Address to the Australian Trucking Association Conference “Trucking Australia 2025”
Adelaide Convention Centre
Senator the Hon Bridget McKenzie
Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development
29 April 2025
Hello Everyone,
I’m Peter Dutton’s Shadow Minister for Truck Drivers and Roads and I am born and bred in the regions. It gives me great pleasure to be able to join you all today at this very important conference and I want to also say thank you to the Australian Trucking Association (ATA) for engaging very deeply in all the issues that come across your desk over the last three years that I’ve been the Shadow Minister.
It was a new portfolio for me and very quickly the ATA was in my door. We were discussing everything from skill shortages to training packages to the state of our road network, our freight supply chain, right across the country, not to mention net zero workforce issues. Your industry body is working for you, I can very much assure you of that and thank you for the critical role you play in connecting this nation in every sense of that word.
I also want to recognise the tens of thousands of men and women who are the heart of this industry, from owner-operators to the larger fleet owners who keep our country moving often with little fanfare but with enormous consequence. It’s a privilege to actually stand before you today.
Earlier this year I did quietly achieve a personal milestone. I finally completed my Master’s Degree, but more importantly, and probably more proudly, I got my Heavy Rigid License and I did it the old school way, I ground through the gears out of Wodonga TAFE’s front gates through the streets of Albury Wodonga and I really want to thank the Transport Women of Australia for sponsoring me to do that.
I think it’s really important as we want to get more women into the industry, that those of us who are leaders out and about show you how easy it is to do and how much support is around you. You don’t need to be leaving home for weeks on end to do this job. You can actually be a productive, prosperous truck driver and get home to your own bed every single night and your family. So it’s important, I think, for all of us to do that. So thank you to everyone who supported me on that journey.
I think that experience really reaffirms something I’ve always believed, that trucking isn’t just a job, it’s actually a vocation. It’s a way of life. It demands resilience, skills and an unshakable work ethic and they’re just the character traits of my late father, he was a truckie all his life, but also of everybody in this room and your workforce. So as your Shadow Minister, and hopefully, fingers crossed, the polls has been wrong before, come Sunday I will be your Transport Minister and I will commit my personal commitment to work hand in glove with the trucking industry to ensure you are sustainable, prosperous and safe as you do the work you need to do for our country.
This election isn’t just about the superficialities that you might see every night on the TV of press conferences and gotcha moments. It’s not about who trips up on the stage and who lies about it, or who stumbles over the price of groceries. It’s about something far more fundamental. It’s that whether we remain a country that rewards hard work, rewards enterprise and contribution, or whether we slide into a future where opportunity, aspiration, and the chance for a better life are out of the reach of too many Australians. That choice is no more important for industries like trucking, industries that built our nation and continue to sustain it.
Today, after three years of the Labor Government, Australians are experiencing the largest fall in their standard of living in our history. Australians are feeling poorer because they actually are poorer. Power bills are up, food costs are up, insurance premiums are soaring, and housing is increasingly unaffordable for young Australians.
The consequences aren’t just economic, they’re social. We know, and my kids are in this age group themselves, young people are putting off having kids because they can’t get that first step as a family and get into their first home. They’re also wanting to get those businesses launched. So the social consequences of a generation of Australians putting off kids, potentially indefinitely, will be significantly felt in coming decades.
Labor’s homegrown inflation has cruelled businesses as the cost of everything has gone up and I don’t need to tell anyone in this room the consequences of that. Industries like yours, the people that keep this country fed, clothed and connected are bearing the brunt of rising costs of escalating red tape, and a government that simply doesn’t understand or respect the importance of freight and transport to our economy. I hope I get an amen to that.
So let me be very, very clear. Under Labor, Australia’s transport and infrastructure future has been diminished, delayed and downgraded. You drive these roads every single day. You don’t have to go very far from here in Adelaide to understand the impact of not investing in our freight network. In three years Labor has cut, cancelled or delayed $30 billion of infrastructure projects. $30 billion.
Instead of investing in productivity enhancing projects, Labor’s bailed out state governments, like my basket case back in Victoria, handing over $16 billion of your hard-earned money for cost blowouts on infrastructure projects.
