Newsletter

Newsletter No 01/2005

Issued 6 April 2005

 

Wage Rates

The association recently received advice from the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry that there had been an increase in wage rates effective from the first pay period commencing on or after 17 November 2004 for all employees employed under the Public Vehicles Award.

 

Rates effective from 17 November 2004 are:

                                                            Weekly wage rate                  Casual rate per hour

Grade 3                                               $525.00                                   $16.5790                    

Driver charter under                             

25 passengers

Driver single day tour

under 25 passengers

Driver route service

under 25 passengers

 

Grade 4                                               $536.30                                   $16.9358

Driver 25 passengers

and over

Driver single day tour

25 passengers and over

Driver route service

25 passengers and over

 

 

 

 

INTERIM SERVICE CONTRACTS

Members with current Interim Service Contracts

The association advises members who have not signed and returned the letter received outlining the change to the period of the Interim Service Contract from 26 June 2005 to 30 June 2008 to sign and return the letter to ensure the continuity of your previously signed contract beyond June 2005.

 

Members with current thirty day contracts

The association advises all members who have received Interim Service Contracts (ISC) to replace the current thirty day contracts to check the following details and return the signed contract to DIER. 

• Check that the loaded and unloaded kilometers in schedule 3 are correct
• In the event that the kilometers stated in the schedule are incorrect (which is highly likely)

Please amend the information sent by the department on schedule 3 and return with the contract

• Please check the map provided together with times and pickup points and return map with any changes required also at same time
• The association recommends that you sign and return the ISC to ensure that you have the contract signed and completed by 30 June 2005 to ensure that the contract service that you are providing is compliant to the GST legislation   
• The Association will be holding regional meetings again during April to which we would encourage all operators to attend to receive the latest advice on this issue.

 

Members with Regular Passenger Transport services who receive top up payments who have not signed ISC are advised to return the signed contract to the department as soon as possible.

 

Accreditation

The association Directors has recently sought legal opinion in regard to the interpretation of the Passenger Transport Act of 1997 in regard to the scope of accreditation for passenger vehicles.

DIER interpretation is that accreditation is safety based only with the association legal opinion being that the Act also covers standards of service.

 

The association is continuing to pursue with DIER that the intent of accreditation was towards safety, with it to also include industry standards for each sector of the industry.

 

Association Web-site 

www.tasbus.com.au

The association website has been completed and has been available since late December 2004.

The association is adding new information to the site on a regular basis

 

The association offers to all members who have their own website to have a link from the TBA site. If you wish to take up this offer please forward to the association office your web address so that the link may be created.

 

Regional Meetings

Regional meetings will be held during April at the following locations

Launceston       Tuesday 19 April

Hobart             Thursday 21 April

Ulverstone        Tuesday 26 April

Notice of meeting times and venue included with this newsletter

 

AGM/ Conference 2005

The AGM/Conference for 2005 is to be held at Hotel Grand Chancellor Hobart on Monday 30 May.

Invitations will be sent to members mid April.

 

 

 

 

 

Bus Cost Model

Following from the commencement of the core passenger transport review process, further negotiations has resumed between the association and DIER to finalize the model.

 

The association has received papers from DIER on operational costs, capital costs and profit margin

The working group of Directors has met with a consultant who has extensive knowledge of the bus industry in the mainland states and is currently working through all of the issues.

 

Bus and Coach Inspections

The association would recommend to all operators that they familiarize themselves and their staff who may be present at time of vehicle inspections, with the Heavy Vehicle Inspection Manual provided by the association to all members last August, as we are still receiving reports that defects have been recorded which upon investigation may have been questionable. It is too late to question a defect after it has been repaired

 

It is of vital importance that the item that the inspector regards as a defect has been examined and assessed as per the manual.

 

Members who wish to query the defect noted must contact the Senior Inspector in your area before any repairs are undertaken for another assessment.   

 

Annual Inspections

The association has been involved in the development of the proposal for Annual Bus and Coach Inspections. The proposal has been completed by the working group of industry and DIER set up to develop the scheme. The next stage of the process is for the proposal to be approved by Treasury and signed off by the Minister.

 

The scheme for annual inspections will be made available to all accredited operators of passenger vehicles who apply in writing to the Transport Operator Accreditation branch of DIER for inclusion in the scheme and who qualify for entry to the scheme.  The association will advise members when the scheme is to commence and the procedure for application.

 

A part of the scheme will be that random inspection of buses throughout the year will be undertaken for both operators on current six monthly inspections and operators who elect to transfer (and who qualify) their fleet to the new twelve monthly inspection regime.

 

Bus Inspection Bookings

The association Directors at their recent meeting met with the Manager Vehicle Operations from DIER

There were several issues discussed with DIER advising that effective immediately the booking system for bus inspections will be extended so that you may make bookings up to two months in advance with the system for bookings being extended on a weekly basis.

