Agmates

The Trucking stouch with the government that has been brewing for weeks is set to ignite into one of the most bitter and protracted disputes that Australia has seen for decades.

Truck drivers, owner drivers and the all powerful Transport Workers Union are lining up against State and federal governments across Australia. The dispute is over a number of issues that are forcing drivers out of the industry and owner operators out of business.

The first major salvo was fired last night on the ABC’s 7.30 report. You can watch the program here (scroll down the side bar and its the third story) or read the transcript here.

The 7.30 report basically outlines the Transport Workers Union(TWU) take on the issue. It is ominous when you see Tony Sheldon Federal secretary of the TWU saying:

“It’s breaking point. Drivers are literally being forced to put their lives and other’s lives at risk.”

The program takes a major swipe at Coles & Woolworths (you know the Supermarket Duopoly thats maintains it pays farmers a fair market price for their produce).

Apparently they won’t pay truckies more money to carry the goods either. In his interview when Tony says client, it’s actually code for Coles, Woolworths, major retailers and the major Transport compies that sub contract their work to 1,000’s of smaller privately owned trucking companies that are getting the short end of the stick (sound familiar). Tony Sheldon (pictured below) -

“The fuel costs mean the drivers work longer, harder and faster to meet the client demand. More drivers are getting killed, more people on our roads are being injured as a result of the pressures on truck drivers driven by economics of the clients.

The major retailers across the country are lying when they say that the prices have to go up because of fuel, because they’re actually not paying it to many of the people that cart their goods.

There would be hardly a driver in the country, whether they be employees or owner drivers that won’t be ruling out blockades.”

Meanwhile Mick Pattel who represents the grass roots uprising of drivers and owner operators agrees whole heartedly with the TWU stance. He has reported instances medium sized sub-contractors being threaten by Heavy weights in the Transport industry who carry for national retailers like Coles and Woolworths.

These huge multi-national transport groups are threatening to black ban any sub contractor who supports the shut down. This would effectively shut down many of these operators businesses. Mick has passed this information onto the TWU.

The drivers and owner drivers have a list of 20 demands that they want met. Top of the list is the scrapping of demerit points and fines for log book inaccuracies. It was clearly demonstrated in our recent article that a simple clerical error by a drive in a log book will cost them $600 and the loss of 3 points off the drivers license. Policing of these “poorly drafted laws” is causing many long serving drivers to leave the industry.

Here is what Queensland Minister for Transport John Mickel (pictured below) speaking to Arlie Douglas of Toowoomba ABC had to say about a recent meeting with Mick Pattel on this very issue:

“We won’t back down on one of the demands set by truckies planning to strike this Sunday.

Safety concerns will mean demerit points related to fatigue laws won’t be dropped.

One of the issues they wanted was the demerit points for log books which was introduced in March of 2007.

I will not be moving on that……..

There is nothing more dangerous than a driver who is fatigued being on the road with other road users.”

Mr Mickel might like to explain how fining a truck driver $600 for not drawing a line across a page, when the rest of the log book is in order including adherence to all fatigue laws is a safety issue. The facts are he and his Labor colleagues have drafted a ‘bad’ law.

Mr Mickels office told us on Monday that they realize there may be some issues with the way that the laws are policed and they will look into this. I’ll remind the minister that the police just enforce the laws they make. Have a look at the cartoon satire - Why Democracy is better. There is a line in there that Mr Mickel and all politicans should heed.

“Hi we are the Police force, we can only obey the laws, so whatever laws he makes, we’ve got to obey.”

It is the ultimate cop-out to blame the way police enforce the laws he and his Labor colleagues have made.

Agmates told the Minister that elements of the National Transport Bill were bad law making in our article “Lazy Labor Legislation will Impact Food Prices” back on the 19th of May this year. Indeed our articles on the issued formed a part of debate on the bill.

If the stand off escalates as it looks, that prediction about the laws impacting food prices will come true within months. As Geoff Thomas of Woolworths said on the 7.30 report:

“Blockades, depending on their nature and severity, could have a significant impact on Woolworth’s business.”

Blockades aside, food would be dearer in supermarkets if Woolworths and Coles were forced to stop using their 70% market domination to squeeze the life out of those that grow and deliver the product to their supermakets before they mark it up 100-250%.

The supermarkets rack up their margins and increase their profits whilst they squeeze the life blood out of every farmer and truckie who is responsible for putting food in their supermarkets.

