The Coalition will abolish the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT) if it is returned to Government at the next election.
The Turnbull Government is taking action to support truck owner-drivers across Australia who are unfairly disadvantaged by the destructive Road Safety Remuneration System Payment Order, which came into effect on 7 April 2016.
Bill Shorten set up the Road Safety Remuneration System (RSRS) solely to advantage the Transport Workers Union.
The union claims that if you pay someone more money then they will drive more safely. This is not based on evidence or common sense.
The RSR System is predicated on this flawed claim and it puts tens of thousands of owner-drivers across Australia at risk of being driven out of business.
There is no evidence that the Road Safety Remuneration System has achieved any safety outcomes in its four years of operation nor that it will achieve any such outcomes going forward.
The Government has acted on the evidence found in two reviews of the RSR System, which found that the rationale for the system is flawed.
We are taking action to fix the mess that Labor created while also implementing additional measures to improve safety outcomes for all road users.
The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) is the body that can actually deliver real and tangible road safety outcomes in the trucking industry.
Today the Government is also announcing that funds from the RSRS will be redirected to the NHVR.
The Government will be consulting with States and Territories to determine how this funding can be used to strengthen safety measures and deliver real results.
The NHVR administers the Heavy Vehicle National Law, and is responsible for regulating a range of safety-related measures including driver fatigue, speeding, loading requirements and for ensuring that supply chains share equal responsibility for ensuring standards are complied with.
This regulation, unlike the RSRS, has broad support from the industry.
The Bill the Government will be introducing to parliament when it resumes on 18 April, if passed, will suspend the operation of the Order and provide the trucking industry with certainty, until such time as we take legislation to a new parliament to abolish the RSRS.
There has been a gradual decline in road deaths involving heavy vehicles, from 264 in 2008 to 192 in 2015.
We are committed to continuing in this positive direction.
To do this we must focus on safety measures that are backed up by solid evidence and which deliver tangible results for all road users.
Labor's approach to road safety is to jeopardise the livelihoods of mum and dad truck drivers who want to get on with running their businesses.