State association the South Australian Road Transport Association (SARTA) has taken aim at the Productivity Commission’s proposal to abolish the fuel tax credit, calling on the industry to tell state and federal members of Parliament that it’s “naïve and dangerous”.
In what SARTA has labelled “an extraordinary display of ignorance of the facts”, the Commission has argued that the FTC incentivises truck operators to buy more diesel than they would if they didn’t receive the credit.
“The Productivity Commission has made one of the most incredible recommendations of its existence, in proposing the abolition of the FTC on diesel for heavy vehicle freight operators,” SARTA says.
“That is the most ill-informed and ill-considered proposition from the Commission.”
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SARTA says the Commission has made a false assumption that if the FTC was abolished, heavy vehicle operators would use less diesel while still performing the same road freight task.
“That is simply absurd. The vast bulk of heavy vehicle freight movement is long distance linehaul on intercity, rural and often remote routes,” SARTA says.
“Alternative fuel options for this freight task are simply not available and won’t be available as sustainable and affordable options for many decades yet, if at all. Some 85 per cent of the road freight task is simply not contestable by rail as it’s logistically and economically impractical.
“What the Commission’s proposal would do is increase the cost of road freight for every product, from food to clothing, bedding and house building materials, resulting in unnecessary and unacceptable increases in the daily cost of living without any gain in environmental outcomes.
“It’s time the Productivity Commission performed its research and work in the real world, based on well-researched and proven facts to produce realistic, achievable and appropriate outcomes.”
SARTA says the Commission has ignored key facts, including that the FTC isn’t a government benefit to support freight operations, but it’s instead a rebate calculated by the federal government on the advice of the National Transport Commission to ensure freight isn’t overcharged for its impact on the road infrastructure.
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