Truckies win big in red tape reduction

The trucking industry is set to be the big winner from the state government’s red tape reduction campaign, which is targeting total savings of $44 million by cutting red tape and regulation.

The bulk of that saving would come from the laboriously regulated heavy (restricted access) vehicle transport industry, which is poised to save more than $16 million a year if the changes are implemented.

Treasurer Troy Buswell last week released the Red Tape Reduction Group’s report, which outlined 107 recommendations to slash the regulatory burden on business and consumers.

Key recommendations include streamlining heavy vehicle transport regulation; removing excessive compliance on local governments, which could save $5 million a year; and overhauling marine and caravan licensing arrangements to potentially save businesses $2 million a year.

The RTRG identified bureaucracy issues with the current heavy vehicle accreditation and permit system, with drivers required to carry excessive amounts of compliance information.

Many heavy vehicle operators are required to carry hundreds of pages of documents for each trip, sometimes weighing in excess of 14 kilograms.

The permit system was also found to be inefficient and too complex with transport operators finding the application process time consuming.

Transport operators spoken to by WA Business News said as well as having to complete daily vehicle maintenance checks and record driver hours, they were often forced to wait up to four days to obtain approval for single journey permits.

Another issue raised as burdensome was the requirement that accredited businesses maintain a record for every employee that demonstrates they are fit to operate a heavy vehicle.

The RTRG has proposed to simplify single journey permits for restricted access vehicles into a single or annual application process, as well as introduce a booking system for heavy vehicle licensing inspections, and create an email or internet-based lodgement and approval system for vehicle permits.

The state’s peak road transport industry body Transport Forum WA has welcomed the recommendations.

Transport Forum chief executive Ian King said the amount of paperwork transport operators were required to carry was “ludicrous”.

“There’s just so much paperwork, which hardly ever gets used, but there’s stupidity in the law that says you’ve got to have it,” he said.

“But Main Roads will not accept the information in a digital format.

“The permit process is also labour-intensive, it is done manually, and unfortunately Main Roads has endured cut-backs like every other (government) department.

“The industry needs to firstly get to the 20th century, then to the 21st century because at the moment it is ridiculous everything being done manually, it’s the old-fashioned 1950s way of doing things.”

Brunswick-based transport company B&J Catalano could save thousands of dollars a year if the RTRG’s recommendations are passed.

B&J general manager Ellen Lilly said the permit process was costly and time consuming with the business forced to pay $100 for each single journey permit, which usually took several days to process.

Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA business policy manager, Nathan Taylor, said the RTRG report showed that excessive unnecessary regulation was prolific across WA.

“At a time when WA is poised for a return to strong and steady growth, it would be a wasted opportunity if government regulation were to hold us back,” he said.