TRANSCRIPT: AUSTRALIAN TRUCK RADIO WITH SIMON SMITH, 19 JANUARY 2024

Subjects: Trucking Industry

 E&OE 

 STARTS: 1.30pm

 SIMON SMITH

 Across Australia, you’re listening to Australian Truck Radio. Simon Smith is my name. Nice to catch up with you into 2024, the year well and truly under way. A lot happening in the Australian trucking industry. My pleasure right now to catch up with a great mate of ours

here at Australian Truck Radio, a hard-working Federal MP. I’ve got Michael McCormack,

the Federal MP for Riverina on the line. G’day, Michael. Happy 2024, great to catch up with you, mate.

 MICHAEL McCORMACK

 And happy New Year to you too, Simon. And we go back a long, long time and I’m so pleased that you are promoting and advocating trucks, because as we all know, without trucks and without truck drivers, the nation stops.

 SIMON SMITH

 Exactly right, exactly right. And that’s the reason for contacting you, Michael, because particularly again, when you look at your electorate and a powerhouse city like Wagga Wagga and the history of that over the years, and you talk about organisations like there today, Ron Crouch Transport, of course, Finemores, all started out of there. You talk Burkinshaws, Royans, Hartwigs, you name it. The history of the Riverina and particularly a city like Wagga, the history of that with the transport industry is astounding. But, you know, Michael, talking to you today, the big thing at the moment is there’s so much pressure on the transport industry, mate.

 MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, there is. There’s so much expectation that they are going to deliver, they’re going to deliver on time and they’re going to deliver according to the budget pressures that every company is under. And you mentioned those trucking companies, the Crouches, the Finemores and they have done a power of work, a power of good, for this city for so many years, but not just our city, but indeed for Australia. Because you see those trucks, you see the Ron Finemore-branded trucks, the famous red with the green trays, right across the nation. And that’s a fantastic thing. And, of course, it’s helped by the fact that Wagga Wagga is such a centrally located city that has had access to Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney ports and, of course, the Newell Highway — it’s one of the busiest trunk freight routes right up and down the eastern seaboard, but indeed in the eastern states. But indeed, trucks do so much work, so much of the heavy lifting in our nation and we’re trying to ensure that they have the right infrastructure. So, whether it’s the inland Newell route, whether it’s the Bruce Highway, which is such an arterial route in Queensland; wherever it is, we want those freight routes to be the best that they can be. I am disappointed — I don’t want to get too political too quickly — but I am disappointed that the Government has seen fit to change the infrastructure spending pipeline to 50-50, with Labor expecting states to stump up 50 per cent of the funds, whereas under us, it was an 80-20 split. So the Federal Government, for all of those road infrastructure projects, it was 80 per cent Federal, 20 per cent was the expectation from the States and now it’s 50-50. And what that means is that some of the infrastructure, a lot of the infrastructure, just doesn’t get funded because the states either don’t have the capacity or they don’t have the political will to build the infrastructure that our arterial networks so desperately need and expect and want.

 SIMON SMITH

 Exactly. And look, as you say, everything that comes into, particularly, a rural town or a regional town or a city like Wagga, at the end of the day…

 MICHAEL McCORMACK

 Is brought in by a truck.

 SIMON SMITH

 Exactly right. And that’s where the infrastructure is just so critical. Look, the bottom line is,

and you hear so much conversation again about the pressure of small business, big business,

but particularly if you’re an owner-operator and you’re out there and you’ve got your own business, that’s a huge investment with a rig today when you talk about the technology of trucks and trailers. But then, that’s before you get to the red tape and the fuel cost today. Do you think the Albanese Government gets it?

 MICHAEL McCORMACK

 No, I don’t. And what they have wanted to do — they did when they were last in Government and they’re trying to do it again now — is unionise the trucking industry.

And we know that some of those small family-owned and operated companies, they don’t need to be unionised. They just want to get on with the job of operating their truck. And they don’t also have the capacity to change over their fleet as quickly as, say, one of the bigger companies, the Tolls, or one of the massive companies that, of course, run up and down the highways and byways of this nation. Diesel prices, yes. You know and that’s another thing, too. I mean, you’re paying anywhere from $1.81 to $2 a litre for diesel in Wagga Wagga at the moment. But right across the nation, it’s expensive when you pull up at that bowser, whether you’re driving a car, a motorcycle, or indeed a B-double. Petrol is expensive. Fuel is expensive. But we know that, you just mentioned — transporting the freight — nearly 80 per cent of our freight is transported by truck. That’s a huge amount. That’s the bulk of it. And what we want to make sure is that our truckies have the very best conditions, the safest conditions of course, that they’re being paid what they should be paid to do the job that they do for and on behalf of our nation. And so, we’ll always have the back of truckies, but not just the big operators, but indeed those family-owned and operated companies that might be just running two or three trucks, maybe even just one. They’re either carting grain or they’re carting people’s purchases on eBay, whatever they might be doing, we’re there. We’re going to support them.