They call this greater efficiencies in the supermarket business.

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Have Your say!

Talks held in Brisbane yesterday with the QLD state government have failed to avert the looming National Transport Shutdown.

Shutdown Convener and private transport owner & operator Mick Pattel updates us on the outcomes of his meeting with QLD Transport Minister John Mickel (pictured) and Queensland Transport Workers Union Secretary Hughie Williams.

Mick Pattel private Livestock Transport owner & operator (pictured below) reports:

“The Qld Transport Minister John Mickel and three members of his staff were gracious enough to give us an hour and a half of their time on Saturday morning (19th July 2008).

Liz Schmidt attended the meeting with me as a part of the delegation and she is able to verify the outcome of the meeting. Liz is the President of the Queensland Livestock Transport Association (QLTA) however she was there in here capacity as a private transport owner / operator and not representing the QLTA.

Unfortunately I can only report that we did not resolve the issues at hand. The biggest sticking point was the removal of demerit points from log book breaches, and on that point the talks broke down.

I do however believe that the Minister is now acutely aware what needs to happen to avert this shutdown, we are not scheduled to meet again at this point.

We still have not met with anyone in the Federal Government and expect that the standoff there may continue, which is unfortunate.”

Following the meeting Tom Desmond owner operator of Emerald Refrigeration Transport joined Mick & Liz at the Transport Workers Union (TWU) building to meet with with QLD TWU secretary Hughie Williams (pictured) and some of his people.

Mick reported on that meeting:

“Hughie gave us about one and a half hours of his time, it was a friendly and constructive meeting that made them aware of the reasons we are taking this action.

Hughie fell short of giving us full support however he didn’t condemn our efforts to head off these reforms. He told us he would wait and see how much support we received as a result of the shutdown before joining us. The TWU have 15,000 members across QLD.

I believe that the TWU are genuine in their concerns for where the industry is going and need some positive direction from the real people in the industry. It always seems that the minorities get the most attention and they do not represent or portray any of the true issues, and never offer realistic solutions.

I thank Liz and Tom for their support and their input and everyone driving this program. Our delegates across Australia are doing a great job in giving people the information and building support.”

Below is the names and contact details of the movements delegates. If you’d like to contact them or pass it onto your local transport operator so they can contact them to join the movement.

QLD - Mick Pattel Mob 0429-413161 Ph 0747413161

NSW - Leo Fardell Ph 0268844433 Mob 0429844433

VIC - Darryl Brown Ph 0354353589 Mob 0408322868

Western VIC & SA - Russell Borchard Ph 0350243247 Mob 0419007815

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Have Your say!

Queensalnd Member for Warrego and shadow minister for Main Roads Howard Hobbs (pictured) writes:

Heavy truck drivers were all-but being forced to break fatigue driving laws because of the lack of proper rest areas.

Parliamentary Estimates yesterday (17/07/08) heard that the Bligh government was failing to provide enough heavy vehicle rest areas by under-funding the Department of Main Roads which was responsible for half the 200 heavy vehicle rest areas on Queensland roads.

The recent Audit of Rest Areas against National Guidelines found rest opportunities for heavy vehicle drivers in Queensland were particularly scarce.

It’s disgraceful that the Bligh government has allocated just $3 million over the next five years to construct and upgrade of heavy vehicle rest areas.

Photo: An example of one of many designated Truck rest stop areas. Drivers are expected to stop and break here for 8-12 hours with no shower or toilet facilities. The only facilities in a number of these areas is a wheelie bin.

We need far more, and far more with better facilities. I am highly critical of the Bligh government for under-funding heavy vehicle rest areas, especially as drivers had to comply with national fatigue laws and Road Rule 200 which barred heavy vehicles from parking around towns and cities for more than an hour.

The government is forcing drivers to break the law and drive while fatigued because of the lack of proper rest areas.

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Have Your say!

National Transport Industry Shutdown Convener Mick Pattel will meet with Qld Minister for Transport John Mickel (pictured) tomorrow saturady the 19th of June.

At the meeting in Brisbane, Richmond Livestock transport owner Mick Pattel will present to the minister the log of claims that has been developed by transport owners & drivers after recent well attended meetings held in Toowoomba, Emerald, Townsville, Dubbo, Wyong and Bendigo.

The shutdown which is scheduled to start in 10 days time is an incredible grass roots uprising from drivers and smaller transport business owners.

