Weekly News

Click here to download the latest ALRTA newsletter, including the Presidents’ Report, or read on for the highlights.

National Conference

The combined LRTASA and ALRTA National Conference will be held at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on 13-14 June 2014.

Official proceedings will be opened by South Australian Transport Minister, Stephen Mullighan MP, and a keynote address will be made by Federal Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Jamie Briggs MP. There will of course also be several other industry leaders and dignitaries speaking on topics important to your business such as charging, national regulation and productivity improvements.

It’s not all work though. The social program includes a golf competition, our National Sponsors Dinner (Friday) and a Gala Dinner / Auction (Saturday).

A conference booklet is available on the LRTASA website which outlines the preliminary program and accommodation options: http://www.ltasa.com.a/lrta_sa_2014_conference

Road Safety Remuneration Order Now in Effect

Members are again reminded that a mandatory Road Safety Remuneration Order comes into effect from 1 May 2014. I know that there are mixed opinions about the Order across the industry – but whatever your view it is now the law.

If you are transporting anything destined for sale in a supermarket or are engaged in long distance work you should read the 13 page order at: www.rsrt.gov.au/

The order applies to both employee drivers and owner-operators and imposes new requirements on employers, hirers and other supply chain participants. Among other things it mandates:

For more information on the Road Safety Remuneration Order, how it applies to you and what assistance is available, download the full newsletter.

Chain of Responsibility

The ALRTA recently attended the final meeting of the NTC Chain of Responsibility Task Force which has made recommendations to Australian Transport Ministers for consideration in May 2014.

It is fair to say that the Task Force had a difficult time identifying areas of clear agreement between industry and government representatives.

Stakeholders broadly supported extending CoR to include vehicle roadworthiness, identifying parties in the chain by role rather than title, improving consistency and clarifying responsibilities.

However, there was a wide diversity of opinions on other important matters such as the scope of duties, the onus of proof, director liabilities, enforcement powers and industry codes of practice.

So what does this all mean?

In the short term, the current chain of responsibility laws will not change fundamentally.

It is however possible that Ministers will ‘in principle’ support extending CoR to include vehicle roadworthiness. In practice, this will require yet another consultative process to determine the best way for this to occur.