Last year the budget allocated an additional $5 billion for projects to Victoria that didn’t get one pothole filled, not a bridge built, not an extra kilometre of road sealed. $5 billion.
Programs designed to improve heavy vehicle access and safety to upgrade our freight corridors, strengthen bridges have been slashed or sidelined. And as if that wasn’t enough, Labor has slugged the trucking industry with a 19% increase in heavy vehicle charges. A tax that will cost your sector $2.6 billion over three years.
Make no mistake, every single dollar ripped out of your business will flow on to increase prices for every single household in Australia. Because you can’t keep absorbing it. It’s not rocket science, it’s simple economics.
Labor’s road policies are bad for truckers, bad for consumers and ultimately bad for our national economy.
I will always front up in person. I will always sit down at the table to talk to the trucking industry if I get the great privilege to be your Minister. I understand how important what you and your businesses do for our country is. I make that commitment to you today.
We in the Coalition understand that a strong sustainable economy starts with an efficient our transport and logistics system and if elected we will restore the 80-20 funding for regional roads of national significance.
We are going to deliver $7.2 billion to upgrade the Bruce Highway, Queensland’s critical spine.
We’re going to invest an additional $1.5 billion in airport rail to get rid of that urban congestion, particularly help those truckies getting stuff out of Melbourne Port and heading north.
Inject $1.7 billion into Western Sydney’s Road network to clear freight choke points, particularly as Western Sydney Airport comes online as a huge freight hub.
Establish a $600 million programme for agricultural and mining roads to target clarity of freight corridors and we’re not going to local governments on where to spend that. We’re not go to state governments. I’ve made the commitment with Peter Dutton that that $600 million, the roads that needs to be invested in, will be identified by industrnd that includes the trucking industry.
We’re going to invest $1 billion to work with local councils on those more local issues, road projects that are tailored to their local community needs and right here in Adelaide, one of the significant commitments that I’m really pleased to be able to make, is we’re committing $840 million dollars to deliver the Greater Adelaide Freight Bypass, commencing with the Truro bypass. Anyone that has stood in little Truro you only have to stand there for 20 minutes to see the level of freight passing those small cafes and that small country town, it is a project that needs doing.
The Sturt Highway Upgrade Project, as well as the duplication of the Swanport Bridge.
We need to get heavy vehicles out of suburban streets in Adelaide. We’re going to construct a new 18 kilometer bypass of Truro, and importantly, going to keep long distance freighters out of the hills and off the South Eastern Freeway.
Steve Shearer, are you here? There you are. Steve put me through my paces in the simulator, I think it was last year, early last year, going down that South Eastern Freeway, and it was pretty tricky driving. I can’t imagine doing it with a heavy payload behind me. You’re stopping at those lights, there’s squalls. It is a disaster waiting to happen.
So, I’m very proud to be a Coalition Government that’s actually going to fund that, rather than Labor’s commitment, which was 50-50, we are going to do exactly what the State Labor Government here wants to do, what Premier Malinauskas wants the Federal Government to do, and put that 80-20 commitment from the Federal Government. So, we put the money on the table to get this done, to partner with the South Australian Government as quickly as we can to get this done.
Local families in Adelaide shouldn’t have to compete with B-doubles and road trains just to get to work, school and the shops and your drivers shouldn’t be having to negotiate that either. It’s a recipe for disaster. It’s not just about building better roads; it’s about building a better way of making decisions. One that properly includes the people that know transport best.
One of the things that I’ve seen in Senate Estimates in my three years is that the Federal Department of Transport doesn’t know a lot about transport. I don’t need to tell anybody in this room that.
There’s too much distance between the people that are making the decisions and the people in this room and in your businesses. We understand that the bureaucrats and the regulators who actually shape your operating environment, there is a huge disconnect and I want to end that. I want to join that decision making and intelligence gathering up.
We need policy shaped by those who regulate and administer, not by those who regulate and administer and live in faraway places, cloistered Canberra, but by those who live the reality of the transport industry every single day, the drivers, the operators, the businesses who understand the practical challenges that are being faced out there, and the opportunities that exist for real reform, not this incremental stuff that just doesn’t see the fundamental changes that you need to see to actually get more productive, more efficient. There are opportunities and it’s a lack of will that means they just don’t get done.