On the same day Mick Pattel is also due to meet with powerful Queensland Transport Workers Union Secretary Hughie Williams (pictured) to discuss the Shutdown. Many of Mr Williams members will be involved in the shutdown.

Without any support from peak bodies such as the Australian Trucking Association (ATA) or State Transport associations who all oppose the shutdown it is estimated that 70% of drivers across industries such as Livestock Carriers, fuel tanks and refrigerated food trucks will stay at home for two weeks.

Many of the larger transport companies do not support the shut down but will be dragged into the dispute as more and more of their drivers elect to stay at home rather than drive.

The peak transport body the ATA who have been involved in the implementation of the new National Transport Legislation which is to come into effect at the end of September are vehemently opposed to the shutdown.

If the grassroots movement is successful in having 70% of drivers staying away from work the Peak transport bodies will extremely embarrassed as they will be seen as unrepresentative of their grassroots members.

Repeated request from Mick Pattel and his delegates for a meeting with the peak trucking body (Australian Trucking Association ATA) Chief Executive Stuart St Clair (pictured) have been stone walled by Mr St Clair who has stated publicly he is willing to meet with the group, but to date has never been available.

The shutdown is generating tremendous support with QLD State farming organization AgForce backing the shut down.

The owners and drivers delegate in Victoria Russell Borchard of Borchard transport at Mildura has told us that support for the shut down is growing each day.

“We have the backing of farmers, stock agents, fruit growers as well as hundreds of drivers. Everybody I speak to in Victoria and South Australia is right behind us. The numbers are just growing every day.”

I spoke to the head of the New South Wales Farmers Federation Jock Laurie at home on his farm today. He told us that the Organization was yet to consider whether they would throw their support behind the Shutdown as AgForce had.

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Have Your say!

Queensland - Peak State Farming Body AgForce is urging rural producers and those living in Rural communities to prepare themselves for the 2 week National Transport Shut down.

In a statement issued today - AgForce Cattle President Greg Brown (pictured) said -

“We are urging people to be aware of the potential disruption likely to flow from the upcoming truck stoppage on July 28 so that they are not caught unprepared.

Livestock sales and disposal will be affected by the proposed transport shutdown, particularly cattle producers moving stock out of drought-affected north-west Queensland.

However it is not just livestock managers that need to be aware because all supplies in and out of the bush are delivered on trucks, therefore a national road transport shutdown will cause inconvenience to all users and consumers if they do not take steps to stock up on essentials and plan ahead.

Both rural and urban consumers need to understand that a viable transport sector is vital because everything we all use is transported on a truck at some stage.

Consumers should get behind the truckies and tell the government in the strongest possible terms to stop implementing policy that will put transport operators out of business.

The issues that have sparked this truck strike are very concerning for livestock producers because everything we use in our businesses, and nearly all of stock movements, come and go in a truck.”

AgForce Cattle and AgForce Sheep & Wool boards are supporting the proposed stoppage by drivers and operators, in the hope it will highlight the increasing frustrations of rural road transport operators and customers.

AgForce has strong concerns that a number of recent transport legislative changes will not be practical and will significantly increase the operating costs of Queensland livestock producers.

The four main trucking regulatory changes that will impact on livestock businesses are changes to the chain of responsibility legislation, increased registration fees for B-Double trucks, changes in fatigue management regulations and log-book procedures.

New chain of responsibility laws come into effect in September and will dramatically change the roles and responsibilities of those involved in the loading, unloading and scheduling of road transport. Greg Brown goes on to say:

“AgForce Cattle and AgForce Sheep & Wool boards are concerned that transport regulatory bodies at state and federal level do not yet understand the complexities and practices of livestock transport in rural and remote Australia and the full implications these changes will have on beef and sheep producing businesses

Some cattle producers in outlying areas are already paying 15-20 percent of the animals’ value to truck them to market, so any changes that will increase these costs risk making rural businesses unviable.

In addition, for livestock transport you have to manage what appears to be conflicting road safety and animal welfare requirements, whilst operating on a commercially viable basis. That is why we want exemptions from some of the rules for livestock carriers.

Given this frustrating situation, we are not surprised that truck operators and drivers are organising this stoppage on July 28 and we feel obliged to add our concerns on behalf of livestock producers.

