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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-05-31 Daily Xml
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Bills

Statutes Amendment (Heavy Vehicle Registration Fees) Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 1 March 2017.)

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (12:01): I want to acknowledge that I am not the lead speaker from this side of the house, but I want to make a contribution in regard to the Statutes Amendment (Heavy Vehicles Registration Fees) Bill 2017. This bill amends the Highways Act 1926 and the Motor Vehicles Act 1959, with amendments to assist South Australia to meet its agreed obligations as a participating jurisdiction under the February 2014 Heavy Vehicle National Law (South Australia) Act 2013 which contains the national law as a schedule.

This bill provides for the creation of a National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (referred to as the Regulator). The national legislative regime for heavy vehicles deals with trucks over 4.5 tonnes in gross vehicle mass. In regard to what has happened, the simple fact is because the registration chapter of the national law has not yet commenced, heavy vehicle registration is still under state legislation. However, participating jurisdictions registration fees are governed by model law, and that is approved by the national Transport and Infrastructure Council made up of state and territory ministers.

Vehicle registration charges are now calculated on the basis of both road user charge and regulatory charge components. South Australia, along with other participating states, has agreed that the regulatory revenue collected as part of registration be transferred to the regulator fund, and this was previously paid by the South Australian registrar into the Highways Fund, providing the regulator with industry based funding to resource its duties. This is made through amendments to section 31 of the Highways Act.

With amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act, this will clarify that deductions from concessional registration charges for people living in remote areas and primary producers will be taken from the roads component and not the regulatory component of the fees provided to the regulator's fund. This bill is in effect a stopgap measure to pay for the National Heavy Vehicles Regulator until all arrangements are completed. Registration fees we are told will not increase, but instead a portion will be handed on to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator instead of going to the Highways Fund from which the South Australian share would be paid to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator separately anyway. In consultation, from this side of the house, we understand that the industry, including the South Australian Freight Council, is quite pleased with the regulatory harmonisation through the national regulations. That is supported pretty well generally by the industry overall.

Registration fees are a high cost wherever you operate in South Australia, whether you run a small business or a large business or whether you run a farming business. The fees and charges can run into many tens of thousands of dollars over different items of plant and equipment in your possession. I think it can be something like $6,500 to register semitrailers, obviously B-doubles are a lot more than that, and now we have road trains operating in parts of South Australia and there are higher registration fees for those vehicles as well.

I have mentioned in this place before about that three-year road train trial between Pinnaroo and Tailem Bend, in terms of shifting grain; that creates those efficiencies, but it also comes with a high regulatory cost in the registration of those vehicles. It is a charge that does get passed on to the end user. Those registration fees come back as a freight charge to whoever accesses road transport in this state, whether you are primary producers or whether you are farther up the chain in regard to general freight being transported around the state.

There are certainly other registration charges that have also come in in more recent years regarding farming plant, tractors and the like, front-end loaders, Manitous, etc., and even though those charges are not high they keep increasing over time and it becomes quite a high cost. The member for MacKillop was talking about the registration fees for his property, between his trucks and equipment. He has a once-off date which is, he thinks, about the end of January, and I asked him afterwards, 'What would that bill be likely to be, because it is all your registration fees in one hit?' He said that it could be as high as $12,000. That does not surprise me at all, and that is just one family farming unit and the level of fees that affects them.

In the main, I think we need to work together to get more harmonisation with regard to national heavy vehicles. In this country, we have vehicles that travel all the way from Queensland right down to Victoria and freight that goes over to Tasmania. In regard to east-west transport, we have freight that comes from Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide and heads over to Perth and back, and also from Adelaide through to Darwin and back.

It is just a simple fact that our freight is being moved through all states. I do not think that Western Australia is online with the national heavy vehicle registration, which is disappointing. Obviously they have their reasons, but I think for harmonisation it would be better to have everyone on board, to have a standard right across the country. With those few words, we are certainly supporting the bill and look forward to its speedy passage through the house.

Mr GEE (Napier) (12:08): I rise to support the Statutes Amendment (Heavy Vehicles Registration Fees) Bill 2016. This bill amends the Highways Act 1926 and the Motor Vehicles Act 1959. On 10 February 2014, the Heavy Vehicle National Law (South Australia) Act 2013, which contains the national law as a schedule, came into operation. It provides for the creation of a National Heavy Vehicle Regulator. South Australia and other participating Heavy Vehicle National Law jurisdictions have agreed that the regulatory revenue collected as part of the registration fees is to be transferred to the regulator fund to meet each jurisdiction's share of the council-approved operating budget of the regulator.

