Weekly News – Meet the LTAT President, Tri-axle Mass Transfer Allowance, RSRT

Click here to download the latest ALRTA Newsletter or read on about the LTAT President, Tri- Axle Mass Transfer Allowance, Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal

MEET THE LTAT PRESIDENT

The Livestock Transporters Association of Tasmania (LTAT) has elected a new President, Mr Spencer Griggs.

Spencer was born into a farming and butchering family 43 years ago and is himself a 6th generation butcher. He is based in the Huon Valley 40km south of Hobart and has seen many changes occurring with his former dairy farm now dedicated to beef production

Mr Griggs started out in transport with a tray truck. When his uncle had some health issues 23 years ago he branched out into livestock transport and has since acquired three more businesses. With his butchering experience Spencer certainly knows a thing or two about meat quality and has recently commented that he has never before seen such a prevalence of ‘dark cutters’ in a single load of cattle. No doubt there is some work ahead for LTAT in working with the supply chain to help resolve this situation.

The ALRTA congratulates President Griggs on his election and we look forward to working closely with LTAT on issues of national importance.

TRI-AXLE MASS TRANSFER ALLOWANCE

The 1-tonne tri-axle mass transfer allowance policy is now confirmed to commence on 29 September 2014.

This will allow an increased mass over a tri-axle group so that it may be loaded by up to 1t above the standing tri-axle group 20t General Mass Limit (GML). This does not permit any increase to the vehicles maximum total mass but it does grant more flexibility in how that mass may be distributed across axle groups.

There are a few ‘catches’ to look out for so members are advised to carefully check the fact sheet that will be available on the NHVR website next week (www.nhvr.gov.au) to make sure you can make the best use of the allowance while remaining compliant.

This is an outcome for which the ALRTA pushed strongly over the past 12 months and it is great to see it become a reality.

ROAD SAFETY REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL

This week I attended a meeting of the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia (COSBOA) during which I had the pleasure of speaking with Senator Eric Abetz, Federal Minister for Employment. Of course, the topic foremost in my mind concerning the employment portfolio was the outcome of the independent review of the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT).

The review reported to government earlier this year and as far as I can see the legislation listed for debate this year will not impact the operation of the tribunal in any way.

Minister Abetz indicated that Cabinet has not yet considered whether or not changes will be made. For many months the government was unable to progress any changes though the Senate and more recently priority has been given to issues such as the carbon tax, mining tax and national security legislation. Given that the Senate remains difficult to navigate even now, the government has adopted a ‘one issue at a time’ approach which means that some items of business will just have to wait.

Overall, I think we can conclude that the RSRT will persist in its current form for quite some time yet. If you have been holding your breath waiting for the axe to fall then my advice would be that you really should be looking seriously at the Tribunal’s decisions and making sure that you are complaint with the new requirements relating to written contracts, safe driving plans, training and drug and alcohol policies.  Visit www.rsrt.gov.au to check out the 13 page Order which commenced on 1 May 2014.

Next month, ALRTA representatives will meet with the Minister’s Office to talk about the impact of the Order on the rural carriers.