Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Road Transport Association Executive Officer Louise Bilato says not enough is being done now to relieve transport costs for the industry with the cost of living to suffer

Transcript

NT Road Transport Association Executive Officer Louise Bilato says not enough is being done now to relieve transport costs for the industry with the cost of living to suffer · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Speaking of the federal election, we do know that one
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: of the biggest issues is going to be cost of
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: living and fuel prices. Well, they were something that was
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: indeed a centerpiece of the federal government budget when they
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: handed it down just a couple of weeks ago. We've
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: all been keeping a very close eye on the petrol
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: prices ever since, and even prior to that. But joining
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: me on the line to tell us a little bit
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: more about how things are going well from a transport perspective,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: it is the executive officer of the NT Road Transport Association,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Louise Belato.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Louise.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie. How are you.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Pretty well, Louise.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: We know that a couple of weeks ago, obviously it
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: was announced that the fuel excise was going to be cush.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: I think it was twenty two cents if I recall correctly.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: How big an impact or has that had any impact
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: for the transport industry at this point.
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: Well, there's been plenty of conversation about that, and unfortunately, Katie,
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: the four point three center leter difference that is now
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: in the pockets of the transport industry was tiny compared
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: to where the fuel prices have gone. So fuel has
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: gone up approximately sixty cents a liter since the beginning
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: of this year. So the fuel excise drop and then
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: losing the fuel tax credit means that four point three
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: cents a litera is very very little to be seen
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  Speaker 4: in the.
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  Speaker 3: Pockets of the road transport industry.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Oh well, it sounds like it's very very little, Louise,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: talk us through how it ends up being such a
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: small amount.
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it was interesting because we had been lobbing for
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: the fuel tax credit to be increased for the road
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: transport industry. But the obviously fuel excise means that you know,
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: every mom and dad who fills up at the bowser
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: will see a slight difference. The road transport industry has
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: a road user charge applied and from the first of
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: February the rebate that they could get through the Australian
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: Taxation Office was seventeen point eight cents elita, and so
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: that seventeen eight point eight cents a litera is no
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: longer available to be rebated. Fortunately, both major parties have
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: said that that definitely will be coming off after the
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: twenty eighth of September, but it certainly doesn't do anything
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: to alleviate the freight prices now, which is what we'll
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: impose on the cost of living pressures.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the thing, you know, the cost of
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: living pressures.
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  Speaker 1: And I guess it's a good headline grabber when you
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: hear that the fuel exercises been cut, But then when
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: you actually look about look at the cost of freight
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  Speaker 1: and everything else that we're dealing with, it's a tough time,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: there's no doubt about it.
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it is spoken mirrors and we haven't seen either
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  Speaker 4: of the major parties talk about the transport as a
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: critical election issue, and both of them do need to
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: be thinking about that because every single thing, and I
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: mean certainly the territory. We know how reliant we are
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: on road freight, but you know, whether it's construction materials,
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: housing materials, you know, your food costs, just general costs
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: of living in remote and regional areas because we are so.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: Much driven by large distances. We will see that ongoing.
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: It's a very tricky situation, Katie, and my biggest concern
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: has been for the livelihoods of a lot of our
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: small and medium sized trucking companies and ensuring that they.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: Don't go broke during this volatile time.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, how are they going at these point? Louaise very
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: tricky for them.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: As I said, those that didn't get on board with
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: the or weren't able to get the fuel levees as
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: subcontractors or sub subcontractors early have been paying the very
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: high prices. And you know today at the bows are
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: in Darwin, the diesel prices a dollar ninety five a liter,
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: but it's two dollars thirty five in Central Australia and
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: at two dollars twenty a liter in the Barkley. In
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  Speaker 4: December it was a dollar seventy or a dollar seventy five,
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  Speaker 4: So that's it's a huge impost still and we don't
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  Speaker 4: know what the you know, the volatility of the Australian
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: dollar and the inflationary pressures are going to look like
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: in six months time when this duel excise comes off
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  Speaker 4: and there's nothing.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to ask, I mean, when you
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: do look six months down the track, are we likely
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: to continue continue to see the prices sort of up
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  Speaker 1: high from from what you are being told? Or are
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: we are we looking at the dropping or is it
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: just too early to tell?
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  Speaker 4: Uh? Well, there's a lot of you know, smart minds
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  Speaker 4: that do look at all the forward projections and where
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: the crude oil prices go and what the you know,
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: the fuel market you know, is going to look like
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: into the future. And obviously they take that on based
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: on US dollar exchange rates and what the Australian dollars
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  Speaker 4: strength is against the US dollar, and the crude oil
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  Speaker 4: prices are very very volatile. So yeah, I don't think
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  Speaker 4: anyone is confident in the road transport industry that we'll
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  Speaker 4: see prices drop significantly, and you know, the supply chains
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  Speaker 4: are still very very exposed internationally, and yeah, my my
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: suggestion is that as many of the road transport industry
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  Speaker 4: do really knuckle down with the fuel levees, so that
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: can at least to get some breathing space, because if
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: the industry isn't there and there well, there's there's you know,
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  Speaker 4: the larger end of town are there to do the
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: heavy freightlifting, but the guys that do it all now aren't.