This will provide the regulator with an industry-sourced funding model to resource its important duties, which include the National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme management and accreditations, heavy vehicle access permit applications, a national driver work diary and risk classification system for advanced fatigue management, and one set of national penalties.

The amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act will require the transfer of this regulatory revenue collected by the registrar from heavy vehicle registration fees to the regulator's fund. The bill also clarifies that any deduction resulting from concessional registration charges payable, pursuant to sections 34 and 37 of the act, for people living in remote areas and primary producers is to be taken from the road's component and not the regulatory component of the fees.

Heavy vehicles play an extremely important role in Australian society. Without trucks moving products across our wide country, many areas would not be able to access goods and services that every Australian deserves and expects. I want to recognise all the short- and long-haul truck drivers. They provide an essential service to our country. I was chatting to a former truckie while doorknocking last week. He thoroughly enjoyed his time in trucks and the opportunity his job gave him to see our great country.

Truckies see many parts of Australia and many things that most Aussies would never see because they are constantly on the road, moving products across our land. Being a truckie is a hard but rewarding profession. I want to thank the Transport Workers Union for the support that they have provided to our truckies and their families. My constituent, who sadly was not in great health, still loves getting out and about to discover more of our country. Another constituent whose husband was a truck driver for a long time is just about to hit the road as a grey nomad. She was lucky to see many parts of Australia with her husband while he was still part of the industry.

The northern suburbs have three main freight routes heading north, east and west. Port Wakefield Road hosts trucks heading north through to the Northern Territory and Western Australia and through to Port Adelaide and Adelaide Airport. The Northern Expressway and Main North Road host trucks heading through to the Riverland and the Eastern States. The state government has invested in road infrastructure to make sure South Australian roads are safer and more effective for truck movements.

We have delivered the Northern Expressway and the South Road Superway, making access along a major freight routes easier and increasing export opportunities. As a government, we are continuing to invest in vital freight infrastructure through the construction of the Torrens to Torrens project and the Northern Connector—all projects that have or will decrease the travelling time for heavy vehicles to our port or across our great city.

South Australia produces some of the best food and wine in the world, from the wonderful vineyards in the Barossa and Clare valleys, McLaren Vale, the Riverland and the Coonawarra to its meat, cheese, and fruit and vegetables. The names Bickford's, Beerenberg, Jacobs Creek, Maggie Beer and Wolf Blass are known across the world. This produce can only reach the rest of the world and be enjoyed on the tables of Europe, Asia and the US by trucks taking it from the farms and vineyards to the ports and airports in South Australia and then from the ports and airports to the supermarkets and specialty shops in the overseas countries.

It is not only major roads where the state government is investing in road improvements to benefit the transport industry and all South Australians. In my electorate, improvements have been made to the Kersbrook Road, Gawler Road, One Tree Hill Road and Humbug Scrub Road intersection with the installation of a major new roundabout that will make the intersection significantly safer. The local community had long campaigned for an upgrade to this intersection. I was proud to deliver this project with strong support from the local community. This roundabout has been warmly welcomed by the community and makes this intersection safer for the heavy vehicles involved in the grape harvest and the agricultural industry and all the small trucks and cars that use the intersection every day.

Another local project being delivered is an upgrade to the intersection at Angle Vale Road with Curtis Road and McGee Road at Virginia. This vital upgrade will make the intersection much safer, with the realignment of Curtis Road farther west to create a staggered T-junction, which will reduce the risk of right-angle crashes at this location. It will also deliver installation of a sheltered right-turn lane on Angle Vale Road for traffic turning into Curtis Road. Upgraded lighting at the new Angle Vale Road junction with Curtis Road, asphalt resurfacing and new pavement marking will also be part of the project. This is a very busy intersection, with a number of heavy vehicles using it on a regular basis to carry livestock and horticultural products.

