The Government should permanently exempt the trucking industry from the carbon tax, the ATA’s submission on the Government’s draft carbon tax bills says. The submission also makes five recommendations for improving the operation of the carbon tax if it is extended to the trucking industry.
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Submissions
The way the NSW Intelligent Access Program is administered should be adjusted to take into account the latest information and policies regarding higher productivity vehicles.
The ATA made the recommendation in its submission to the NSW Minister for Ports and Roads.
The submission outlines methods of increasing productivity, environmental gains and safety for NSW without increasing infrastructure wear.
In a number of forums recently, officers associated with the COAG Road Reform Project (CRRP) have implied that fuel consumption does not reflect road wear in heavy vehicles, and this is a failing of the ATA’s fuel based charges models. Our modelling shows this is not correct.
The road transport industry believes the Productivity Commission review should provide independent guidance to Government about the importance of intervention to reduce the regulatory burden for road transport operators if Australia is to remain internationally competitive and Australians are to continue to enjoy similar living standards to now. The road transport industry is currently burdened by a complex overlapping inconsistent multi-layered maze of regulations, and quasi-regulations.
The IPART committee has been commissioned to examine the future costs (next 5 years) of access for rail freight. It notes that COAG Road Reform Plan (CRRP) price reform will affect the projected access prices for rail. The CRRP determination will be vital to the grain industry, industry jobs in both road and rail sectors and in the bigger picture, the Australian economy.
The ATA concurs with what the COAG Road Reform Plan (CRRP) is setting out to do in principle, that is, improve the efficiency of the road freight system. The trucking industry is currently paying more than its fair share of the burden of road costs. However, the ATA does not accept the current recommendations from the CRRP.
The ATA believes the draft heavy vehicle national law should be reworked in consultation with industry before it is considered further.
The submission sets out 91 recommendations about the draft law, including road access decisions, fatigue management, chain of responsibility, TruckSafe and the Intelligent Access Program.
The ATA is broadly supportive of a National Land Freight Strategy (NLFS), although raises some caution with the discussion in the draft strategy and proposed actions.
The ATA believes the Australian Government should compare the safety benefits and costs of safe rates against other road safety measures before going ahead with the concept.
The ATA believes the final version of the 2011-2020 National Road Safety Strategy should give the planned National Heavy Vehicle Regulator the resources, expertise and authority to take direct carriage of major chain of responsibility investigations.