Agmates

Transport Legislation Amendment Bill 2008-04-21

Part 8 - Amendment of Transport Operations (Road User management) Act 1995

Clause 52 Insertion of new s 57AB

(Red Italics added by Agmates)

Extended Liability Offense:

Influencing Person:
(a) in relation to a heavy vehicle means any or all of the following persons;

(i) the owner of the heavy vehicle, or if the heavy vehicle is a combination, the owner of the vehicle forming part of the combination;
(ii) the registered operator of the heavy vehicle, or if the heavy vehicle is a combination, the registered operator of the vehicle forming part of the combination;
(iii) A person, other than the Owner or registered operator, who controls or directly influences the operation of the heavy vehicle: and

Example-
the operator of the heavy vehicle

(b) For an offense against section 162D or relating to a contravention of a mass, or loading requirement involving a heavy vehicle including any or all of the following persons:

(i) The consignor of any goods in the heavy vehicle; (the farmer)
(ii) The packer of any goods in the heavy vehicle; (the farmer)
(iii) The loading manager of any goods in the heavy vehicle; (the farmer)
(iv) The loader of any goods in the heavy vehicle; and (the farmer)

(C) for an offence relating to the contravention of a maximum work requirement or a minimum rest requirement involving a heavy vehicle; including any or all of the following persons;

(i) The employer of the driver of the heavy vehicle;
(ii) A person who schedules the transport of any goods or passengers by the heavy vehicle; (the farmer)
(iii) A person who schedules the work and rest times of the driver of the heavy vehicle; (the farmer)
(iv) The consignor of any goods in the heavy vehicle; (the farmer)
(v) The consignee of any goods in the heavy vehicle; (the farmer)
(vi) The loading manager of any goods in the heavy vehicle; and (the farmer)

(D) for an offense relating to the contravention of a work and rest hours option requirement involving a heavy vehicle; including any or all of the following persons;

(i) the employer of the driver of the heavy vehicle;
(ii) A person who schedules the transport of any goods or passengers by the heavy vehicle;
(iii) A person who schedules the work and rest times of the driver of the heavy vehicle;

(E) an offense relating to the contravention of a work diary requirement involving a heavy vehicle; includes any or all of the following people;

(i) the employer of the driver of the heavy vehicle;
(ii) a person who schedules the transport of any goods or passengers by the heavy vehicle; (read farmer)
(iii) a person who schedules the work and rest times of a driver of a heavy vehicle; (read farmer)

Amendment of Section 57D (Reasonable Steps defense)
(1) Section 57D2 -
Omit

Agmates Editor Steve Truman writes:

AgForce Cattle council President Greg Brown in an article in theage.com.au has called on the Federal Government to change tax subsidies for Managed Investment schemes.Â

Read the whole article from the Age Here.Â

Lee McNicholl, QLD Farmer and ABA Director writes

The Australin Beef Association supports effective Country of origin Labelling (CoOL) Laws as a potent means of protecting the livelyhoods of Austrlian farmers who at considerable regulatory cost produce the essentials of life on a clean, green and sustainable basis.

For their efforts in complying with some of the world’s highest food and fibre standards, the ABA argues that Australia’s food labelling laws should be strict enough so as to easily and acurately inform consumers about the origin of their food.

This information empowers consumers to make healthy food choices and hopefully buy Australian agricultural produce in preference to cheaper imports from countries with lower health and environmental standards.

This pro Aussie farmer policy was recently hotly debated by the patrons at a local pub when the publican brought to their attention that the bottled water he unknowingly purchased originated in China and the tinned pineapple in Indonesia.

Large print on the water container’s mid section said “Proudly Australian Owned” but partially concealed in fine print underneath the screw top said “Bottled at Source, Product of China” The Pineapple was in atin labelled with a well known Queensland pineapple brand. In an obscure spot on the back of the tin some relatively small print said “Product of Indonesia”.

Fortunately the beer was clearly labelled “Brewed & Bottled in Australia” and we were able to drink on with a clear conscience while our “focus” group “brewed” over the harmful impacts of globalized “free trade”/ We agreed that the mis-leading or hard to read labelling was obviously designed to get around Australia’s clearly inadequate CoOL laws.

The US farm lobby’s long and ardusous campaign for strict CoOL laws has gained further ground in this years’s US Farm Bill to spite entrenched opposition from various US multi-nationals.

COOL advocates are getting further traction from the current 100 plus cases of E.Coli 0157:H7 food poisiong in the US caused by contaminated ground beef from Canada. This comes hot on the heels of health scares from Chinese imports to the US.

Australia currently imports canned meat products from the US and Europe under inadequate quarantine and labelling laws that fail to specify the real country of origin of the beef. The ABA looks forwards to political candidates of all persuasions voicing their support for tougher Australian CoOL and quarantine laws before the November 24th election.

Patriotic consumers who wish to support battling farmers also deserve to know they can buy Australian with confidence.