I am also lobbying hard for upgrades to four other intersections in my local area: the intersection of Yorktown Road and Blair Park Drive at Craigmore, the intersection of Main North Road and Dalkeith Road at Kudla, the intersection of Womma Road and Stebonheath Road at Davoren Park/Eyre/Edinburgh North and the intersection of Yorktown Road and Adams Road at Craigmore. I am pleased to advise that the local residents and I have been successful in lobbying for the upgrade to the intersection of Yorktown Road and Blair Park Drive. DPTI will install a new roundabout at this intersection with construction commencing in late 2017—another win for local community campaigning.

In summary, heavy vehicles play a very important role in Australian society, so we need to ensure that we have a strong national regulator to support and police the industry. The South Australian government is upgrading roads across South Australia. I commend the bill to the house in order that South Australia can meet its national commitments to the council and to the regulator to deliver agreed support for the national heavy vehicle regulation regime.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (12:15): Thank you, Deputy Speaker, Independent as you are. I rise to support the Statutes Amendment (Heavy Vehicles Registration Fees) Bill 2017. The national legislative regime for heavy vehicles deals with trucks over 4½ tonnes in gross vehicle mass. The bill is in effect a stopgap measure to pay for the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator until all arrangements are completed.

Registration fees will not increase, but a portion will be handed on to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator instead of going to the Highways Fund, from which South Australia's share will be paid to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator separately anyway. The question might be asked that, if money is going to be redirected from registration fees to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, does that mean that funds will be directed into administration roles? Does that mean that road maintenance will receive a lesser share? That is a concern.

In my great electorate of Chaffey, which covers the Riverland and the Mallee, thousands of heavy vehicles travel through the region daily. The reason for that is that we have a federal highway coming through the region. We also have other state arterial roads. Because we are a major commodity producer, we are a major commodity logistical transport area, but it is not just about heavy vehicles passing through our region from one destination to another or the eastern seaboard sending their goods over or South Australia sending their goods over.

We have a highly populated internal network that takes produce from the farm gate to processing plants and produce from receival depots to processing plants. Whether it is taking it to port, taking it to airports or taking it for domestic consumption, this is a very busy heavy vehicle area, and I think we have seen over a number of years those heavy vehicle movements increasing. Sadly, as a contributing factor, the contracts for two of our rail lines have been lost, so we are not seeing those rail lines utilised.

What the region is able to achieve is being a great economic contributor to the state's economy by producing more with less. We are producing more tonnages of all our commodities, whether it be broadacre horticulture, such as potatoes, onions and carrots, whether it be cereals and legumes or whether it be livestock. We are seeing a huge boom with horticulture, particularly at the moment with a lot of raw product coming off farm to processing plants. For instance, an almond product comes off farm to a cracker, and then it is taken from the cracker to the processing plant to be packaged and refined. The raw products are then stockpiled and milled.

Some of it is sent to other jurisdictions for feed, some of it is used for mulch and some of it is used for fertiliser base, so we are value-adding a lot more of our products off-farm now than we ever have before. That means that we are using our heavy vehicles to move a lot of bulk commodity from one destination to another and we are seeing a huge increase in truck movements. As I have always said, a trip to the regions makes you appreciate the importance of what heavy vehicles mean to a primary production region, particularly in South Australia with our production capabilities.

The Sturt Highway, which goes right through the Riverland, carries 10,000 vehicles per day, and 33 per cent are heavy vehicles. Again, I want to stress the point that those are passing movements going through the region. They are not internal movements going from farm to processing because in most instances those heavy vehicles are not registered as they are not travelling on the Sturt Highway. They use other arterial roads, council roads and state roads to make those movements.

The number of major roads and heavy vehicles that carry people is a contributor. Chaffey is an electorate that has always been alive with heavy vehicles—and no more so than today. The current climate in agriculture production and horticulture production is now totally reliant on the logistics of heavy vehicles. As I have said, the importance of heavy vehicles to the Riverland, and indeed to all agricultural and horticultural producing regions in South Australia in particular, is not to be understated, especially following the cessation of rail.

We are also seeing heavy movements with our rubbish. Sadly, the Riverland region exports its rubbish. It is separated, then a lot of it is sent to the receival depots down at Dublin. A lot more is recycled. We have destinations for our rubbish but, again, it is not being used as landfill. It is now segregated, being the good citizens that we are, but it is having an impact. It is putting more truck numbers on our roads, it is wearing out our roads and it is having an impact on registrations.