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  Speaker 4: We'll see a very very different transport landscape into the future.
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  Speaker 4: And that's not that's not in anyone's best interest in
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  Speaker 4: Australia and Louise.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Are we is it looking that way?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, is it becoming so difficult for some of
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  Speaker 1: our maybe not so large freight companies that they may
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: cease to exist?
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely, Katie, Absolutely, wow.
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  Speaker 1: I mean it's a worry because you think a lot
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  Speaker 1: of the time, you know, these we're talking about good
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  Speaker 1: territory businesses who I would imagine have been operating for
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  Speaker 1: quite a while.
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  Speaker 4: Exactly, Mamma, Dad, operators, owner drivers. They're the backbone of
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: the road transport industry, and they certainly have kept prices
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  Speaker 4: probably artificially low because they don't have the same overheads
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: as as obviously the the you know, multinational companies. But
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: that's right, the potential risks are very high for our
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: freight costs to be considerably you know more if if
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: those people aren't doing business, but it is, it is,
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  Speaker 4: it's a perfect storm at the moment because we don't
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: have the the workforce. We've got huge you know, skyrocking
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: prices with with fuel and other expenses, and then you know,
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  Speaker 4: you can't get.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: Repairs and maintenance done.
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: If the equipment isn't there, you know, if they're waiting
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: for parts and things like that from overseas, which has
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: been a very significant impact on businesses with delays, So
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: it is very Yeah, there's there's challenges all around.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it certainly sounds that way.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: And I mean, Louise, how worried are some of our
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: drivers and also businesses about really what you know the
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: next few months are going to look like for them?
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: Well, I think it's beyond that six months. I mean,
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: people will plod along at the moment knowing that that
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: four point three cents a liter you know, hasn't done well.
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: The reduction in the fuel excise hasn't done what the
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: federal government anticipated that it would, and that's reduced the
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: cost of living pressures, because no transport operating freight costs
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: will drop when you've got fuel prices as high as
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: they are and the rebate that they're getting his four
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: point three cents a liter, and that can change from
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: one bowser to the next essentially, so that there's no
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  Speaker 4: there's no gain that the road transport industry has made
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  Speaker 4: as a consequence of that fuel excise, And remembering that
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: the federal government is still getting GST whilst they've they've
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: lost yeah, they've lost some revenue. And I meanbviously, every
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: Bitchmond road that we drive on is cheaper than an
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  Speaker 4: unsealed road, especially in the territory. But you know, the
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: bottom line is that they are still collecting a very
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  Speaker 4: significant revenue even though the fuel excise has been half
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: for six months. And we're asking, you know, genuinely, well,
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: you know, what's the next ace up your sleeve in
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  Speaker 4: six months time if the fuel prices remain high and
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: then that inflationary pressure is creeping up and up and up,
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  Speaker 4: because you know, we know that freight is a lead
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: and transport as a lead indicator for inflationary pressure.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Well, I tell you what, Luise, it sounds like it's
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: you know, you've given us a lot to think about
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: this morning, and I think probably a lot that you
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: know that plenty of us hadn't really thought of. You know,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: you hear that headline that the fuel excise is cut,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: and we're like, oh good. You know, the petrol prices
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: are going to go down a little bit for us
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: at the Bowser. But the reality here is, as you've said,
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  Speaker 1: you know, if it's not sort of, if it's not
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: meaning that the prices are going down significantly enough for
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: it to make an impact on our transport industry, the
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: cost of nothing else is going to go down, that's.
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: Right, it's not a meaningful reduction that will then see
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: it translate into cheaper freight costs. And we know that
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: every single business needs stability in their prices, whether you're
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: moving grain or cotton, or livestock or mousehold goods. Everyone
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  Speaker 4: wants that confidence. But it's very difficult for the transport
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  Speaker 4: industry to lock in longer term prices at the moment
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: to offer their customers because they don't know what that's
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: going to look like. And we're not scare angering at
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: all cases saying yeah, they're both the federal government and
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: the opposition in their selection time do need to be
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  Speaker 4: thinking very strategically about what the you know, what the
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: end game is going to well like in six months
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: time when they are pulling off this fill LEXI.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Well, which I think is fair enough. Louise Belato, I
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: always appreciate your time. Thank you very much for having
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: a chat with me this morning.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Katie, thank you