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Speaker 1: Speaking of the federal election, we do know that one

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Speaker 1: of the biggest issues is going to be cost of

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Speaker 1: living and fuel prices. Well, they were something that was

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Speaker 1: indeed a centerpiece of the federal government budget when they

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Speaker 1: handed it down just a couple of weeks ago. We've

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Speaker 1: all been keeping a very close eye on the petrol

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Speaker 1: prices ever since, and even prior to that. But joining

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Speaker 1: me on the line to tell us a little bit

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Speaker 1: more about how things are going well from a transport perspective,

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Speaker 1: it is the executive officer of the NT Road Transport Association,

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Speaker 1: Louise Belato.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Louise.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie. How are you.

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Speaker 2: Pretty well, Louise.

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Speaker 1: We know that a couple of weeks ago, obviously it

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Speaker 1: was announced that the fuel excise was going to be cush.

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Speaker 2: I think it was twenty two cents if I recall correctly.

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Speaker 1: How big an impact or has that had any impact

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Speaker 1: for the transport industry at this point.

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Speaker 4: Well, there's been plenty of conversation about that, and unfortunately, Katie,

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Speaker 4: the four point three center leter difference that is now

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Speaker 4: in the pockets of the transport industry was tiny compared

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Speaker 4: to where the fuel prices have gone. So fuel has

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Speaker 4: gone up approximately sixty cents a liter since the beginning

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Speaker 4: of this year. So the fuel excise drop and then

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Speaker 4: losing the fuel tax credit means that four point three

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Speaker 4: cents a litera is very very little to be seen

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Speaker 4: in the.

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Speaker 3: Pockets of the road transport industry.

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Speaker 1: Oh well, it sounds like it's very very little, Louise,

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Speaker 1: talk us through how it ends up being such a

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Speaker 1: small amount.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it was interesting because we had been lobbing for

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Speaker 4: the fuel tax credit to be increased for the road

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Speaker 4: transport industry. But the obviously fuel excise means that you know,

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Speaker 4: every mom and dad who fills up at the bowser

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Speaker 4: will see a slight difference. The road transport industry has

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Speaker 4: a road user charge applied and from the first of

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Speaker 4: February the rebate that they could get through the Australian

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Speaker 4: Taxation Office was seventeen point eight cents elita, and so

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Speaker 4: that seventeen eight point eight cents a litera is no

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Speaker 4: longer available to be rebated. Fortunately, both major parties have

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Speaker 4: said that that definitely will be coming off after the

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Speaker 4: twenty eighth of September, but it certainly doesn't do anything

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Speaker 4: to alleviate the freight prices now, which is what we'll

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Speaker 4: impose on the cost of living pressures.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the thing, you know, the cost of

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Speaker 2: living pressures.

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Speaker 1: And I guess it's a good headline grabber when you

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Speaker 1: hear that the fuel exercises been cut, But then when

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Speaker 1: you actually look about look at the cost of freight

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Speaker 1: and everything else that we're dealing with, it's a tough time,

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Speaker 1: there's no doubt about it.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it is spoken mirrors and we haven't seen either

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Speaker 4: of the major parties talk about the transport as a

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Speaker 4: critical election issue, and both of them do need to

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Speaker 4: be thinking about that because every single thing, and I

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Speaker 4: mean certainly the territory. We know how reliant we are

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Speaker 4: on road freight, but you know, whether it's construction materials,

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Speaker 4: housing materials, you know, your food costs, just general costs

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Speaker 4: of living in remote and regional areas because we are so.

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Speaker 3: Much driven by large distances. We will see that ongoing.

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Speaker 4: It's a very tricky situation, Katie, and my biggest concern

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Speaker 4: has been for the livelihoods of a lot of our

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Speaker 4: small and medium sized trucking companies and ensuring that they.

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Speaker 3: Don't go broke during this volatile time.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, how are they going at these point? Louaise very

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Speaker 2: tricky for them.

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Speaker 4: As I said, those that didn't get on board with

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Speaker 4: the or weren't able to get the fuel levees as

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Speaker 4: subcontractors or sub subcontractors early have been paying the very

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Speaker 4: high prices. And you know today at the bows are

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Speaker 4: in Darwin, the diesel prices a dollar ninety five a liter,

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Speaker 4: but it's two dollars thirty five in Central Australia and

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Speaker 4: at two dollars twenty a liter in the Barkley. In

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Speaker 4: December it was a dollar seventy or a dollar seventy five,

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Speaker 4: So that's it's a huge impost still and we don't

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Speaker 4: know what the you know, the volatility of the Australian

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Speaker 4: dollar and the inflationary pressures are going to look like

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Speaker 4: in six months time when this duel excise comes off

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Speaker 4: and there's nothing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to ask, I mean, when you

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Speaker 1: do look six months down the track, are we likely

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Speaker 1: to continue continue to see the prices sort of up

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Speaker 1: high from from what you are being told? Or are

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Speaker 1: we are we looking at the dropping or is it

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Speaker 1: just too early to tell?

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Speaker 4: Uh? Well, there's a lot of you know, smart minds

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Speaker 4: that do look at all the forward projections and where

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Speaker 4: the crude oil prices go and what the you know,

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Speaker 4: the fuel market you know, is going to look like

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Speaker 4: into the future. And obviously they take that on based

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Speaker 4: on US dollar exchange rates and what the Australian dollars

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Speaker 4: strength is against the US dollar, and the crude oil

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Speaker 4: prices are very very volatile. So yeah, I don't think

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Speaker 4: anyone is confident in the road transport industry that we'll

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Speaker 4: see prices drop significantly, and you know, the supply chains

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Speaker 4: are still very very exposed internationally, and yeah, my my

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Speaker 4: suggestion is that as many of the road transport industry

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Speaker 4: do really knuckle down with the fuel levees, so that

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Speaker 4: can at least to get some breathing space, because if

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Speaker 4: the industry isn't there and there well, there's there's you know,

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Speaker 4: the larger end of town are there to do the

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Speaker 4: heavy freightlifting, but the guys that do it all now aren't.