Hopefully this protest increases State and Federal government awareness of the scope of the problems facing the road transport industry for livestock producers and that the need of exemptions for livestock carriers will be recognised.

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Have Your Say! Tell us what are you doing to prepare for the 2 week transport shutdown.

The new National Transport Laws treat truck drivers like criminals. Three recent cases in Queensland show how truck drivers will be treated nation wide when the National transport laws come into affect in every state at the end of September.

We highlited in a recent article that while the laws were passed by the Queensland parliament with all good intent, when enforced by police they are frightening. This new legislation is one of the main causes of the planned national shutdown by truck drivers.

Case 1: Driver Dean Vilimovsky Lumbar Transport Deniliquin NSW.

Fined $2,000 - lost 9 Points off his license, Finger Printed & Photographed by Police.

Dean delivered a load of fencing wire to Bayrick station just east of Agathella Western QLD. He arrived late in the afternoon and so stayed overnight and unloaded the next day. I have confirmed this with Bayrick manager Matt Perters.

After unloading he headed back but and at 5.30pm in the afternoon was stopped just outside of Charleville by 4 Uniformed Charleville police.

After inspecting his log book he was given 3 breach notices. The first was that he had failed to record a change of activity in his log book - $600 fine and loss of 3 points. Dean says that he accepts that he had forgot to do this and the fine was in order.

The second and 3rd breaches were because the was a 30 hour gap in his log book (nearly all of this was spent at Bayrick). The officers maintained that all of his activity at Bayrick should have been recorded. He was fined $600 plus a loss of 3 points for the 1st 24 hours and then $600 plus 3 points for period over 24 hours.

The police then said because his log book did not show that he had rested as per the fatigue laws they were grounding him for 12 hours. This meant that he could not even drive the truck the 1 km into Charleville to get to a rest stop with facilities. The police required he spend 12 hours on the side of the road with no shower, toilet, food or water. If he wanted to get to town he could walk or hitch a ride.

At 11.30pm that night (6 hours later) Dean decided he’d had enough and headed off. He was stopped again further down the road by more police. After they checked his licence and log book which was now all in order. But after check their in car computer they told him that there was a notice out on him. The police informed him that he had disobeyed a police instruction and he had 7 days to voluntarily report to a Queensland police station and if he did not a warrant would be issued for his arrest.

Dean reported to the Goondiwindi police station on his way through and was finger printed and photographed by the police. He said it was a degrading experience. I felt like a real criminal going through that.

The upshot is that the case went though the Charleville magistrates court and uncontested he was fined a further $200 with thankfully no criminal conviction recorded.

The final result of Dean’s trip to Sunny QLD was $2,000 in Fines - 9 points lost of his licence. He told us he won’t be coming back.

Case #2: Driver for Hawkins transport Karumba Far North Queensland.

Fined $600 and lost 3 points.

I spoke with Karumba General transport owner Bradley Hawkins. They do a general freight run from Brisbane to Karumba each week. He told me that just this week 2 of his drivers had been fined. The first was doing the general frieght run.

He was stopped by the Cairns Main Road police just 100kms short of Karumba. His log book, rest times and all else were in order. However the driver had not drawn a line across the page after he’d entered his rest break and the recommencement of his journey.

The result $600 fine and loss of 3 points of his licence.

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Case #3. Driver for Hawkins transport near Charters Towers NQ.

Fined $600 and lost 3 points.

Once again just this week another of Bradley Hawkins drivers was pulling freight from Charters Towers to Normanton. Once again the main roads police from Cairns. He was pulled over just after leaving Charters Towers. The log book inspected. He had just started a new log book. The old one and the new one were all in order. However he had not filled in the name of his home depot in the front of the book.

The result $600 fine and 3 points off his license.

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The above 2 drivers more than half of their weeks pay. These are decent men who have families and mortgages to pay.

Heavy transport drivers have 12 points on their license just like car drivers. However if the loss all 12 points under the transport legislation they loss their license for a defined period usually for 3 months. That means their career and lively hood is usually finished.

No wonder 1,000’s of drivers across the country are willing to stay at home and fore go 2 weeks pay during the 2 week transport shut down to have these laws changed.

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Have your say! What do you think? Do you support the Truck Drivers?

The Australian Transport Industry Shutdown Convener Mick Pattel (pictured) writes:

The National Road Transport Shutdown is only a short time away and still no-one in Government is taking it seriously.

