Six months ago, I gave a commitment to members that your National Council would do everything we could to take the bite out of the increased charges that were recommended by the National Transport Commission.
We’ve seen real results in four States, with a particular focus on benefiting road trains and smaller operators.
And now, we’ve come to the end of our journey in Canberra.
We’ve failed to achieve our goal of reducing this year’s diesel tax increase – and that’s disappointing.
But we’ve secured $10M in funding for improvements to safety and productivity in livestock transport – that money will fund some new ramps, some gate; perhaps even it might even fix some washouts.
And by achieving that, we’ve set a precedent that might lead to more funding coming to the Bush in future years. Perhaps we can start to fix up some other problems, like badly designed sites at grain silos.
Don’t forget that 2013 is an election year … now there’s something to think about.
Today, I express my thanks to our Council and to several members who worked hard behind the scenes.
The whole team worked hard for our industry.
We went after the key Federal Politicians from every State. We chased them at home and in Canberra. We chased them from Tasmania to the tip of Cape York, from Kalgoorlie to the coast of NSW.
Thank you to the team. It’s been a great campaign.
And, on a personal note, on the day our campaign ended, I was unable to come to Canberra. Our Immediate Past President, David Smith, dropped all other commitments to stand in for me. Thank you David, for your support and commitment to our Association.
John Beer