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Speaker 4: We'll see a very very different transport landscape into the future.

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Speaker 4: And that's not that's not in anyone's best interest in

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Speaker 4: Australia and Louise.

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Speaker 2: Are we is it looking that way?

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Speaker 1: I mean, is it becoming so difficult for some of

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Speaker 1: our maybe not so large freight companies that they may

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Speaker 1: cease to exist?

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Speaker 4: Absolutely, Katie, Absolutely, wow.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's a worry because you think a lot

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Speaker 1: of the time, you know, these we're talking about good

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Speaker 1: territory businesses who I would imagine have been operating for

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Speaker 1: quite a while.

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Speaker 4: Exactly, Mamma, Dad, operators, owner drivers. They're the backbone of

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Speaker 4: the road transport industry, and they certainly have kept prices

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Speaker 4: probably artificially low because they don't have the same overheads

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Speaker 4: as as obviously the the you know, multinational companies. But

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Speaker 4: that's right, the potential risks are very high for our

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Speaker 4: freight costs to be considerably you know more if if

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Speaker 4: those people aren't doing business, but it is, it is,

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Speaker 4: it's a perfect storm at the moment because we don't

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Speaker 4: have the the workforce. We've got huge you know, skyrocking

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Speaker 4: prices with with fuel and other expenses, and then you know,

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Speaker 4: you can't get.

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Speaker 3: Repairs and maintenance done.

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Speaker 4: If the equipment isn't there, you know, if they're waiting

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Speaker 4: for parts and things like that from overseas, which has

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Speaker 4: been a very significant impact on businesses with delays, So

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Speaker 4: it is very Yeah, there's there's challenges all around.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it certainly sounds that way.

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Speaker 1: And I mean, Louise, how worried are some of our

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Speaker 1: drivers and also businesses about really what you know the

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Speaker 1: next few months are going to look like for them?

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Speaker 4: Well, I think it's beyond that six months. I mean,

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Speaker 4: people will plod along at the moment knowing that that

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Speaker 4: four point three cents a liter you know, hasn't done well.

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Speaker 4: The reduction in the fuel excise hasn't done what the

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Speaker 4: federal government anticipated that it would, and that's reduced the

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Speaker 4: cost of living pressures, because no transport operating freight costs

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Speaker 4: will drop when you've got fuel prices as high as

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Speaker 4: they are and the rebate that they're getting his four

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Speaker 4: point three cents a liter, and that can change from

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Speaker 4: one bowser to the next essentially, so that there's no

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Speaker 4: there's no gain that the road transport industry has made

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Speaker 4: as a consequence of that fuel excise, And remembering that

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Speaker 4: the federal government is still getting GST whilst they've they've

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Speaker 4: lost yeah, they've lost some revenue. And I meanbviously, every

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Speaker 4: Bitchmond road that we drive on is cheaper than an

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Speaker 4: unsealed road, especially in the territory. But you know, the

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Speaker 4: bottom line is that they are still collecting a very

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Speaker 4: significant revenue even though the fuel excise has been half

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Speaker 4: for six months. And we're asking, you know, genuinely, well,

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Speaker 4: you know, what's the next ace up your sleeve in

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Speaker 4: six months time if the fuel prices remain high and

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Speaker 4: then that inflationary pressure is creeping up and up and up,

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Speaker 4: because you know, we know that freight is a lead

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Speaker 4: and transport as a lead indicator for inflationary pressure.

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Speaker 1: Well, I tell you what, Luise, it sounds like it's

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Speaker 1: you know, you've given us a lot to think about

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Speaker 1: this morning, and I think probably a lot that you

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Speaker 1: know that plenty of us hadn't really thought of. You know,

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Speaker 1: you hear that headline that the fuel excise is cut,

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Speaker 1: and we're like, oh good. You know, the petrol prices

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Speaker 1: are going to go down a little bit for us

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Speaker 1: at the Bowser. But the reality here is, as you've said,

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Speaker 1: you know, if it's not sort of, if it's not

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Speaker 1: meaning that the prices are going down significantly enough for

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Speaker 1: it to make an impact on our transport industry, the

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Speaker 1: cost of nothing else is going to go down, that's.

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Speaker 4: Right, it's not a meaningful reduction that will then see

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Speaker 4: it translate into cheaper freight costs. And we know that

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Speaker 4: every single business needs stability in their prices, whether you're

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Speaker 4: moving grain or cotton, or livestock or mousehold goods. Everyone

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Speaker 4: wants that confidence. But it's very difficult for the transport

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Speaker 4: industry to lock in longer term prices at the moment

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Speaker 4: to offer their customers because they don't know what that's

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Speaker 4: going to look like. And we're not scare angering at

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Speaker 4: all cases saying yeah, they're both the federal government and

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Speaker 4: the opposition in their selection time do need to be

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Speaker 4: thinking very strategically about what the you know, what the

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Speaker 4: end game is going to well like in six months

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Speaker 4: time when they are pulling off this fill LEXI.

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Speaker 1: Well, which I think is fair enough. Louise Belato, I

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Speaker 1: always appreciate your time. Thank you very much for having

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Speaker 1: a chat with me this morning.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, Katie, thank you