Livestock Association of Australia (Tasmania Division)

Conference 19th July 2008

Good morning everyone and thank you for the invitation to be here with you today.

I want to firstly acknowledge;

Mr David Plumbridge, President of the Livestock Transporters Association of Tasmania, Mr Robert Cavanagh, The President of the Australian Livestock Transporters Association and also Mr Luke Fraser the CEO of the Australian Livestock Transporters Association.

I would also like to acknowledge all of the sponsors who have helped the Livestock Transporters Association of Tasmania with this year’s conference. I won’t name them all as I don’t want to risk missing anyone out however I do want to publicly thank the sponsors because without your support today’s conference would not be occurring.

I also want to thank Pat Knowles who has been the association’s point of contact with my office on behalf of my assistant Carole who said to tell everyone you had been a dream to work with.

When I was first approached to open today’s conference I was very pleased to be given the opportunity to speak with you today as I believe that transport and especially transport associated with Tasmania’s agricultural sector is one of the keys to our islands future wealth and prosperity.

Let me explain what I mean;

Tasmania is an island economy and there are only two ways that we can grow our economy.

Firstly we can entice visitors to come here and spend their money as tourists, bringing new money into the economy by buying goods and services here in Tasmania whilst on holiday or for business.

Or alternatively we can grow our export base and sell our goods and services interstate or internationally and in doing so bring new money once again into the economy.

It is in the growing of our export base that your industry has an important and vital role to play in the future prosperity of this state.

Livestock carriers play an absolutely vital role in the livestock supply chain. ‘Paddock to the plate’ is an oft used cliché for a supply chain which unfortunately is not very well understood.

I want at this point to say thankyou for the work that you do.

Most people would not have a clue as to how the lamb chop or the beef steak they are about to barbecue arrived in it’s neatly labelled styrofoam pack on the shelves of their local supermarket.

Most people would not give a thought for the livestock transporter who has collected stock more than likely at some ungodly hour in all types of weather and from all types of remote locations.

Most people would not understand the duty of care you have to the animals that you transport nor the difficult circumstances that you have to manage to do the job you do.

Most people would not understand the challenges that exist when moving live freight as opposed to the relatively benign nature of containers loaded with goods that do not move around by themselves or get spooked by external factors outside of anyone’s real control.

I want at this time to confess to being brought up on a farm.

Many of you would have driven by it as it sits on the Tasman highway behind the Nunamara shop.

My parents supplemented my fathers income by being part time farmers and they moved from Launceston in the early 70’s to the country to give them a better chance to provide a decent life for their 6 children.

I have I must confess had the unenviable experience as a small boy of 8 or 9 years of age of standing next to a fully laden stock truck just at the very moment and in the very spot that a heifer, her bowel movements motivated by fear decided to let go of that peculiar mix of not quite liquid not quite solid excrement described so eloquently by my father as liquid shit.

I have to admit that my first impression was surprise at how warm it felt and I know my father was equally surprised how at my tender age I had gained such a grasp of the obscene end of the English language.

However moving on I have also experienced the very unsafe work practices that existed and unfortunately probably still do on small farms where stockyards and ramps are not ideal and where access is difficult and nigh on impossible for some of the larger vehicles now required to make stock transport a financially viable business.

In writing my speech a few days ago I had cause to remember some of the visits I had made with my father to Killafaddy and other sale yards around northern Tasmania during the 1970’s as a small boy.

One which stuck out, almost as clearly as getting liberally dosed with excrement was when onto the back of a one tonne Toyota flat tray with home made hurdles my father and a farmer from down the Nile loaded what must have been a ¾ grown black angus bull.

It is testimony to Toyotas engineering capabilities that we eventually made it back to Nunamara with the bull in one piece and nothing more than superficial damage either to the bull, ourselves or the one tonner.

I overheard my father explain to my mother later that day that the trip was uneventful excepting that the steering had been a bit light.

Fortunately the moving of stock has been and is a much more professional activity than that which was employed by part time farmers some 30 years ago.

And it is on this matter of the industry, and it’s professionalism that I want to make some comments now.

Firstly I want to say that I was genuine in my thanks for the work that you do.

I know that you are professionals in the way that you approach your work. You have to be.

The world is now increasingly competitive, work practices are strictly regulated and safety is paramount for both yourselves and the animals you carry.

Unfortunately the majority of people and especially the majority of drivers on our roads have little or no understanding of the difficulties associated with your job if you are a driver or with your business if you are the livestock business owner.

One matter that I want to raise this morning is the need for all road users to treat each other with respect and courtesy.

Too often we hear the general public complain about trucks on our roads without even considering for a moment the importance of the transport industry whether it be livestock, trees or other goods.

Too often blame is aimed at the transport industry by people without a moments thought being given to the fact that the vehicle they drive, the clothes they wear, the food they eat or the materials used to build their home were transported by someone driving a truck.