I want to talk about heavy vehicle registration in South Australia. I have a number of constituents who are heavy vehicle owners and a number of constituents who run heavy vehicle logistical businesses. I have a real concern that our registration regime is a disincentive for South Australian businesses to register their vehicles, trucks and trailers in South Australia. Some do, but the movement is that a lot are going interstate. It is not just about the cost of registration and businesses trying to make ends meet: it is about a raft of issues dealing with truck and trailer inspections and state government-run inspection stations that are not always open.

As we all know, the transport industry is a cutthroat industry. It is based on the back of price rules. It is about how trucking companies can make efficiency gains and how they can make a living, and they will do anything they can. They will keep their trucks running 24/7 if they have to but, in saying that, they will also go to a price point. If it is cheaper to register a truck in Western Australia or Victoria, that is what they will do. Those businesses are doing just that. I know a number of trucking companies in particular around the state that are doing it because, as I said, it is not just about the cost of registration. It is about having vehicle inspections undertaken and getting defects off, and it is about when highway patrols come up to a regional centre and run their comb over every vehicle they see.

We see the unforgiving decisions of some of those vehicle inspectors or highway patrol officers, defecting a truck for simply having a hole in a mudguard or some other insignificant issue that is a token gesture for taking that truck off the road and sending it back to the workshop so that it is rectified. Once that issue is rectified and the inspection station is not open, what do we do? Do we keep running that truck illegally on our roads? Do we go to Victoria and go to an open inspection station?

The way we get around that is that we have a registered truck in Victoria, we can go to a registered inspection station in Victoria and we can keep our truck running. Our business can continue to make money, we can keep the wheels turning, we can keep the truck drivers employed, we can keep the mechanics employed and we can keep that business as a viable option. I have said that in this place on a number of occasions, yet I do not see any movement with the government addressing this issue.

The only way we are going to do that is to make sure that inspection stations are there for the benefit of trucking operators. We have to understand that when these businesses are registering their trucks interstate they are not putting money into our state coffers. They are not putting money into road funding. They are not putting money back into road maintenance programs, which is a concern. We see these businesses utilising our roads but not putting money into the maintenance programs that are so critical.

There have been some early challenges with operations within the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator. I think I have worked quite constructively with the minister and with a number of local truck drivers with the process of registration renewals, access permits and escort arrangements for wide loads. The wide load issue was a major hiccup with the transfer from the state-administered permit network to the Heavy Vehicle Regulator. I think that has now been rectified. I do not have the logistics businesses coming to me with real concerns that they cannot get the permits on time, which holds up a lot of these movements.

In many cases, a lot of these businesses have requirements within the conditions of movement, such as for wine tanks, machinery and transfer of equipment under powerlines. We all understand what is involved when we move wide, high or extended loads on our highways, but there are also those conditions. If a permit is not issued on time, if a piece of equipment cannot be put on site on time or if wine tanks cannot be moved out of the Riverland then that is a problem.

A great South Australian business, JMA Engineering, is a tank manufacturer. They produce wine tanks, beer vats and all sorts of stainless steel equipment right across the country. They are continuously banging their head against the wall when they try to get those permits so that they can get their product on site, on time, on budget and not have to pay penalties, which obviously would have an impact.

The RAA recently conducted its most recent audit on the Riverland's rural roads—well, 2014 is not very recent, is it?—to assess the current conditions of the road and what improvements could be made. The assessment found that there were still a number of improvements required, particularly on rural Riverland roads. The most common problems found were inadequate lane width and shoulder seal widths, poor signage and line marking provisions, inadequate protection for roadside hazards, roadside vegetation and the list goes on.

We are seeing productive maintenance on our logistics infrastructure allowed to slip. I would like to remind the minister and his government that we need to keep a constant eye on those issues. This morning I met with the minister's department, government ministers and Primary Producers SA—and I thank them—to look at issues around South Australian regional roads. There were about a thousand recommendations. Obviously, I have issues with the effect of bridge audits on our regional roads and federal highways and also the implications of the 2B Restricted Access Vehicle Network.

I would like to put on the record that we have seen shoulder and signage upgrades on the Loxton, Moorook to Kingston road. It is putting real pressure on the town of Loxton, particularly by directing heavy vehicles through Loxton, past a number of schools and kindergartens, past the Orana complex and through a city centre roundabout. As I explained to department officials and the minister, we all know how hard it is for long, heavy vehicles to get around roundabouts in town centres, with dual lanes merging into one and the safety aspects for people. As many people would understand, the elderly on the gophers dealing with B-double trucks coming through the centre of town is a safety issue that needs to be addressed.

