4x4 Finance is available from TruckInsuranceAustralia

Australian truckies have a passion for driving trucks and 4 wheel drive vehicles on weekends or holidays.

On the road with VisionDrive across Australia

Australian Truckies, have you ever been involved in a road accident and had no means to support your views or been the subject of another irate driver and wondered how you could keep a record of what truly happened?

Consider a VISIONDRIVE In-Vehicle Drive Recorder. Recently launched on to the Australian motor vehicle market, VISIONDRIVE is a reliable, affordable and easy to use road cam recorder for all truck types.

The compact unit, without wires running everywhere over the dashboard, hopefully will become mandatory in all Australian trucks.

The VISIONDRIVE In-Vehicle Drive Recorder, Video, Audio, G-forces and GPS information, is all stored on a memory card for later analysis or playback in the vehicle on the integrated display and provides proof that just might be of assistance to assist you with insurance claims with your truck insurance in Australia.

The included applications provide PC based video display with Google Maps and you can view where the vehicle has been for up to six months via the stored GPS data.

PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR TRUCK

VisionDrive is ideal for the trucking industry (all sizes from LR’s to HR’s), “grey nomads” on their around Australia trip, the family car, taxis, and couriers. Unlike other types of road cam recorder units, the VisionDrive is easy to download and not cumbersome.

With a variety of models and features (including a twin camera unit), including simple legal windscreen mounts and very easy to use software, you can finally protect yourself, your family and your property.

See www.visiondrive.net.au or contact us at sales@visiondrive.net.au

Follow us on Facebook

Phone 0419 225 722.

Truck Insurance Australia covers Australian truckies with dedicated truck insurance Pic:(ABC News: Laurence Palk)

Get a Truck Insurance Australia Quote …. click here

From the amazing size and load weights carried by outback cattle trains, the long haul interstate b-doubles that deliver huge volumes of freight to our capital cities and the light rigid trucks which ply their trade in our cities, truck insurance needs to cover a plethora of truck insurance types to blanket specialised truck insurance cover for the needs of the Australian trucking industry.

Dull durrie legislation (Pic: ABC News)

Australia looks set to bring in plain packaging for tobacco products from next year after the legislation passed the House of Representatives last night.
The legislation requires cigarettes to be sold in dark green packets with graphic health warnings and without trademarks from July 1 next year.

Pic: Trucks are travelling from as far away as Western Australia's Pilbara region to take part in the protest.

“CONVOY OF NO CONFIDENCE”
ACT police say the main routes in and out of Canberra will be clogged by protesters in trucks, vans and cars on Monday. The protesters arrive in Canberra on Sunday before starting a formal convoy from 5:30am Monday to protest against Federal Government policies like the proposed carbon tax.

The Truckies ‘Convoy of No Confidence‘ is expected to clog Canberra’s main streets including Northbourne Avenue, Adelaide Avenue, the Tuggeranong Parkway, Gungahlin Drive, and the Monaro and Barton highways. Superintendent Michael Chew says police are working with the protest organisers to try to avoid traffic gridlock.

“At this stage there’s no expectation there’ll be any violent demonstration associated with the convoy,” he said. Truckies want to make their point with the members of Parliament and the organisers have been working with us over the last couple of weeks to ensure everything runs smoothly.

“The Truckies been co-operating with us over the last couple of weeks and have stated they will continue to do so throughout Monday and Tuesday.” But Superintendent Chew warns there will be traffic disruptions. “There will be traffic delays and traffic diversions in place to allow the Canberra public and the Canberra convoy participants to have access to Parliament and try and lessen the disruption to Canberra motorists on Monday morning,” he said.

“The volume of traffic that they are potentially bringing into Canberra as part of the truckies convoy will naturally cause bottlenecks and disruptions.” Superintendent Chew is urging commuters to be patient and consider taking alternate routes to work. “We just ask everyone to be patient, and flexible, and if they can take other modes of transport to work on Monday morning or arrive later on Monday to work, then that would assist us in the movement of traffic around Canberra,” he said. He says the disruptions could flow into Tuesday.

