[Peetwo]

Dear Dazza: Safe skies without destroying an industry -

Four days ago I intercepted the following tweep from our immaculately groomed, 'selfie King' Dazzling Dazza:

‏@DarrenChesterMP Sep 14

We can save lives on our roads without sacking owner- drivers @TruckAustralia @NHVR Truckies’ ruling ‘cost lives’http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/industrial-relations/road-safety-remuneration-tribunal-ruling-on-truckies-pay-cost-lives/news-story/a7217bd2347266c0e78001d3259a5acd …

This was in response to the just released damning inquiry report by the Small Business Ombudsman Kate Carnell into the former RSRT ruling to fix rates for smaller trucking companies and small business owner/drivers. Via the Oz :  

Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal ruling on truckies’ pay cost lives


Small Business Ombudsman Kate Carnell. Picture: Ray Strange

• Ewin Hannan
  
• The Australian
  
• 12:00AM September 15, 2016
  

[img=0x0]http://pixel.tcog.cp1.news.com.au/track/component/author/5d8edd37d80bec0ae27c7ad38916de20/?esi=true&t_product=the-australian&t_template=s3/austemp-article_common/vertical/author/widget&td_bio=false[/img]
The Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal caused “crippling’’ ­financial hardship and emotional distress, leading some owner drivers to take their own lives, ­according to a scathing report that recommends the competition watchdog oversee a new ­national code of conduct for the road freight industry.

The damning report by Small Business Ombudsman Kate Carnell found the tribunal’s “discriminatory’’ orders earlier this year to lift the pay rates of thousands of truck drivers made long-distance and supermarket chain drivers uncompetitive, exacerbated existing competitive pressures, and placed families under considerable stress.

“It is with great regret and sympathy that it was reported to the inquiry that some owner-drivers found they were unable to cope with further hardship caused by the (tribunal’s) payments order and took their own lives,’’ the report, obtained by The Australian, found.

The report calls for national advertisements to educate road users about how to drive near trucks and a new apprenticeship scheme to get younger people into trucking.

To address concerns big transport companies had “excessive power’’, it recommends that the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission — which currently enforces five industry codes — work with the Department of Treasury to develop a code of conduct for the road freight industry.

It called for a further inquiry to address an imbalance in the ­industry’s payment structure, with owner-drivers subject to strict payment requirements, while waiting months to get paid. It also found fatigue management laws were inflexible and could result in “perverse situations, such as permitting a person to drive when they are fatigued’’.

The Senate voted in April to scrap the tribunal, after the Turnbull government won the backing of key crossbenchers to kill off the controversial body, set up by Labor after lobbying by the Transport Workers Union.

Just hours before the April vote, the tribunal backflipped, agreeing to consider delaying the introduction of minimum payments for thousands of truck drivers until next year.
While the payments order by the tribunal only operated for two weeks, the inquiry found it had a “wide ranging and significant ­impact on a large part of the road transport industry’’.

“This inquiry has found the payment order’s impact to be ­financially and personally crippling for many small transport business owners and their families,’’ the report says.

“Businesses suffered from a reduction or cessation of available work, and the financial ­impact of this was borne out on households in terms of personal debt, stress, poor mental health and uncertainty about the future. For some of those affected, these impacts continue.’’

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash, who will release the ­report today, said last night the government would “carefully consider’’ its recommendations and respond in due course.

“Reading this report, it is hard to escape one of two conclusions about the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal,’’ she told The Australian. “Either it was one of the most bumbling bureaucracies in living memory, or it had a clear agenda to squeeze out non-unionised small businesses, so the Transport Workers Union could gain control of the industry.’’

Ms Carnell, a former Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive, said last night the evidence heard by the inquiry was “heartbreaking’’.

“Fundamentally what we found was the order caused significant financial and emotional distress for small business owner-drivers; many lost work, resulting in a loss of income that impacted not only on their business, but their entire family,” she said.

“The inquiry also heard evidence that a small number of people found the order compounded their mental health battles and financial difficulties to the extent that they took their own lives, so it’s our strong recommendation that mental health implications be considered when regulation like this is developed in the future.’’

The inquiry found that given the tribunal’s order only set minimum rates of pay for owner-drivers, it had a discriminatory impact on mum-and-dad operators.

“These pay rates did not apply to big-business logistics companies with employed drivers; only mum-and-dad owner-operators were impacted by the order,’’ Ms Carnell said. “This, of course, created an unfair system whereby small business drivers weren’t able to compete on a level playing field.

“To suggest that road safety will improve by implementing a payments system that only affects owner-operators, not the big companies, is extremely misguided; road safety is an issue for all drivers. We found no evidence that owner-operators are less safe than employed drivers.”

The inquiry found the tribunal was overly legalistic and adversarial in its approach. “For many owner-drivers, this was their first experience with this kind of process; they were unaware of proper procedures, and as a result were unprepared for what followed,” she said.

However, the report did not support compensation for small businesses impacted by the tribunal’s order.

For those interested here is the background and link for the ASBFEO inquiry report:

Background

The Office of the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) was requested by the former Minister for Small Business, the Hon Kelly O’Dwyer MP, under section 42(1) of the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Act 2015, to undertake an inquiry into the effect on Australian small businesses of the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal’s Contractor Driver Minimum Payments Road Safety Remuneration Order 2016.

Background

In December 2015, the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal announced it would be introducing new minimum pay rates for owner-drivers under the Contractor Driver Minimum Payments Road Safety Remuneration Order 2016.

The Order was due to come into effect on 4 April 2016. On 1 April 2016, the Federal Court of Australia ordered a stay on the Order, which was subsequently lifted on 7 April 2016.

On 10 April, the Government announced its intention to introduce a bill to abolish the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal. The legislation was passed on 18 April 2016.

The Government has committed to redirecting the previous Tribunal funding to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator.

Purpose of the inquiry

The ASBFEO gathered information to find out the impact of the Payments Order on Australian small businesses.

The former Minister has also requested that the ASBFEO consider the ways in which the government can consult with small businesses in the development and operation of tribunals and other similar bodies.

Final Report

The Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal Payments Order Inquiry Report was handed over to the Hon Michael McCormack MP, Minister for Small Business and tabled in the House of Representatives on 14 September 2016.

RSRT Payments Order Inquiry Report [PDF, 358 KB]

Again it is not hard to make the comparisons to the aviation industry and in particular to the small aviation businesses and owner operators. It is a crying shame that we don't get the same level of rousing public support (tweeted or otherwise) from our Minister, to at least reassure industry that their concerns are being heard and acted on...

Perhaps it would be worth making a submission to Small Business Ombudsman Kate Carnell to look into the extreme over regulation, duplicity in oversight, bias and embuggerance inflicted on industry by the big "R" regulator CASA, who it would seem is hell bent on decimating the industry of all but the major airlines...

Just a thought, as the good Ombudsman certainly doesn't seem to hold any punches, nor does she muck around...


MTF...P2