There are many issues on all the roads, particularly the highways that run through the electorate of Chaffey, including the Goyder Highway, Murbko, the Old Sturt Highway, the new Sturt Highway, Brownswell Highway, Cameron Highway and Karoonda Highway. Some of the signage and marker post improvements need to be upgraded on the Goyder Highway, Cadell Valley Road, Loxton Main Road, Brownswell Highway and the Lindsay Point Road, which is another very busy road with heavy vehicles, particularly with the almond industry in that area. The list goes on.

The Ral Ral bridge, which was certainly crumbling, is undergoing some quite significant remediation at the moment. A bridge audit was conducted after the overpass issue on South Road. The issue of the 2B restricted access through Loxton raised questions this morning. We have three bridges on the Sturt Highway that will be potentially bypassed if trucks have to take the restricted access road through Loxton.

The Paringa Bridge is nearly 100 years old, so it must be reaching its use-by date. The Bookmark Bridge has a launch ramp at its entrance and it must be in need of work. The Kingston Bridge has some severe scouring underwater on the river path. Again, what are we doing to address the looming issues in maintaining those bridges on federal highways?

We have had a number of fatalities and crashes on the Sturt Highway. The Old Sturt Highway continues to have many crashes—106 in recent years. The Berri-Loxton road has had 59 crashes and fatalities have occurred. We continue to see that roads are not maintained. They have shoulder issues and are always under the pump. The Riverland region, starting at Gawler, has the Sturt Highway running in an easterly direction towards the Victorian border. A lot of towns have been bypassed. In recent years, the Sturt Highway carried traffic volumes of between 1,700 and 10,800 vehicles a day, and 35 per cent of these are commercial vehicles.

The RAA conducted an audit in 2012 to assess conditions. Roads need to be maintained and a budget needs to be put in place, and to keep it as a federal highway running through a regional centre will come at a significant cost, but it is about improving the infrastructure. As I have said, the Paringa Bridge, the Bookmark Bridge and the Kingston Bridge are of real concern.

Much has changed since the Towards 2020 survey came out: the two rail lines have closed, all rubbish is freighted out of the Riverland, we have had record grain crops. we have had record broadacre potato and onion crops and horticulture is at record limits. Citrus, almonds and all the inputs that go into those farms are seeing more and more trucks on the road. I met with Accolade Wines, which had a 220,000 tonnes crush. To put that into perspective, the Barossa crushed 50,000 tonnes this year and one Riverland winery crushed 220,000 tonnes. That just shows the magnitude of the heavy vehicle movement within that region.

With all that come more farm inputs. For example, the emerging poultry industry and the record numbers of livestock going into our abattoirs highlight the extra truck movements and the need for extra road maintenance. I support the heavy vehicle registration amendment and look forward to contributions from both sides of this house.

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (12:35): I rise to make a brief contribution to the debate on the Statues Amendment (Heavy Vehicles Registration Fees) Bill and to indicate my support. In 2014, the Heavy Vehicle National Law Act 2013 came into operation. As others have stated, this bill contains that national law as a schedule. All Australian states and territories, apart from Western Australia and the Northern Territory, are participants in the national heavy vehicle regulation regime. The Heavy Vehicle National Law Act also established the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, which is Australia's first national independent regulator for all vehicles over 4½ tonnes gross vehicle mass.

While the long-term goal is a truly uniform national heavy vehicle system, some aspects of heavy vehicle regulation remain as they were before the National Heavy Vehicle Law Act. Inspections, driver licensing, all matters related to the carriage of dangerous goods and heavy vehicle registration are still the responsibility of the relevant state and territory authorities. As the registration chapter of the national law is yet to commence, heavy vehicle fees must still be dealt with in this place. Registration fees are governed by model law that is adopted by participating jurisdictions. Amendments to the Heavy Vehicle Charges Model Law were approved by the national Transport and Infrastructure Council.

As the member for Napier has outlined, South Australia and other relevant participating jurisdictions have agreed that some of the revenue collected as part of their registration fees be transferred to the regulator fund to meet each jurisdiction's share of the operating budget of the regulator. This will, of course, assist the regulator to carry out their important duties. The bill allows this to occur via an amendment to the Highways Act.

