The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) has congratulated the Prime Minister-elect, Tony Abbott, and the Deputy Prime Minister-elect, Warren Truss, on their election victory last weekend.
According to Chairman of the ATA, David Simon, the Coalition victory now removes the threat of the carbon tax being extended to truck fuel. If elected, the Labor Party would have extended the tax to truck fuel from 1 July 2014. The tax would have started at 1.6 cents per litre, but would have increased to 5.1 cents per litre by July 2016.
“Most trucking operators are small businesses. They do not have the market power to pass extra costs on, and Labor’s tax would have just made their lives harder,” he said.
“The Coalition victory has freed the industry from the threat of this extra tax. The threat is gone even if the Senate tries to block the repeal of the carbon tax laws. The extension of the tax to truck fuel is not part of the existing laws and would have required new legislation.”
Simon also said the ATA looked forward to working with the Coalition on the other key issues affecting the industry, including better roads and road access, and truck taxes and charges.
“The Coalition has put forward a strong plan for building roads and improving how they are planned, and has also pledged it will not move to a satellite based system for tracking and billing trucks without extensive industry consultation,” he added.
“Australia’s governments are developing this satellite based system now, which would see every one of Australia’s 534,000 trucks fitted with special tracking devices.”
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