correct this travesty, they , the defacto Government will do exactly what they want without fear or favour.
Can we not thank the last Premier in 2001 for that Usurpation of the Peoples government and rights.?
The facts are documented, well researched and available. All the other States are well down the same path.
EnvirowildP/ls (07 40963009), David Walter and many others have brought these matters to the attention of the Governor general, Prime minister etc and all politicians have been duly informed, and guess what, their arrogance is such that the agenda must be upheld, what ever that is.
The people must know these facts before its too late, as John Michelmore above points out, its obvious that the people are being mislead, they just have’nt been able to figure out how or why, until now that is. happy hunting.
GOOD ON YOU MICK,
I am sure all grain growers are behind you, your in a strong position to have a major effect on the RUDD Government for thier arrogances shown to the private/productive sector they just don’t give a stuff.
Wheat Growers found that out with Minister Tony Burke,now we are deregulated and the multi nationals are smiling along with there share holders.
Peter Cannon
Grain Grower Central West NSW
Thank you Peter,
I believe that democracy in this country is just a word now; the true meaning no longer applies to State or Federal Governments, the transport industry is in the same boat as the grain industry when it comes to dealing with Governments and bureaucrats, the shutdown will be the best wakeup call we can send.
However we may need to do it more than once, as I do believe they will attack our industry again in retaliation at our action, and if need be we will enlist the support of other industries next time around.
We are being extremely fair in this round of demands, and the Government will not lose any ground if they capitulate on this occasion, but I cannot guarantee that in the future, but if we have to do it again we will.
Mick,
If we stand united we will achieve a better and more flexible workplace .
I am a small fleet owner and we will be pulling up in support of this action. I have been traveling Australia wide and each time that I pull up at a truck stop I have been quizzing fellow drivers to see what sort of support we have and I have found that almost none are against it and will support the action.
But there is not enough information about the course we are to follow or what its about. I represent a great number of owner drivers and have become a communication point but we need publicity about what is going on, and how we will keep up with the progress of proceedings.
Peter ,
We have been getting info out their and we belive that over 60 % of all drivers will stop . Not bad for a group of people that a minister called a bunch of **** heads and he said that we couldnt stand together long enough to get a photo taken.
If you want any information please contact me on 07 41 24 88 99 or emial . : jamfig@austarnet.com.au . I will send it to out and you can spread it around . I will also send you the new transport act , The request for a review forms and other information you should have.
Peter Schuback
Hi Peter,
You can track our progress on our website,
http://www.forums.altnews.com.au/nrtf
Hi Mick,
We are a one truck owner driver and even though this shut down will hit us hard we are behind it 100%.
We are also in the process of pulling out of the TWU after watching Hughie condemn the ALDODA and what they are trying to do.
One thing we do need is more information on where things are happening and when.
Please get this one thing straight. Mick Pattel is NOT and never has been associated with ALDODA or Peter Schuback.
All members of the Transport workers Union and the ATA , VTA , QTA and all other associations that say they represent the transport industry should withdraw their membership .
WHAT HAVE THESE GROUPS DONE FOR THE TRANSPORT INDUSTRY . At Least , Mick and myself are working to help our industry
I think you have that wrong ,
PETER SCHUBACK IS NOT AND WOULD NEVER WANTS TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH MICK PATTEL AND HIS SO CALLED POLITICAL PARTY . He acts like a dictator and one has to question his actions in the transport shut down.
The Government wins again. WAKE UP for your own sake.
The reason they win is because they are experts at crushing Peoples UNITY.
If you want to get your point across, to get the Australian Public support, then you either put your bloody minded differences aside, look at the big picture and Unite your assets.
Otherwise forget the whole thing and watch our country slide into the abyss. Whatever happened to FREEDOM. And what legacy are you leaving for your kids to exist in by failing to do what you know you have to do. Im prepared for the shut down, Get Together and get on with it.
And what about your past political aspirations Peter Schuback
Like you said Terri PAST .
G’day All,
For the latest developments on the Shutdown go to our just published - National Transport Industry Shutdown Update#4 - Mick Pattel by clicking here.
G’day All,
New update - National Transport Shutdown - Update #6
Mick Pattel will be on Sunrise TV to explain why truckies are shutdown - Click Here to see the latest Update.
Also heres a link to a page with all of the Agmates articles on the National Transport shutdown. There are 10 on a page so to see earlier articles click on the Older Entries link at the top or bottom of the page.
Just thought this might help you to send the link to this page to anyone who wants / needs to know more about the truckies shutdown and why its happening.
G’day Everybody,
Heres todays update on day one of the Transport Shutdown - Click Here.