All attempts to contact Transport Ministers have proven fruitless, it’s almost as if they hope it will go away. That will be a bad mistake, the transport industry has never been more committed to this demonstration of unity than at any other time in the past.

I believe the Prime Minister and State Premiers should be taking control of this matter before it is too late.

When the shutdown happens on the 28th of July there will be about two working days before the Government will react then a further two days to resolve the industries concerns.

By that time the Public, Retailers, Mines, Regional Centres, and Exporters both from Manufacturing and Primary Producers will be in uproar.

No Government can ignore the damage this Transport shutdown will do to the economy of the country, because the industry has voluntarily withdrawn it services in protest there will be nothing the government can do but capitulate.

The list of demands continues to grow as time goes on and it would not surprise me if other industries that are in trouble as a result of poor Government performance will join the protest and add their demands to the list. I believe the door is open for this to happen after the shutdown starts.

The ideal conclusion would be for Governments to head this off before the entire country becomes involved and the fallout could bring about the demise of the Labor Government.

I also believe that they are not going to let a badly formulated piece of Transport Reforms harm their chance of re-election, but then again when did Governments ever listen to the people.

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Have Your Say! Ask Mick a question or give your thoughts.

As the deadline for a National Transport shutdown in Australia looms, there has been gridlock this morning in New Zealand’s major cities as thousands of truck drivers staged a mass protest.

They are angry about an increase in government charges. The New Zealand Government says it had to increase road user charges by 7 per cent to pay for the damage trucks do to the country’s roads.

Truck drivers say they are already struggling with rising fuel costs. They blocked streets in the heart of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Australian Transport drivers are planning a National Shutdown in protest over many of the same issues.

See video of the New Zealand mass protest this morning.

Note - If Video stops and starts while playing - let it run through once then click the Play arrow and it will run through without stopping the second time. Its your connection speed thats the trouble. This may not work if your on dial up.

Please note that Agmates is not responsible for any content beyond the video we’ve selected. In other words, after you watch the video if you click on further links that come up to other YouTube Videos you do so at your own risk.

Click here to see Agmates ‘Videos of the day’ library.

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Have Your say!

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.

Agmates Editor Steve Truman writes:

Lazy & arrogant legislation making by an all powerful QLD Labor Government will create a huge flow on of bureaucratic costs that will pass all the way from food producers to consumers. This is an example of poor government in any form.

Last week saw the passing of the Transport Amendment Bill in the QLD Parliament. The passing of this bill Bill in Queensland will now pave the way for it to be legislated in every state of Australia.

The legislation due to come into effect in September this year means that all those involved in the food chain from farmers, agents, processors, wholesalers, retailers and private citizens will face fines and court action if they cannot correctly read a heavy transport drivers log book.

Considering that a large number of the states police cannot comprehend a truck Drivers log book this is a bizarre law by any standard.

The cost to industry and the state tax payer to incorporate the duplicate layers of systems and documented procedure will be millions of dollars. Those cost will either be borne by producers (who have no ability to pass them on) or in the end by consumers in supermarkets.

Passing this legislation with these flaws and prohibitive costs is just lazy out of touch governing by a party that due to its huge majority of seats, treats the opposition and the good hard working people of Queensland in the food - production / transport/ processing and retail sectors with contempt.

Despite well researched and impassioned pleas from the opposition benches Transport Minister John Mickel (pictured) and his Labor colleagues rammed this costly and impractical legislation through the parliament.

Not only did Labor use its huge majority in the Single House State Parliament to pass the bill, it also used it to cut short the debate.

With plain bloody mindedness, Mr Mickel the member for Logan (no food producers there to trouble himself with) and his Labor colleagues ignored numerous concerns voiced by Liberal, National and Independent Members on behalf of all Queenslanders involved in the food production chain.

On reading the Hansard of the day those concerns had been expessed on behalf of Queensland farmers by Agmates and AgForce and various members of the Livestock trucking Industry. Click here to read an extract from the evenings proceedings up to the final vote.

Agmates feature article last week “Log Book Legislation could See farmers Jailed” brought to light many of the difficulties that this legislation would impose on food producers.

Independent Member for Gladstone Liz Cunningham (pictured) read the Agmates article in its entirety to the house and asked the minister to respond directly to the questions we raised in his reply.

