TRANSCRIPT: AUSTRALIAN TRUCK RADIO WITH SIMON SMITH, 29 FEBRUARY 2024

Subjects: Trucking Industry, Scott Morrison’s retirement from Parliament 

E&OE  

STARTS: 9:30am 

SIMON SMITH 

Across Australia you’re listening to Australian truck radio. Simon Smith is my name. Nice to have you on board. My great pleasure right now to catch up on a Thursday morning. Here, I’ve got Michael McCormack, Federal Member for Riverina. G’day Michael, good to catch up with you.  

 MICHAEL McCORMACK 

G’day Simon. Still trying to lead the way, we’re certainly making sure we get good trucking policy and certainly good transport policy. And working with Bridget McKenzie, who is the Shadow Minister for Transport and David Littleproud, the current National Party leader who, you know, we’re fighting the good fight for regional Australia.  

 SIMON SMITH 

Of course, Federal Parliament — back now — plenty on the plate at the moment, but a big week too and particularly again with Scott Morrison leaving the political stage as it stands. A big day but a wonderful speech, Michael. 

 MICHAEL McCORMACK 

He did give a wonderful speech and it went for almost 40 minutes. But I tell you what, he had not only all the parliamentarians captivated but those in the galleries as well. And when you have a Prime Minister who is exiting the Parliament, it is a momentous occasion. We haven’t seen – we don’t see that too often. He was the 30th Prime Minister of this country and you give that person the respect that they have earned and every Prime Minister of Australia is palpably, at the end of the day, a good person. You don’t hold that office unless you really have this nation’s best interest first and foremost in your heart — and he did some good things. He led our nation, worked incredibly hard during COVID and I think while the pundits and the social media and some of those in the gallery at the moment might sort of, sometimes, question how he went and what he did. I think history will be kind to Scott Morrison because I think he did a very good job as the Prime Minister in very difficult days. He was leading at a time when there was severe drought, when he first came in, of course, we had bushfires, we had floods. Those floods in northern Queensland in February 2019 were something else — and then right across the nation, elsewhere as well later on. But then of course we had COVID-19 hit and that was just so, so difficult and I can remember when the looks in the room where when it was stated that tens of thousands of Australians were going to die within the coming weeks unless we did something and we had to do something. James Kwan had died on the 1st of March in 2020 and he was the first to succumb to COVID in this country and we had to do something and very quickly and there was no manual you could have pulled off the shelf to act, but we did what we thought was right. We closed our borders, our international borders and then, of course, National Cabinet was set up and the states did what they did with their own state borders. And look, some mistakes were made — there’s no question, but ultimately, we got through that awful period, the worst of it, and the international Johns Hopkins Index said that we were the second best in the whole world to react and respond to that deadly crisis. 

 SIMON SMITH 

Yeah, exactly right. I was only thinking this morning, prior to speaking with you, when again, in light of Scott Morrison leaving Federal Parliament, when you talk about the COVID-19 issue and what Australia went through then, one of the big things, and again it was just a sterling example of just how well industry gets behind things and works together; the transport industry and the trucking industry, during the COVID years, that really did resemble… 

 MICHAEL McCORMACK 

Truckies carried the nation. Let’s call it as it is, Simon. The truckies carried the nation during COVID-19 and I remember Scott gave me the task to ensure that we had a logistics and transport code in place so that trucks which were being held up at the borders for hours, particularly at the Tweed between New South Wales and Queensland, they were being held up for hours because everybody thought they needed 10 rolls of toilet paper every time they went to the toilet. It was a bizarre time, but we also needed to get personal protection equipment. We also needed to get, well, vaccinations, everything, you know, around the country — and we didn’t need internal barriers and borders holding up trucks. So, I called an urgent meeting of all the transport ministers. I still recall it as well as anything. It’s probably the thing that stands out most in my time as Deputy Prime Minister, and that was over three and a third years, and particularly I thank the likes of now Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, Mark Bailey, the Queensland Labor Minister — Roads and Transport Minister — and others; and most of the ministers were Labor and so I was of course on the other side of politics. But you know, we worked together. Rita Saffioti, Andrew Constance, we all work together to do the right thing for and on behalf of all Australians and everybody just parked their politics, we got that logistics and transport code in, I presented it to the Prime Minister the next day. He put it through National Cabinet two days later and it was passed and it was literally the next day that after that meeting that an interim logistics code was put in and there was no hassles. Trucks were across the border; everything was as it should be. And that really saved Australia. But it wasn’t the politicians, it was the truckies who did the work, who did the job, who marvellously carried this nation and we thank them for it. I’ll never forget the work they did in conjunction with the airlines as well. You know, there’s a lot of good work done by Rex to fly supplies and vaccinations and, particularly, people, health professionals to some of those far-flung places and that’s why the Aboriginal communities, in remote Northern Territory, in Western Australia, were not devastated by this virus.  

 SIMON SMITH 

Exactly. Now, and the reason for talking with you, and as always great to catch up with you, and again, when you talk about the Riverina, your electorate, big part of the world, but it just so resembles nationally doesn’t it? 

 MICHAEL McCORMACK 

It’s a microcosm of Australia. It is. 

 SIMON SMITH 

Exactly, and the Riverina, again, historically, you look at what’s happened in years gone by, it is carried by the transport industry and that’s why you get… 

 MICHAEL McCORMACK 

Ron Finemore will love hearing you say that. 