As Minister, I’ll ensure the Government listens more carefully, engages more genuinely, I will front up in person and I will respect the practical experiences of those at the coalface. Because no-one knows better about what needs improving on the ground than the people that are actually on the ground.
Now as you’re aware the Leader of the Opposition announced in his Budget of Reply speech that if elected, we will be giving all Australians a 25 cent cut in their fuel excise.
It’s an important cost of living measure that will help all Australian families, especially those that live in the outer suburbs and the regions.
The ATA have had experience in these matters before under previous administrations, and you immediately expressed your concerns about the unintended consequences with regard to the heavy transport industry.
Peter Dutton acknowledged that in his speech and has pledged that we as a Coalition will work with industry in the implementation of our policy around the fuel exercise cut.
Your executive team has been very clear with me about the challenges you experienced the last time and raised those concerns and I understand them fully and I commit to you today to deeply engage with the ATA on the implementation of the fuel excise cut to ensure that unintended consequences for the trucking industry are not realised.
You’ve also outlined those to the Shadow Treasurer, Angus Taylor, and together we’ll be working with you. That is my personal commitment to you. I’ve given it to your Chair and I give it to you now.
I hope that my best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour. That’s why you shouldn’t be voting with the Labor Party at this election.
I hope I’ve been able to demonstrate to you over my time as Shadow Minister how deeply I believe in your industry and how genuinely I want to work in partnership with you to make you more sustainable and prosperous.
If there’s people in your supply chains who seek to exploit the tax cut, we will stand up for our truckies. We’ll stand up for you when the tax office comes looking at Bass lodgement time. We will make sure that we stand with your industry on the implementation of this policy.
I absolutely support a high level of transparency with industry on how the transport industry’s road user charge revenue is used and how it should actually be much more transparent about how that benefits those who pay it. You need to have that level of accountability and transparency.
The Coalition opposed Labor’s proposal to increase the road user charge paid by truckies by 19% over three years in the middle of the cost of living and inflation crisis.
We didn’t support Labor increasing the fuel tax take by 14% between 22 and 23 and this year, at a time that they’ve been slashing road funding.
So, at the very time they’re cutting, your maintenance costs have gone through the roof productivity’s gone down because state governments and local councils are saying we’ll whack a 40 speed limit on that because we can’t afford to fix the potholes. So, time and money, and then they jack up the fuel.
In their first three years, Labor has reduced spending on our roads by $14 billion compared to what we budgeted in our last budget.
So as a result of Labor’s hiking up the road user charge for our trucking industry, the Coalition will commit to review the trucking industries road user charge in full consultation with the heavy vehicle sector before making any further changes to the rate of that tax. And as I said before, we’ll be very transparent on how those charges are spent.
We’re going to also, if I get the great privilege as Infrastructure Minister, fundamentally reform the way Commonwealth infrastructure money is spent. No more blank cheques to bad State Governments and they come in all colours.
We sign these billions of dollars of Commonwealth taxpayers and there’s no level of accountability back for the Commonwealth tax payer that we are getting the road, rail, freight networks that this country needs.
No more endless bailouts for incompetent project management. We will lock in Commonwealth project funding at the time of the commitment and we’re going to limit the exposure for cost overruns.
If State Governments can’t manage the project. We’re not going to continue to tip in billions and billions and billions of Commonwealth taxpayers’ money because they’re incompetent.
We’re going to demand fit and proper person checks on all major infrastructure contracts. So, guess what that means, we’re getting the CFMEU out of the infrastructure build in this country and the 30% of the ticket clip that comes with it.
We’re going to ban criminal and corrupt union practises that inflate construction costs and mean we get less roads built for more money.
We’re going to require states to co-invest properly, not just expect Canberra to save them from their own failure.
That means we’re going to get better roads and we’re going to get them sooner than the current system and they’re also going to be better value for money.
Australians deserve value, not gold-plated, overblown, delayed-ridden infrastructure that costs double and delivers half.
My focus is not just on roads, but the entire freight and logistics ecosystem. Last year, the government undertook the five-yearly review of the National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy. The strategy was developed by my predecessor, Michael McCormack, when we were in government and the review was undertaken and released with some fanfare by the Minister and then promptly dumped and forgotten.