The member for Napier outlined and, in his own way, the member for Chaffey outlined, the importance of maintaining good roads in order to service the freight needs of this state. We have in train, of course, under this minister, under this government, the north-south corridor ongoing and many-faceted project, and in my neck of the woods we have the $1 billion Northern Connector project, which not only connects freight from north to south but also connects freight to the Port River Expressway and to the Port.

Not only is this important for freight movement but it is important for commuter movement and local jobs. Under this government, we have seen an emphasis on local participation in industry, we have seen a renewed emphasis on local employment being part of that equation and we have seen the introduction of the Industry Advocate and his contribution to the framing of contracts that really do emphasise local content, local materials and local employment.

Yesterday, we saw the introduction of new legislation by the member for Kaurna on behalf of the Premier that makes the position of the Industry Advocate a statutory body which will not only ensure some longevity to the position but it will also give confidence to local employers that these sorts of government contracts will always have a component of local materials and also local employment. With those few words, I hope that the bill will assist South Australia to continue to be a model participant in the national vehicle law. I commend the bill to the house.

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop) (12:39): As my colleagues have indicated, the opposition is supporting this bill, but I want to take the opportunity to bring to the attention of the house several matters regarding the heavy vehicle industry. Obviously, industry per se and our society rely very heavily on our road freight industries and heavy vehicle industries, but there are some very strange anomalies that occur as a result of the open economy we have in Australia.

In my electorate, at Millicent there is a tissue factory run by Kimberly-Clark Australia. It is a terrific employer and a great corporate citizen in my electorate. I was talking to a trucking operator quite some years ago who had a contract for carting tissue from that plant. I asked him, 'Where are you carting to?' He said, 'We take it to Brisbane.' I said, 'That's a long way. How long does it take you?' He said that it was so many days. I then asked, 'What do you do then? You obviously backload with something. What are you carting out of Brisbane and where are you going with that?' He said, 'We take the toilet tissue to Brisbane. We unload it and then go down the road to a factory and we load up with toilet tissue and cart it back to Melbourne.'

In a similar vein, I am aware of a trucking business that carts Pinus radiata out of the South-East, again out of my electorate, and carts it all the way to Perth, and from time to time it backloads Pinus radiata from southern Western Australia back to South Australia. It is a strange industry. One of the strangest stories about that sort of nonsense—I will use that word—is that South Australia has a moratorium on GM plants and, as part of that, we do not allow GM product to be transported across South Australia.

As a result, I am aware of one transport company, a South Australian company, that has a contract to transport GM canola produced in New South Wales. This year, they had eight B-double loads picked up in the Young area in New South Wales. To get it to Western Australia, they had to drive to Mount Isa, across to Katherine, Kununurra and Broome and down to Perth. I happen to know quite well one of the drivers for this company and I rang him several times when he was recently doing one of these trips, and it was about a fortnight-long trip. That is a nonsense.

I do not think we, as a parliament, should be controlling people carting a product across the nation and then backloading a similar product. I do not think that is our role, but it certainly is the role of this parliament to look at the sort of nonsense that is created for industry by banning things such as the transport of GM canola across this state. For the information of the house, a truckload of that product was worth well in excess of $1 million.

The minister's office currently has a letter from me concerning heavy vehicle registration fees. A constituent recently came to me who runs an earthmoving business in my electorate. From time to time, they purchase new trucks, and one of the things they look at when they are purchasing a truck is what the registration fees are going to be. Obviously, one of the other things is to purchase a truck that is going to do the job that they want it to do. This constituent came to me because he could not understand how the fees are arrived at. He buys a truck and, depending on whether he tows a trailer or does not tow a trailer, the registration fee changes dramatically, notwithstanding that the trailer has its own separate registration fee.

I would have thought that there was some connection between the registration fees that he would be charged and the potential wear and tear/damage that the work of that vehicle would do to our road network. But from what I can work out it has no bearing on that whatsoever. He gave me a couple of examples. If he used a prime mover and semitrailer combination and carted a particular load, the registration fee would be X. If he used a truck and trailer combination, a rigid truck and trailer combination and carted the same load, the registration fee was dramatically more. I think there are serious anomalies.

