Road and Rail Safety

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:24): Today, I would like to add some commentary about safety in the workplace. Last week, we spoke in this place about Farm Safety Week, and quite appropriately we discussed safety in the workplace—in that instance, the workplace being the farm. Today, I would like to talk about the road, which is a workplace for many people. Accordingly, road safety is an important issue not only for people who work on the roads—and by that, I do not just mean roadworks; I also mean truck drivers and others—but for every member of our community who rides on our roads.

To ensure that our roads are safe, we need to ensure that heavy vehicles use our roads in a safe manner. It is a sad fact that in the 10-year period to 2014, more than 2,500 people were killed in truck crashes across our nation. Part of the road safety solution is achieved through compliance with heavy vehicle regulatory standards. Another part of the solution is achieved through ensuring that truck drivers are paid a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. Truck drivers deliver the goods that our community relies upon. Truck drivers deliver our food and groceries, and they deliver most of the consumables we enjoy.

To do this, truck drivers sacrifice significant amounts of family time, as well as time away from their communities. Like the rest of us, truck drivers deserve fair pay, and they deserve to be paid at a level that ensures that our roads remain safe. If truck drivers are forced to drive excessively long shifts and do not get sufficient rest between these shifts, their fatigue may cause an otherwise preventable crash.

Multiple judicial and coronial reports, academic studies and government-commissioned inquiries have produced evidence which shows that low rates of pay for truck drivers cause unsafe practices in the road transport industry. The Transport Workers Union's Safe Rates campaign has been designed to reduce the incidence of fatigue-related crashes. It tackles low rates of pay at the top of the transport supply chain.

I commend the actions of the Transport Workers Union for obtaining fair pay and conditions for truck drivers throughout national enterprise agreements with Toll, Linfox and TNT. Safe Rates committees, made up of workers and TWU delegates, have also been established to make sure that outside hire workers also get the rates, standards and conditions they deserve. I commend the actions of the Transport Workers Union and their secretary in this state, Ian Smith, for supporting road safety through upholding the pay and conditions of truck drivers.

I would like to also briefly speak about the safety of people on our trains. I have actually been a regular train user since 1978. Unfortunately, I was not able to use the train today because the line was not working, due to a very sad incident which occurred this morning. However, I am very proud to be a regular train user. I am very proud of our public transport system, and I am very proud of the investment into public transport made by the previous state government. One of the biggest public transport investments they made was in the Adelaide-Gawler line.

The previous government invested 100 per cent to electrify to Salisbury, and the previous government made a commitment of 50 per cent to go from Salisbury to Gawler central. Belatedly, the federal government has come on board. The people of Gawler have had to wait at the train station for a little longer because the federal government would not come on board sooner. I would also like to commend the people who work on our trains. They are there every day, working on our trains, to make sure that all commuters are safe.

It is important that we have a good public transport system for two reasons. Firstly, it is an equity issue. It is important for those people who, for whatever reason either cannot afford or cannot drive a car, to have access to public transport. Secondly, it is good for road safety because we have fewer cars on our roads. On Wednesday 25 July, I had gone home on the 7.20 train. One of the passenger service assistants and security officers, who work after 6pm, had the task of removing someone who was a bit intoxicated and whose behaviour was not their best, in order to make sure that the rest of us were safe.

She did an extraordinary job. I would like to publicly commend the way she diffused the situation and not only safely removed the person who was behaving inappropriately from the train but kept the rest of us safe as well. I think it is important that this happens; she is trained. I would also like to commend the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, who work with their members and other staff to keep not only their members safe, but all public transport users.