I want to breathe life back into that strategy again.
During this campaign we’ve committed to deliver more than $17 and a half billion dollars’ worth of infrastructure projects.
We’re going to get that inland rail back on track, a critical spine for East Coast freight.
We’re going to boost supply chain resilience through targeted upgrades to the national and regional rail network.
We’re going to work pragmatically towards a low emission freight future, including supporting biofuels, better maintenance for road networks. Because guess what? When you’re driving slower, you’re using more fuel, creating more emissions.
So, why don’t we get a little more efficiency on those road networks and we will also be bringing down emissions and we’ll have smarter infrastructure planning.
Unlike Labor’s heavy punitive approach, we believe emissions reduction must be achieved through innovation and not taxation, not, where the team that doesn’t tax.
I note your Election Policy Priorities around a low emission street shot. The assets that you’re purchasing now have an average shelf life of, what, 16.3 years? You’re making investment decisions now that are going to have impacts post 2035.
We need to make sure the transport sector can actually innovate in a technologically neutral way as we head towards a lower emission future and not expect you to pay more. When other sectors are not doing the heavy lifting. Freight is the bloodstream of our economy, and without efficient trucking, there’s no agriculture, there’s no manufacturing, there is no mining, and they are the things that pay for our public schools, our public health system, even the ABC.
Getting our infrastructure right underpins every ambition Australians have for a better standard of living, affordable goods, thriving regional towns and a growing economy. It actually supports our sovereignty. We don’t always equate running around our highways and byways, delivering goods, getting product to port, as critical to our national sovereignty. But in these very uncertain times and difficulties, particularly geo-strategically, to our north, maintaining our sovereignty as a nation, onshore, is incredibly important.
That’s why the Coalition’s vision is not simply to fix what Labor has broken, but to build a freight supply chain and an economy worthy of the next generation. That is why the Coalition is creating the Regional Australia Future Fund, $20 billion that will grow over four to five years of accumulating those windfall gains, particularly from our resources industry.
To have a $20 billion fund that each and every year will deliver a billion dollars back into regional Australia. It will future-proof funding for the regions above and beyond what currently exists, but it will future proof against particularly Labor governments who withdraw that regional focus and it is absolutely a legacy piece for our side of politics that we’re taking to this election.
The coalition believes that regional Australia should not just survive, it should actually be leading our nation’s next era of productivity. As we plan for a more competitive future, we must also confront the immediate human cost of our roads. Australia’s road toll remains unacceptably high, and it’s a silent national tragedy that plays out daily. Road safety should be a cause that unites us all, but the facts are clear.
The national road toll is rising, and under Labor it has now reached its highest point in more than a decade. The national road toll was the highest since 2012, four consecutive calendar years of increases. For the 12 months to 2024, we lost 154 truck drivers, the very people who keep our country moving and as of march this year, the national road toll stands at a heartbreaking 1,284 deaths. Each number is a life lost, a family shattered and a community grieving, and this can’t be allowed to continue. That’s why within the first 100 days of a Dutton Littleproud Government, I will convene a road safety summit.
Together with Tony Pasin, the Shadow Minister for Road Safety, the summit will bring together government, trucking and rail operators, safety regulators, law enforcement, manufacturers, innovators, researchers, and critically, everyday road and rail users. Because the greatest obstacle to improving safety is complacency, the idea that nothing can actually change, and I reject that. We’ve got to set national targets for reducing death in serious industry, in injuries, and we must act with urgency and coordination. Australia must and can do better, and under a coalition government we will.
Just in conclusion, truckies have always been a powerful symbol of Australian resilience and determination. In 2025 you have another critical journey to make, not along the open highways but to the ballot box. You do have a clear choice. You can back a Labour government that taxes your industry, cuts your infrastructure and stifles your future. Or you can back the Coalition government that knows your value, respects your contribution and is absolutely committed to working with you to build a stronger and more prosperous future.
It’s five days to go so I’m going to put it out there. I’m asking you to back the Coalition and I look forward to working with you as your future Minister for Transport. Thank you so much for having me and have a great conference.