Drought relief rules should stay: ATA

The relaxed rules for transporting fodder across state borders during the drought should be expanded and made permanent, according to ATA Chair Geoff Crouch.

Mr Crouch was speaking after attending the National Drought Summit in Canberra last week.

“The drought summit was incredibly positive, and I want to thank Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack for bringing us all into one place,” said Mr Crouch.

“To make Australia more drought resilient, governments need to remove the unnecessary barriers that stop the efficient and productive movement of stock and feed over large distances,” Mr Crouch added.

“Governments have taken an important first step by harmonising the rules for transporting baled commodities like fodder.

“The message I got from the summit is that governments now need to consider further rule changes to help in both this drought and future droughts.”

Mr Crouch said that governments should harmonise and free up the rules for loading and transporting livestock across state borders, as well as enabling fodder and feed to be transported at higher mass limits in NSW without the need for IAP vehicle tracking.

He added that there should be a review the fit to load rules, because drought affected livestock may be in poor condition and, subject to a safety assessment, continue the harmonised transport rules after the drought to increase the productivity of the farm and road freight transport sectors and eliminate delays in responding to future droughts.

Crouch said that ATA member associations like NatRoad and ALRTA, as well as the NSW Livestock, Bulk and Rural Carriers’ Association, were doing a great job uniting and representing rural transporters through the drought.