 SIMON SMITH 

Ah well it is, it’s true. But again, when you look at the Riverina, and again, it’s so dynamic — but you get it — but again, when you talk about things that are happening today, and again we talk about Scott Morrison, and again, we talk about the National Party and Federal members across the Riverina, like Tim Fischer and Kay Hull over the years — they got it just like you get it, but today we have Chris Bowen talking about a fuel efficiency program that’s going to put up the price of utes and four-wheel drives. And again, when you look at the reality of transport today, we are a long way from getting electric trucks to carry goods across the Riverina. 

 MICHAEL McCORMACK 

Well, there’s just not the capacity for them, for truckies, to be on the side of the road waiting for it to recharge. This haste to renewables and I appreciate that fuel standards are important, that efficient fuel standards are internationally being put in place. I get all that, but, interestingly, and as I as I said to the Parliament yesterday, when he talks about in one of his key points is the fact that pickup trucks, despite the Labor-style fuel efficiency standards in America at the moment, pickup trucks are still popular, he argues, and yes, they are, but they’re largely exempt from the rules put in place, which Labor are putting in place without any exemptions here in Australia. This rush to renewables is a folly and yes, of course, in the perfect world we transition and everybody be happy and batteries would operate the way they are and charging stations would be across the length and breadth of the nation — but it’s not the case, Simon. And your listeners know that, your truckies know that and the technology is not there at the moment, nor the infrastructure, to be able to have electric vehicles the way that the Government wants to rush them out. It’s not in place. The fact that fuel efficiency standards, which are going to force prices of family cars and utes — and that really impacts upon tradies, it impacts upon farmers and the economy just can’t sustain this. We’re already in a cost-of-living crisis and here we’ve got Labor just wanting to push the price of some vehicles up as much as tens of thousands of dollars. I mean, it is a nonsense to be able to be doing this at a time when the infrastructure is not in place, as far as charging stations, and all might be well and good in Chris Bowen’s electorate where people probably drive 15 kilometres across a couple of suburbs and think that’s a big effort, but in regional Australia our trucks are hauling goods to keep this nation going, hour after hour. And of course, all within the right time constraints, etc. and under the right speed limits, but they’re carrying the nation and they’re not being protected or looked after or even recognised or acknowledged by this Government which just wants to have a haste to renewables. 

 SIMON SMITH 

Exactly. It’s interesting, one of our guys who in fact has just come back from Sweden, Peter Shields, is one of our editors here at Prime Creative, he was in Wagga recently in fact, last weekend, for the Livestock, Bulk & Rural Carriers Association, big conference there out at the Wagga Gun Club, and a great couple of days, but when you talk to Peter, and I was only talking to him yesterday about that conference, when you talk about what those guys in those organisations, particularly moving livestock for example, their language and what they talk about is so totally devoid from a lot of the language that a lot of politicians that just don’t get it, that the language they speak, and I think that’s the real divide, isn’t it at the moment? 

 MICHAEL McCORMACK 

79.8 per cent of freight is transported by trucks and that was 2021-22 figures. It’s probably more than 80 per cent now. And you look at the quarter of a million people who are employed by the trucking industry around Australia and that’s a figure produced by the Queensland Trucking Association. You know, between 60,000 and 100,000 of them are truck owner-drivers. We should be praising truck drivers, we should be thanking them every day and we should also remember when we’re driving along the highway to give them space, to give them room, because some cars get in trucks’ blind spots and sit there — and you look at sometimes the crashes that unfortunately and sadly occur on our roads, almost on just about every occasion when one of those crashes occurs, it’s not the heavy vehicle driver’s fault. It is not. And yet they don’t get fully appreciated as they should. 

 SIMON SMITH 

Exactly. Look, when you talk to people and I know you have done over the years, when you talk to people like Rod Hannifey, who has been out there doing it and is a great advocate for all of that, it’s all about sharing the road, it’s all about driver education, I remember one of the best things Rod did over the years, many years ago, working radio in Wagga, and Rod had come along in the early hours and talked trucking — and back then, he used to get pollies into a truck, because a lot of politicians, as you know, have never actually been in a truck. And Rod would take them for a run; and when they got out of the truck after spending a couple of hours in a B-double with Rod they understood so much more about what goes on. 

 MICHAEL McCORMACK 

Yeah look, I’ve actually done that, I’ve actually jumped in a truck with Geoff Crouch actually and we went up the Hume and it was good, but I come from the land, so I know one of my greatest regrets is actually not getting that heavy vehicle driver’s licence — but I was in journalism at the time. But I used to drive Dad’s truck, chaser bin and truck, right around the paddocks during harvest. Of course, that’s what I think every 13 and 14 year old kid did when the harvest was there to be done and it was all hands on deck and very much enjoyed and appreciated, but I do have very much a huge appreciation, a rap for what our truck drivers do — and you’re right, every pollie should jump behind the wheel of a rig — or in the passenger seat of a rig, I should say! Yeah, that might be better. Well, behind the wheel of a rig that’s sitting there and just look at the mirrors and look even just in front of them, because far too many cars just cut once they overtake a truck, cut, right in front of a truck and the truck driver sometimes can’t see the car in front of them because they’ve cut in so quickly, particularly if there’s weather conditions and just, as you say, the road is there, just give trucks the space, the road is there to share — do it.  

 SIMON SMITH 

Michael, always great to catch up with you, you make a lot of sense. And look, very much to look forward to chatting with you further down the track in 2024. Really appreciate your time today. You’re a busy man, but you bring a lot of sense and that’s greatly appreciated, Michael. 

 MICHAEL McCORMACK 

We’ll talk soon Simon. Thank you very much.  

 

ENDS: 9:43am 

Paul Pfitzner