 SIMON SMITH

 Exactly. You know, the other thing is and I know you’re very conscious of this and particularly with a lot of work that you do right across your electorate, and again, with your history, particularly with the Riverina, you understand particularly, again, the critical issue of transport and the people that run those trucks, but also, when you talk about mental health issues and, particularly, family issues and whatever else. It is a big industry. It’s full of wonderful people that do great things, but it’s always there seven days a week. But the critical issue too, again, when you talk to so many people today in the industry, it’s about things like mental health and also nutrition as well. So it’s an ongoing issue, but it’s a lot to be taken on board, particularly, in these moments of, you know, tough economic times — there’s a lot of pressure out there.

 MICHAEL McCORMACK

 Well, those people who are in those rigs and they’re probably driving around listening as we speak, there is a lot of pressure on them. They do a great job. We thank them for it. We need to make sure that we preserve and protect their best interests because they are doing an amazing job for and on behalf of the nation. The thing too is, you know, whenever there is a terrible crash and we see it on the news and it does involve a heavy vehicle, in the majority of cases, the substantial majority of cases, that hasn’t been that heavy vehicle driver’s fault. Now, whenever there is a heavy vehicle crash that unfortunately involves fatalities, it’s there for people to see and you’re right — the mental health is important and I would urge and encourage those drivers, if things aren’t okay, to seek help. Never be too proud to put your hand up if you are suffering from something that isn’t quite right and you think need to talk to somebody — do so, because there are people out there, Lifeline, there’s a whole host of wonderful lines that people can ring.

 SIMON SMITH

 Oh, yeah, so many great organisations. We do a lot of work here with Prime Creative with Healthy Heads in Trucks & Sheds and those guys.

 MICHAEL McCORMACK

 Headspace, a whole host of good programs, whether you’re young, there’s facilities there for young people, facilities there for people who are a bit more senior like you and I. But particularly if you’re a truckie — because it is pressure, there’s a lot of pressure on you to get what you’ve got on the back of your rig to where it needs to be in one place at one time and we think of them and we thank them. And if you ever get the opportunity and you’re talking to a truckie, tell them thanks, because they need it. It brightens up their day and they need the gratitude of Australians, too, because without them, as I said at the outset, without trucks and truck drivers, the nation stops.

 SIMON SMITH

 It’s all part of sharing the road. Just very quickly, Tony Burke didn’t miss DP World — this whole container thing, this is a huge issue for Australia at the moment.

 MICHAEL McCORMACK

 The ports always become an issue when Labor is in Government and there’s try-ons because the unionists on the wharves try and stop what needs to go overseas and what needs to come into Australia and it’s union bastardry at its worst. And what I know, there were so many comments, made by people such as Roger Fletcher, who is Australia’s biggest sheep meat exporter or one of, he said he feels for the farmers because a lot of their fresh produce, well, it doesn’t last. It’s perishable and it doesn’t last when it’s in the back of a truck, no matter how refrigerated it is. And that costs farmers money and we can’t afford to do that. Our farmers aren’t doing that well that they can afford to do it and to lose it and our truckies aren’t either. So, it’s important that we get this wharf situation sorted and sorted quickly. Everybody needs to be paid the right amount of money. I don’t dispute nor deny that. But when these, when these wharfy unions hold up the production of the nation

and the importation and the export of goods, that is not good. It is not good for our farmers. It’s not good for people who are already suffering a cost-of-living crisis and they need to sort themselves out and continue to do the job that they’re paid to do and expected to do — and not at the expense of our hardworking truckies.

 SIMON SMITH

 Michael McCormack, great to catch up with you. We look forward in 2024 if we could catch up with you once a month, that’d be really terrific because again, I know you’re on the ground and I know your background and I know at your heart, the Riverina and particularly as we know, so many trucking organisations around Australia have so much big history in the Riverina and you share a lot of that and understand that. So, we look forward to catching up with you once a month if that’s all right.

 MICHAEL McCORMACK

 Look forward to it, Simon and we’ll discuss the issues of the day and hopefully might even come up with one or two solutions. All good.

 ENDS: 1.40pm

Paul Pfitzner