FEDERAL Nationals are blaming the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT) controversy on former Independent MP Tony Windsor’s support of Labor in the hung parliament, to try and assist leader Barnaby Joyce’s electoral battle in New England.
The Coalition has pledged to introduce two bills next week to either completely abolish the RSRT introduced in the previous parliament or delay its controversial order on minimum wages conditions.
The government’s bills are expected to pass the Lower House where they have a majority but it’s unclear if they would have the Senate cross bench’s support to abolish the RSRT - but it’s understood enough votes exist to delay the order.
Independent Victorian Senator John Madigan has indicated he’s considering changing his position on abolishing the RSRT and will hold meetings in Melbourne at the weekend to discuss core issues like road safely impacts with industry groups.
As acting Prime Minister today, Mr Joyce highlighted Mr Windsor’s voting record in supporting Labor to pass the bill in 2012 that paved the way for the RSRT’s establishment.
In also pointing the finger at Mr Windsor, NSW Nationals Senator John “Wacka” Williams said the RSRT pay ruling that survived a legal challenge last week would send up to 35,000 owner drivers broke.
On next week’s vote, Senator Williams said “let’s see what happens and hope the cross benchers come to their senses”.
But he said he was “very disappointed” in MPs like Mr Windsor and Queensland rural independent Bob Katter who was paired with Labor when the vote to introduce the RSRT was held in the previous hung parliament, while balance of power rural independent MP Rob Oakeshott voted against it.
”I’m very disappointed in Tony Windsor and others who were responsible for this crazy bill getting through parliament and now we’ve got 35,000 small businesses facing financial ruin because of this crazy order,” he said.
“It sends a message – don’t side with Labor all of the time Tony (Windsor) because you did.”
Mr Windsor has announced he’ll challenge My Joyce at the upcoming election after retiring in 2013 and said he was meeting with trucking industry groups in the near future to discuss their current concerns.
He said he supported the Tribunal’s establishment “but that doesn’t mean we supported the order; in fact I don’t support the order”.
Mr Windsor said if the Tribunal was such an important issue, why had the government taken two and a half years to act.
“If the Tribunal was the problem why have they waited this long to fix it – or kill it?” he said.
“All of a sudden we’re getting close to the election.
“The worst thing that can happen here is that a truck crashes next week through driver fatigue.
“Playing with road safety is like playing with matches; it can backfire.
“In my view the order should be looked at because that’s the issue and not the Tribunal.”
Mr Windsor said the bill he supported included a clause that meant the Tribunal needed to have regard to the special circumstances facing rural and regional areas and other isolated areas “to guard against the vagaries of backloads etc. in country areas”.
“Either the Tribunal has not taken that into account when it could have or there are some politics at play,” he said.
“In our view, the Tribunal was set up to give owner-operators some market power but that whole argument seems to have got lost in safety issues so we end up in a circumstance where owner drivers will have to find another way to negotiate.
“They’ve been getting the thin end of the pineapple in that regard for years and they’re getting it again, over these safety issues.”
Senator Williams said it was “essential” that the RSRT’s order be delayed as it would destroy livestock owner drivers and be especially hard for tippers carting grain and fertiliser.
“When they backload they will get put out of work whereas the companies that employ drivers will get all of the work,” he said.
“What is the goal of this Tribunal?
“Is it to send all the owner drivers broke so they can all go and drive for the big companies and join the Transport Workers Union?
“If one was a cynic they would ask that question.”
Mr Joyce said the issue wasn't about safety bit it was about basically putting owner drivers out of business “so that you just funnel people into the Transport Workers Union”.
“Nothing wrong with that, good luck to them and god bless them, but that doesn't give them the right to put other people out of business,” he said.
“The genesis of this is a bill by the independents, the Greens, and the Labor Party in the previous Parliament, in the Labor, Green, independent Parliament.
“They did it with the live cattle (ban) and it was devastating to the cattle producers - then they become devastating to the owner-operators, the mum and dad operators.”