To this end I am very interested in ensuring that from a road safety point of view that a heavy vehicle safety awareness campaign be initiated to educate other road users of the difficulties you have when going about your job.

In Tasmania we have had road safety campaigns targeted at pedestrians, cyclists, motor cyclists and motor cars but we have never had a television campaign that explains to other road users how they should interact with heavy vehicles on our roads.

I recently took a trip into and around Hobart in a small B’double and I was amazed at the ignorance displayed by other drivers regarding the stopping distance required by the truck or and this was the one that surprised me most the turning circle necessary.

On two occasions when turning corners and with the truck pulled over to either the right or the left to provide room to get around, cars would slip into the space created completely oblivious to the fact that extra room was needed by the truck to navigate the corner.

The driver who took me on this journey of enlightenment said to me that his biggest concern was that each day he had to think not only for himself but for every other road user as well. I am certain that many of you here today would share that sentiment.

For this reason I am strongly of the opinion that we need a public awareness campaign regarding heavy vehicles to educate the general public about the work that you and others in the transport industry do to ensure that you as drivers and business owners are treated with courtesy and respect.

I also at this point want to make a comment regarding some of the terrible accidents that have occurred in recent times where smaller vehicles have veered across into the path of trucks killing the occupant of the smaller vehicle and changing irreparably for ever the life of the truck driver.

As a number of these recent crashes are still before the coroner it would be irresponsible of me to make any claims regarding why these recent accidents occurred, however I do want to place on the public record the fact that there have been an increasing number of these head on crashes and I for one am concerned that these types of accidents may increasingly not be because of driver error.

Government road safety authorities and organisations such as yours need to work together ensure that strategies are developed to limit this type of senseless fatality which unfortunately has far reaching consequences and impacts and I extend an opportunity to you all to bring any suggestions that you may have to my attention.

Now on a more positive note as we move towards the 2010 election I will be responsible for policy development regarding infrastructure and transport matters.

My role is to develop our transport strategy for the next election and will include not only the key work required to ensure that our main transport links are capable of meeting the challenges of a growing freight task but also that the minor arterial links and council maintained roads are capable of meeting this task as well.

Many of you would be aware that the major highway one network from Burnie linking our northern ports of Devonport and Bell Bay through to Hobart via the Midlands Highway is expected over the next twenty years to have a more than 70% increase in heavy vehicles whilst passenger vehicles will also increase by more than 40%.

Planning needs to begin now as to how this transport task is managed into the future and importantly how our road infrastructure is developed and maintained to meet this task.

Of equal importance to ensuring that the main network can cater for the expected increases in traffic volumes is how we deal with the off network roads as well.

As the majority of freight is generated from locations that are not directly adjacent to the network we need to ensure that access to the network is safe and importantly that our minor road networks are of a suitable standard as well.

Once again I am happy to receive input from this organisation into this task.

I am firmly of the opinion that Tasmania’s future prosperity especially if we are able to adequately develop our water resources, will depend to a large extent in ensuring that our agricultural produce and livestock can be transported as efficiently as possible to the markets that demand it.

Furthermore and it would be remiss of me not to mention the impact of rising fuel prices this morning. I have been involved in business now for most of my adult life and understand fully how difficult it is to respond to rising input costs in a business in a timely way.

Someone has to pay as costs cannot continue to be absorbed however to often it is the carrier.

I know that fuel costs will continue to be an issue for the transport industry and it is up to government in my opinion to ensure that our road networks allow for efficient freight cartage but also that in a small state like Tasmania we consider what investment may be required to make alternative fuels a viable option.

To this end I was pleased to be a part of a Parliamentary committee that recently held an inquiry into alternative fuels. One of the key recommendations was that changes be made to the Act of Parliament that governs metro the states largest publicly owned heavy vehicle fleet user to ensure that consideration could be given to public investment in alternative fuels which might provide a future platform for the private sector as well.

Furthermore, I like all of you here today will be watching with interest the Federal Governments roll out of the National Emissions Trading Scheme now named since Thursday as the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

The name is not the issue it is the impact on fuel and other prices that Australians are concerned with and especially what may occur after the one year moratorium to reduce the initial impact on transport sector fuel prices ends.

Make no mistake we are now entering a brave new world. A world which over the next decade will, most experts agree endure change at a pace not experienced before.

Ensure that you keep abreast of the changes that will affect you, your businesses and your industry sector and I am certain that your associations are well placed to assist you in this regard.

In finishing this morning I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak with you all this morning.

Importantly I want you all to understand that I have an open door policy in regards to gaining input about this industry and its needs.

I am happy to meet with you and discuss the challenges you face and the policy responses that are required.

I will not promise that we can fix everything that you desire, however I will promise to consider in a commonsense way the problems that you face and the solutions that you believe will help you go about your task and in doing so help Tasmania be more efficient and competitive.

Once again thank you for having me here this morning and it is my very real pleasure to declare your conference open.