THE HON MARK DREYFUS QC MP
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ARTS
ACTING SHADOW MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS
ACTING SHADOW SPECIAL MINISTER OF STATE
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
ROAD SAFETY REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL TO BE AXED BY MALCOLM TURNBULL
The Abbott-Turnbull Government has all but confirmed it will abolish the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT), which was established by the previous Labor Government to ensure Australian roads were safer for all users.
Today's announcement by the Minister for Employment could have been mistaken for an April fools joke if the subject matter wasn't so serious 25 people died as a result of heavy vehicle accidents in the last month alone.
The Abbott-Turnbull Government today released a report into the RSRT, which it commissioned in 2013 and was supposed to be released in the first quarter of 2014. Yet, here we are today 2 years and 1 Minister later - at the end of the first quarter of 2016.
Why did the report sit idly on both Ministers' desks collecting dust for two years only to be released today?
The timing of the release of the Government-commissioned report, which comes on top of another report required by the Road Safety Remuneration Act 2012, tells you all you need to know about the Turnbull Government its desperate and its panicked.
Is this an example of the continuity Mr Turnbull has talked about sitting on reports commissioned by Mr Abbott and repurposing them to justify abolishing an important body?
Labor will take the necessary time to consider the reports but the Abbott-Turnbull Governments intention is crystal clear; it wants to abolish the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal which Labor established to make Australian roads safer for everyone.
This is yet another Abbott Government plan that Malcolm Turnbull is sticking right to the script on.
The axing of the RSRT was Tony Abbott's vision and it's Malcolm Turnbull who wants to see it through.
It's clear the Liberal Government doesn't share Labor's belief that safety shouldn't be compromised just to save a buck.
Labor doesn't want to see people dying on our roads and the facts are that when truck drivers are overworked safety for all road users is reduced.
If the Government were to abolish the RSRT our roads will be less safe.
FRIDAY, 1 APRIL 2016