Minister John Mickel failed to address those issues in his reply and was bought to task my Liberal the Deputy Leader:

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Tim Nichol:

“A number of people have referred to a report released by Agmates, which I also have looked at. The Agmates report refers to a consignor being held responsible for manslaughter.

As I read the legislation, the chain of responsibility—and for the sake of clarity I would ask the minister to say yes or no to this—only relates to offences under this legislation.

Mr MICKEL:

“I will clarify it. The member is asking a fair question that he should take back to his constituents. The advice given to me in relation to that offence is that that would not happen.“

(Agmates: Is that a yes or no? That was government legal advise. It is not difficult to obtain differing legal opion on any range of legislation. I’m guessing that no one will really know until it’s tested in the courts.)

Tim Nichols:

“Clause 61 is one that has excited considerable comment and has been the subject of a number of releases and comments by AgForce in particular which seeks to remove section 150AB(1)(d)(v) and (vi). Subsection (1)(d)(v) and (vi) states—
rules requiring any or all of the following persons to ensure drivers of fatigue regulated heavy vehicles comply with a regulation under this part—
(v) consignors or consignees of goods in the vehicles;
(vi) loading managers of goods in the vehicles.

Effectively it is a regulation-making power that enables the government, through a regulation, to set rules about what a consignor or consignee or a loading manager must do in order to ensure compliance with the fatigue management rules.

I would like the minister to clarify that that is, in fact, the purpose of it…..

John Mickel:

The member has asked three questions. I am advised that the answer to the first question that the member asked is yes.

In relation to the example that the member gave, as part of the education process we will be giving advice to people in the industry on the codes and procedures to assist them.

This is very much part of the education process…….

In essence if you now are the consignor (sender / loader) or the receiver (unloading) you are required by legislation to take all reasonable steps to ensure the truck driver is compliant with his Fatigue management hours. The only way to do this is too check his log book.

Opposition MP’s Tim Nichols, Vaughan Johnson, Mike Horan, Liz Cunningham and Shane Knuth all spoke at lenght on behalf of Rural & Regional Queenslander’s.

They raised many issues of the impracticality of parts of the legislation from caretakers & junior Jackeroos receiving cattle late at night, to city people loading a furniture removal van etc. They may as well have saved their breathe.

Mr Mickel’s response was that the government will train us all and as long as we can prove in court we have taken resonable steps, there will be no convictions.

Mr MICKEL:

I will try to take the members through a couple of things in my non-legal way. I guess the defence is ‘reasonable steps’. (The minister is talking about defending yourself in court) —

Where a person did not know—would be a defence of a reasonable step.

There is no capacity to influence the outcome, so that would be a reasonable defence.

If an offence under standard hours could have been avoided if the driver had taken a short break, it is a defence if the driver can prove that at the time when the driver was required to take the short rest there was no suitable rest place. I think that covers what both members were saying—that the park was full, the guy was not there, whatever.

It is also a defence if the driver took the short rest break at the next suitable rest place available after this time on the forward route of the driver’s journey. In a situation where he goes to pull in and it is full or unsuitable, it is a defense if he can prove that.

There has to be an attempt to influence illegal behaviour or a breaking of fatigue management—or to reasonably know that what you were doing was in defiance of the fatigue management.

It was apparent from the number of Labor MP’s that spoke in favor of the Bill that constituents with grave concerns only speak to opposition MP’s as not one of the Labor MP’s who spoke raised a single negative issue with the Bill.

What QLD Labour has created with this legislation is that each and every producer, agent, processor, wholesaler, retailer and private citizen will now have to be a sudo Main Roads Traffic cop.

Every business in the State will have to have a system / code / procedure in place for the loading and unloading of all heavy transport vehicles (anything over 12 tonne) and checking drivers log books.

With those systems in place when the driver of the truck you just loaded or unloaded gets booked for a log book infringement and your infringement notice automatically arrives in the mail (as the last person to check the log book), you’ll be able to head off to court with your documentation under your arm to demonstrate to the magistrate that you should not have to pay the fine.

You’ll need to be able to prove to the magistrate with documentation that you took ‘reasonable steps’ to ensure the drivers log book was correctly completed.

Heavy haul truck drivers are one of the most heavily policed professionals in the state. They are regularly pulled over and fined for mistakes as simple as a spelling error in log books. Would I be cynical to think that the government will now be able to double dip on the fines. They get the truckie and now they get the Consignor or Consignee as well.

Link to complete Hansard recording from the day.

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