NSW says the quality and quantity of washout facilities need to improve.
Livestock transporters campaigning for improvements to truck wash facilities may finally see some results in New South Wales, with the state committing to address the issue.
Groups such as the Livestock and Bulk Carriers Association (LBCA) and the Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association (ALRTA) have long called for a greater number of washout facilities to manage livestock effluent.
The message has got through to NSW roads minister Duncan Gay, who says his department is currently looking at how to finance truck wash projects, including examining whether it is possible to obtain funding under the Federal Government’s Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program.
“The fact is we need better truck washout facilities and there isn’t enough,” he says.
“We put our hand up and we said we want to lead it. So we are going to do that. We are currently trying to find money in our area but we’ll also apply to our federal colleagues…and perhaps through their heavy vehicle grant program. So we’ve committed to putting money in there, we’ve committed to becoming the champions on this because it needs to happen.”
Gay made the comments at this year’s LBCA annual conference in Bathurst, where he urged attendees to work with him to deliver new wash facilities.
“We’re needing your help. We’ll champion it from our end but we are asking for champions from the northern, central, western and southern regions of the state to sit down with our guys and map out where we need the improvements, pick out a few hotstpots and we’ll have a good base to build on and we’ll even get our people to meet with you to get this going,” he says.
“We don’t want this to be another project that gets bogged down and just doesn’t happen. It shouldn’t be a hard one but it is one that has been left too long.”
Gay says addressing a lack of wash facilities has long been kicked around because the issue of livestock effluent has traditionally involved multiple government departments in NSW, such as the Environment Protection Authority, the Department of Primary Industries and the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS).
“I didn’t think I would be making effluent a pet project but if you’re a politician you’re probably used to it,” Gay says.
During his address to the conference, Gay relayed an incident involving effluent spilling from a livestock truck while he was holding an event in a regional NSW town.
The incident, he joked, was reason enough to address the lack of washout facilities.
“We had just finished cutting the ribbon and all the dignitaries were standing there, here we were in our city suits. I can’t remember who the carrier was but a B-double came around the roundabout and the [effluent storage] tanks spilled all over us.”
Photography: Brad Gardner