“At this stage they plan to have the protest at Parliament House on Monday and possibly again on Tuesday. “So we’d anticipate them hanging around Canberra for the two days. We’re not sure how many people will hang around for the second day. But we’re anticipating there could be traffic delays on Tuesday.”

Source: ABC News (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-19/police-warn-of-convoy-chaos/2846856)

Full Details of the carbon tax are expected to be released on Sunday. (www.sxc.hu: haloocyn)

By Naomi Woodley
The Federal Government is under internal pressure to help industries like steel and transport cope with the carbon price that it plans to reveal on Sunday.

Labor MPs with emissions-intensive industries like steel in their electorates will meet Climate Change Minister Greg Combet today to push for the concessions.

The calls come after the Government announced it hopes to unveil the full details of its carbon tax and trading scheme on Sunday. The Government has announced petrol will not be taxed for householders, tradespeople and some small businesses.

The Transport Workers Union is demanding truck drivers get help too and Labor Senator Glenn Sterle has backed the calls. “We are shoulder to shoulder with Australia’s truckies to make sure that our hard-working men and women in the transport industries are fully protected and compensated for their efforts,” he said. Before the price, compensation, and renewable energy funding is announced on Sunday, there will be at least one more meeting of the committee and another meeting of Cabinet.

The Federal Government has been working with the Greens and two independent MPs since late last year to find a consensus on the way to price carbon.

Mr Combet says while there are still some details to be discussed this week, the Government is confident enough to announce “all of the package” on Sunday. “It will be very important for the future of the country,” he said. “It will cut out pollution while still allowing strong economic growth and jobs growth and growth in living standards in the future, and it’ll help drive the transformation of the economy to a clean energy future.”

Greens deputy leader and Multi-Party Committee member Christine Milne is just relieved a date has been set. “The overwhelming majority of Australians want action on climate change. They need to be convinced though, that this is the right action on climate change and that’s why getting the detail out will be so important,” she said.

The relief is also evident among Government backbenchers. The announcement is carefully timed ahead of the five week mid-winter break, giving Labor MPs time and details to sell to their electorates.

Others are hopeful the long-awaited details will blunt the Coalition’s attack.But the Opposition’s climate spokesman, Greg Hunt, says the timing of the announcement shows the Prime Minister is running away from Parliamentary scrutiny.

“They already have the details of this tax. They already have an agreement. They already have everything that needs to be tabled before the Parliament this week. If something can be done before the Parliament, it should be done,” he said.

Government MPs have become increasingly uneasy at the drip-feed of information about the carbon price plan, worried it invites more questions than answers. On ABC TV’s 7.30 program, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was claiming credit for one of those selective leaks – the decision to exempt fuel for motorists, small businesses and light commercial vehicles.

“Do you really think that petrol would be excluded had I not been campaigning hard to protect the motorists of Australia?” Mr Abbott said.

Source: ABC News (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/07/05/3261011.htm?section=justin)

Brisbane Truck Show 2011 at the Brisbane Convention Centre

The Brisbane Truck Show 2011 has been an outstanding success with Thousands of visitors rushing the opening doors at the Brisbane Convention Centre on Thursday and Friday to gain entrance.

The face of the Brisbane Truck Show, the great Broncos, Queensland State Of Origin and Australian international rugby league player, Shane Webcke, was on hand fulfilling his role as the Brisbane Truck Show Ambassador and the role obviously pleased him as you could not miss his huge frame and welcoming smile.

If you are a “truckie”, a truck enthusiast or just want to catch up with the up to date changes within the trucking industry, the Brisbane Truck Show 2011 is a must for you. The Truck Show finishes Sunday 8th. May

(I still can’t figure out how they get those huge prime movers and trailers into position for display purposes and there is 3 levels of exhibitors, so give yourself plenty of time.)

Pic: (ATN) Australian Truckies to pay more

By: Brad Gardner

Rural trucking operators will be forced to pay the same road user charge as their urban counterparts despite receiving a significantly smaller share of road funding.

The National Transport Commission (NTC) last week recommended increasing the trucking industry’s road user charge by 2.4 percent to 23.1 cents per litre. If accepted, the proposal will reduce the fuel tax credit by 0.5 cents to 15.04 cents per litre.