For years I have had complaints from constituents operating B-double trucks. I think it is the A-trailer registration fee that seems way out of whack with the potential load or axle weights that are created by that particular trailer on the road. I like the idea of this going to a national registration regulatory regime. By and large, we have been in that space for a fair while. I like it because obviously the industry operates nationally. I have mentioned a couple of anomalies, as I see them.

Another thing I want to bring to the house's attention is that when the Liberal Party was last in government there were some moves to change the national registration of heavy vehicles. I remember that Di Laidlaw, who was the minister for transport at the time, had a committee discussing transport matters that I served on. She suggested that there was a windfall revenue gain from these changes and that we set up a fund to put that revenue into in order to fund the sealing of rural arterial roads across South Australia.

The rural arterial roads are those roads that connect small communities, townships of a population up to 200. It meant that the network of roads, particularly in more remote parts of the state, would be sealed and give people reasonable access to a sealed road within a reasonable distance of their property or business, particularly in the farming community. That fund was set up and the activities got underway. I have just talked to the member for Flinders, who tells me that all the rural arterial roads in his electorate were sealed as a result of that. I am aware that there is a road that runs from Mount Burr to Furner, and I live about 1.5 kilometres from Mount Burr. They are two small communities in my electorate. Part of that road was sealed under that program. It was started at each end, as often happens, but there is a big unsealed slab in the middle for about 20 kilometres.

With the change of government, the incoming government in its wisdom said no, as they have done on a lot of areas of service delivery in this state. They said, 'No, this is outrageous that this money gets spent in rural South Australia where we do not have any electorates,' and that fund was shut down and that money was transferred to a blackspot program. Funnily enough, all the blackspot funding occurred within metropolitan Adelaide. I bring that matter to the attention of the house. It is another way in which there was a significant shift of expenditure from rural and regional South Australia as a result of the change of government 15 years ago. I sincerely hope that in the not too distant future we see a reversal of that. I will leave my comments there.

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (12:48): I also rise to speak in support of the Statutes Amendment (Heavy Vehicles Registration Fees) Bill 2017. As has been outlined by the minister and other speakers, this is part of a national framework, this national transport reform process that is underway. I understand that the transport minister recently met with his federal and state colleagues, and with all these areas where there is national cooperation sometimes work is slow, sometimes work is fast. When there are particular changes that need to be made, as a state, we obviously need to think carefully about our involvement in them.

In this regard, we have decided that it is a positive move to make to be part of this regime. It makes sure that South Australia is meeting the requirements under the legislative regime for heavy vehicles. This is a regime that all states and territories, aside from the Northern Territory and Western Australia, are committed to. The other six states and territories, including South Australia, are all committed to this regime.

The existence of the national regime under this amendment bill is further affirmation of South Australia's commitment to the regime to help to reduce inconsistencies between jurisdictions and the heavy vehicle operators, cutting red tape and unnecessary burden in their day-to-day business operations, so people can be assured across those six jurisdictions that the same provisions apply to them.

The changes made under this bill, amending both the Motor Vehicles Act 1959 and the Highways Act 1926, mean that the regulatory revenue can be transferred to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator fund. Through these amendments, the bill is facilitating an industry-sourced funding model, meaning that the regulator is funded by the revenue collected from heavy vehicle registration fees.

The participating jurisdictions in this national regime for heavy vehicle regulation have agreed that this revenue, collected and transferred to the regulator fund, will go towards meeting each jurisdiction's share of the regulator's council-approved operating budget. I am sure that the council will be ensuring that those funds raised from industry will be used as efficiently as possible. I am also sure that we would encourage the two remaining jurisdictions, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, also to participate, which would help the efficiencies of the national scheme and consistency across the country.

Recently, the government was able to facilitate the passage of another important and related red-tape reduction measure for the heavy vehicle industry, that is, removing the requirement for heavy vehicle operators to affix registration labels to their vehicles. This came as part of the government's 2016 Simplify Day process and was a reform called for by the heavy vehicle industry itself. I congratulate the transport minister and his officials on their work in cooperating as part of the Simplify Day process. A number of good projects are underway in the transport area, particularly in the heavy vehicle area, to make sure that we are reducing as much as possible the unnecessary red tape burden on businesses in this area.

