Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Road Transport Association Chief Executive Louise Bilato says it’s been full throttle for truckies helping move freight following damage to the rail line near Tennant Creek

Transcript

NT Road Transport Association Chief Executive Louise Bilato says it’s been full throttle for truckies helping move freight following damage to the rail line near Tennant Creek · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Last week we caught up with the Northern Territory Transport Association,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the Road Transport Association following monsoonal rain to find out
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: what impacts it's having on road freight and also food supplies.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Now at the time there were some concerns for parts
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: of the Stuart Highway, particularly around Tenant Creek and on
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: the Berkley Highway. Joining me on the line right now
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: from the Northern Territory Road Transport Association, the chief executive
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Louise Belacho, Good morning to you, Louise.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Louise.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: How are things going on our roads at the moment?
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Well, very busy for the truckies over the weekend with
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: the rail line closed near Tenant Creek, so there was
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: a huge push and I know some of our managers
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: of trucking companies that don't usually drive were in trucks
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: trying to move the container freight from our springs through
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: to Darwin to try and reduce the amount of disruption
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: that we would be experiencing otherwise with the rail line
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: down probably for a few more days. So that was
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: a huge uplift and again pull credit to the truckies
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: who stepped up and have made sure that we try
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: and keep it as seamless as possible. With the rail
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: not able to get through to day Owen.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely, it means that we've all still got everything
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: that we need or the you know, the large majority
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: of what we sort of need. How many extra you know,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: how many extra trucks are on the road, or how
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: many extra sort of resources were required.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Well, we had probably about a dozen extra triple road trains.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: The tricky thing for the rail is that the containers
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: are forty eight foot long, and so they don't just
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: sit comfortably on a regular flattop. They need scale trailers
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: that will accommodate those larger rail containers. So that adds
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: another dimension to the regius exercise. It's not just a
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: simple straightforward off the rail. In Alice Springs and up
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: to Darwin there was a lot more coordinated effort and
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: also there was more refrigerated vans needed to move some
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: of the perishable freights off the rail to do Alista
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: dah and run who usually would have been going Darwin
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: back to Adelaide and back again. So there was a
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: bit of shuffling, or there still is shuffling around to
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: make sure that the two retailers are fully stopped. But
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: our bigger issue at the moment is obviously supporting Kananara
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: and Hawse Creek because their only lifeline these days is
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: the Victoria Highway and the Stewart Highway. And as you know,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: the Victoria River peaked at the bridge overnight. I think
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: it was two meters above the bridge height, and it's
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: on its way down supposedly, but that could take three
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: or four days at least, and we're hoping that the
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: road infrastructure around the Victoria Highway and the Inn hasn't
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: been damaged so that that road can be reopened. But Katie,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: the other tricky thing is the Timber Creek now and
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: where the low is sitting over that region still and
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: what that might mean for if the Timber Creek is flooded,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: then it doesn't matter that the Victoria River comes down
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: for those people in Klenara.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: And so Luise, are you sort of expecting at this
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: point in time any delays when it comes to, you know,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: to those areas that you've just spoken about, or any
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: further concerns by the sounds of it all eyes or
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: on those areas.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, they are well, huge concerns obviously, the West Australian
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Government is looking at military capacity sitting in Catherine today,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: see what air freight needs to be moved into or
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: food stuffs into Kannanara by air. And they're also looking
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: at the barge that has been going from Broom to
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Derby whilst that road's been out of action, to look
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: at whether that can be taken across to Wyndham to
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: support the community there, because it's not just Cumanara and
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Horse Creek, it's all the other communities in between and Balgo.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: So yeah, the territory essentially is a lifeline for them
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: now and the rains and you know the weather events
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: have just been unprecedented. Yeah.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Gee it's tough, isn't it for some of those communities.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: And then you look at what's going on in you know,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: just over the border, I suppose in Wa there and
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: we know how it feels to be cut off like that.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: So if there is any way that the Northern Territory
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: can help, it can only be a good thing.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Yes, Yes, the West Australian Government also mount a freight
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: subsidy for those businesses affected because we know that we've
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: got trucks stopped in Catherine as we speak with, you know,
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: fertilizers and seeds and you know, items for the or
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: driver businesses that are waiting for those supplies to be
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: able to do their thing this dry season, and they're
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: paying a lot more for the cost of straight in
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: that area because you know, the Vitory crossing bridge is
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: out and will be out for probably two years. You know,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: we're hoping for the causeway in the dry season to
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: be up and running, but that's going to take a
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: huge amount of effort.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Louise, how many of those trucks are stuck in Catherine
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: at this point.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: I was trying to get numbers first thing this morning.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: They seem to be spread out a little bit, but
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: there's probably at least a dozen waiting to across to
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Kananara and the Ord right now. Maybe if you lessen
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: that doing the business runs. But we've got fuel trucks
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: also who are waiting to get through to service those communities.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Some of them managed to get through before the river
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: went up on the weekend and just not through, but
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: they're waiting to get back now too.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's tough going, really tough going for them, Luise.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Before I let you go, we've been talking sort of
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: cost of living. I know that everybody is at this point,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: but I did note that Federal Labor had a proposal
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: to impose a ten percent per year increase in fuel
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: taxes and registration charges on the nation's truck ees. It
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: would cost Australia's near fifty thousand trucking companies an additional
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: two point six billion dollars over three years. Is what
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: is being reported. What's your take on this?
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: Well, we put in a submission in response to that
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: for the road you use a charge to actually reflect
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: the cost of doing business in remote Australia because all
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: of our truckees, besides having to pay a road user
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: charge for roads that are impassable or substandard a lot
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: of the time, like now, we're paying the same road
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: user charge that the Eastern Seaboard does who are able
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: to operate twelve months of the year. So our submission
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: calls for an incentive for Remote Australia by halving the
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: road user charge rather than actually seeing an increase in
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: the cost of that. The Northern Territory Government has understood
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: the impact of registration, So the Northern Territory Government registration
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: heavy vehicle registrations haven't kept up with the Eastern seaboards
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: under the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator for years. With our
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: price rise in October was one point five percent into eight,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: they were looking at three point seven percent registration hikes.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: So we're saying the same with the road user charges,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: that it should not be a one size foot fits
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: all road user charge. Besides the freight costs, fuel costs
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: is more in remote Australia, and you just can't do
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: business twenty four to seven, three hundred and sixty five
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: days of the year. It's not a level playing field.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's an incredibly good point and no
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: doubt well by the sounds of one, sounds of it
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: one that you've definitely made very clear, which is a
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: great thing. Louise Belato. It is always good to catch
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: up with you. I really appreciate your time this morning.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Katie, thank you