According to the NTC, trucking operators need to pay higher charges from July 1 due to greater government investment in the road network. Figures released by the NTC show expenditure on rural local roads between the 2002 and 2009 financial years was $14.64 billion. Conversely, expenditure on urban local roads over the same period was $23.56 billion.

Spending on urban local roads between the 2007 and 2008 financial years increased from $3.57 billion to $3.92 billion, while spending on rural roads went from $2.13 billion to $2.28 billion. While the NTC did not provide expenditure figures for rural and urban local roads for the 2010 financial year, it says spending on urban arterial routes was $5.95 billion. The figure represents an almost $500 million decline over the previous year.

“Spending on roads and bridges across all levels of government has increased significantly in recent years, reflecting initiatives from all levels of government to improve road transport infrastructure,” the NTC says.

Between the 2004 and 2010 financial years, the NTC says governments spent $31.52 billion, compared to $27.73 billion on rural arterial routes over the same period. According to the NTC, rural arterial expenditure increased from $4.83 billion in the 2009 financial year to $5 billion in the 2010 financial year.

“Revenue recovered through heavy vehicle charges contributes to building better and safer roads, such as providing high productivity vehicles with increased access to the road network,” it says.

The Australian Trucking Industry has been given until March 11 to respond to the NTC’s proposal before it goes to the Federal Government for approval. Under changes introduced in 2008, the Government must give the industry 60 days notice prior to making a decision. It must release the data used to determine any changes.

If it accepts the NTC’s proposal, the Government will need to gain the support of independents in the House of Representatives to pass the 2.4 percent increase. The Senate can also pass a disallowance motion to stop the price rise. The NTC says the latest proposal is almost 2 percent lower than last year’s increase (4.2 percent) and .4 percent lower than CPI.

A sub-group of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) is currently working on an alternative charging model for the trucking industry, including mass-distance-location pricing.

Under this method trucking operators will pay an individual rather than general fee. Vehicles will be billed based on their mass, how far they travel and the locations they travel through.

After Traralgon-based Fair Work inspectors contacted the employer and explained its obligations, the company has agreed to back-pay all entitlements in full.

The largest individual underpayment was $5700.

The transport company was randomly audited as part of the Fair Work Ombudsman’s regular auditing activity. In another local case, a South Gippsland manager has been back-paid $13,400 after he was underpaid annual leave entitlements.

Fair Work Ombudsman Executive Director Michael Campbell says that given the employers all co-operated with inspectors and agreed to voluntarily rectify the underpayments, there will be no further action against the companies involved.

“We have a flexible, fair approach and our preference is always to work with employers to help them voluntarily rectify any non-compliance issues we identify,” he said.

Mr Campbell says the Agency places a strong focus on educating and assisting employers to understand and comply with workplace laws. “We are serious about our job of ensuring regional communities understand their rights and obligations in the workplace.”

Mr Campbell says employers need to regularly review their Award or agreement to ensure they are fully aware of their obligations to their workers.

The Fair Work Ombudsman has a number of tools on its website – www.fairwork.gov.au to assist employees and employers to check minimum rates of pay. Small to medium-sized businesses without human resources staff can also ensure they are better equipped when hiring, managing and dismissing employees by using free template employment documentation with step-by-step instructions.

Employers or employees seeking assistance or further information can also contact the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94 from 8am-6pm weekdays.
For translations, call 13 14 50.
Note: We are unable identify the businesses involved or provide additional information on the cases

Weather affected Aussie Truckies wait for the highway to open

“Statutory fatigue management systems are designed for otherwise unimpeded driving conditions and can further compound freight delays during the unusual conditions currently affecting road transport operators.

Drivers must be afforded some level of flexibility to ensure that scheduled rest breaks do not prevent freight movements when opportunities to move through flood affected areas are limited.”

In the UK, drivers were recently allowed to drive up to one extra hour per day to improve the efficiency of freight delivery during snowstorms that have had a similar effect on the ability to move freight on critical transport routes.

Australian State and Territory road transport authorities generally have some discretion in the consideration of circumstances that may have contributed to a breach of a driver’s fatigue management regime. NatRoad urges all relevant authorities to be considerate of the circumstances facing heavy vehicle drivers in flood affected areas, particularly those impacted by road closures.