On the last Simplify Day, we committed to undertake further work in a number of areas, and we have since delivered on a number of those. The minister recently announced that Segways, which were previously banned in the transport area, have been approved across Adelaide and that tourist operators are able to get licences to operate them under certain circumstances. Also, the minister recently announced reforms for historic vehicles and left-hand drive vehicles. I know that this has been very well received by a huge number of people in the general public who have historic vehicles and have been calling for some time for a reduction in red tape in that area.

Heavy vehicle registration stickers reforms mean that heavy vehicle operators will no longer have to take their vehicles off the road for affixing registration labels and will no longer have to worry about the logistical burden that this adds to their business, meaning that they will have more time to get on with their important day-to-day operations. The bill before us is another important step towards further ensuring consistency across jurisdictions for heavy vehicle regulations, ultimately producing better outcomes for the heavy vehicle industry itself.

I would like to say something else in terms of this industry. It is a very important industry for South Australia and nationally, and an increasing amount of our freight relies on heavy vehicles to be transported across the country. It is very important that we pay close attention to the safety of the people involved in this industry, particularly the truck drivers. We know that being a truck driver can be quite a dangerous profession; in fact, some have called it the most dangerous profession in Australia. Figures show that over the last decade some 2,500 people across the whole country have died because of a heavy vehicle accident, which is clearly traumatic for all those families involved.

I would like to add my thoughts that we need to do all we can to ensure that the safety of the heavy vehicle industry is improved. There has been a very strong campaign over the past 20 years by a number of truck drivers, particularly led well by the Transport Workers Union, to make sure that we have improved safety on our highways and improved safety for our truck drivers. A large part of that is about making sure that we improve the safe rates that are provided to those truck drivers so that we do not unnecessarily increase the pressure on them to take more risks on the road when they should not be taking those risks.

We need to do all we can to further improve the safety of those people who are putting themselves in harm's way to make sure that the rest of us have the goods we rely on day to day in our supermarkets and department stores. We need to make sure that we are looking after those people who are out on the roads every day, driving all through the night, and make sure that their safety is protected.

Clearly, there is a very key connection between their rates and their remuneration and safety on the road in terms of the pressure applied to them and the deadlines they have to meet. That is a very important thing we must all strive to improve, to make sure we have not only an efficient and well-registered heavy vehicle industry, as this bill seeks to do, but also a safe industry that protects the people who work in it.

Mr BELL (Mount Gambier) (12:55): I rise to support the Statutes Amendment (Heavy Vehicles Registration Fees) Bill 2017. This bill amends the Highways Act 1926 and the Motor Vehicles Act 1959 with amendments to assist South Australia to meet its agreed obligation as a participating jurisdiction under the February 2014 Heavy Vehicle National Law (South Australia) Act 2013, which contains the national law as a schedule. The bill provides for the creation of a National Heavy Vehicle Regulator.

The national legislative regime for heavy vehicles deals with trucks over 4.5 tonnes in gross vehicle mass. Because the registration chapter of the national law has not as yet commenced, heavy vehicle registration is still under state legislation; however, in participating jurisdictions, registration fees are governed by a model law approved by the national Transport and Infrastructure Council, made up of state and territory ministers.

Vehicle registration changes are now calculated on the basis of both road user charge and regulatory charge components. South Australia, with other participating states, has agreed that the regulatory revenue collected as part of the registration be transferred to the regulator fund, previously paid by the SA registrar into the Highways Fund, providing the regulator with industry-based funding to resource its duties.

The South-East is well known as a hub of heavy industry, which, of course, is a major employer in the South-East, and I thought I would go through some of the freight companies down there and then elaborate on some information that has been provided to me by those groups. We have K&S Freighters,Kain & Shelton, South West Freight, Scotts Transport, Glen Carron, Clarend Transport, Trans Australian Livestock,A1 Distribution,Gabrielli Transport, Neale and Nulty Transport, Raymond Scott Transport,Charles Crauford,and Van Schaik's Bio Gro. Then we have logging contractors Fennell Forestry, Badenochs, Kevin Boult, Dohnts, Tasman Logging, Merrett Logging, Hans Scheidl, Tabeel Trading, Peter Whitehead. All those industries employ a significant number of people and live their day-to-day operations in this space.

Many of these contractors have come to me in the past, some with very pleasing anecdotes of the minister actually listening to their concern and doing his best to provide solutions to problems they were facing at the time. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 12:59 to 14:00.

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