 

Retirement

I have recently received advice from Australian Bus Specialists that they intend to cease operating as sellers of second hand vehicles. The main reason for discontinuing the business is the lack of quality secondhand vehicles available for sale. The industry will miss Rob with his yellow coat and the association wishes both Rob and Sylvia all the best for the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Industry defects

DIER has provided to the association a list of defects that were found in the twelve month period from October 2003 to September 2004

Listed below are the major defects and the number found.

 

Defect Description	Number	Description Defect	Number
Steering/Suspension	135	Exhaust/Muffler	17
Smoke/Oil/Fuel Leaks	77	Registration No. Plate/Label	14
Lighting	71	Seating Capacity	14
Brakes	62	Handbrake	12
Brake Force Too Low (MVTU)	62	School Lights	10
fire extinguisher	55	Rust	8
Seats/Seat Belts	54	Brake/Clutch/Accelerator Pedals	5
Wheel/Tyres	40	Mirrors	3
Wipers/Horn/Wiring	32	marker Plates/Lights	3
Brake Imbalance across Axles (MVTU)	31	Secure Battery	3
Bodyworks/Chassis	29	Shaker Wheel Bear/Kpins Fail	1
Windscreen/Tinting	21	Other	51

                                                                     Total                                                            810

 

Students with Disability & learning difficulties

The Directors at their recent meeting discussed the issue of students with disabilities traveling on school buses.

 

The association contacted DIER who made representation to the Education Department as to how assessments were undertaken on students with difficulties

The department of Education has now provided the guidelines that they use to the association.

 

Operators who may have requests to carry students with difficulties should contact the association office to have provided a copy of the information.

 

 

BUS INDUSTRY CONFEDERATION

 

LOBBYING IN CANBERRA – IS IT WORTH IT – OR ARE WE ALL WASTING OUR TIME

 

I often have people ask me from both within the Industry and outsiders, what do you actually do? What do you mean you lobby on behalf of the Bus and Coach Industry in Canberra?

 

I guess this is a fair enough question because the fact about Australia and Australians is that only about 1 per cent of the population are actually actively involved in the  Governmental and political process. Sure every one of voting age has to vote in a State and Federal Election every few years but that in most instances is the level of involvement of Australians in the democratic process.

 

The reality is that most people are actually not interested, do not believe they can make a difference in any case and believe no matter what you do, the politicians will do what is politically convenient for themselves and their party at the time.

 

I often hear and I have said it in this column before and have said it at several State based bus and coach conferences that there are many people both members and non members of Associations who believe that whatever happens in Government would have happened anyway and that the Industry itself cannot and does not influence the outcomes that emerge from our State and Federal Parliaments.

 

In my view these people need to pull there head out of the sand and smell the roses because they have no idea about the power of industry unity and  industry participation and what the benefits are of mounting a strategic campaign to protect industry interests and improve the lot of industry players in the long run.

 

PROFIT AND MONEY ARE NOT DIRTY WORDS

 

The BIC at its core is about increasing patronage on buses and coaches with the aim of making it a more profitable and viable business for operators and suppliers. More bums on seats equals more dollars for operators which translates into the need for more buses on the roads. Have no bones about it, if a State Associations or BIC did not have this as its core objective then we would not be around because we would not be representing the interests of our members. What we are about at BIC, and what State Associations are about is creating a business environment in which operators and suppliers can make money and grow their business. Profit and money are not dirty words.

 

How BIC goes about influencing the Federal Government is often not seen or missed by the punters out their who are so busy and flat out running their own bus and coach businesses that they do not have the time to worry about the machinations pf politicians and parliament and what it might mean to their business, and fair enough too, that is my job.

 

BIC is all about engaging the Federal Government to take a greater interest and role in public transport and de-facto therefore bus and coach issues.

 

At the big end of town in a policy sense we are attempting to have the Federal Government take a strategic view about how we as a nation need to manage the movement of people. BIC is attempting to see a national approach agreed to how we as a nation will  “Move People” today and in the future in the most efficient manner, to reduce congestion, improve the environment, improve road safety and ensure that every Australian has the capacity to decide on an alternative and attractive travel choice other than the car.

 

We have had our successes in achieving this in our first few years of being in Canberra. The re-establishment of the Standing Committee on Transport Public Transport Modal Group, (PT Modal Group), provides a senior level bureaucratic committee which includes each State and Commonwealth representatives looking at what a National Moving People Strategy might include and actively working toward its development. We have had a big focus on the development of a National Freight Strategy over the past decade, a National Moving People strategy is required to complement this so the movement of people is looked at in the same context as the efficient movement of freight. There are benefits here the freight sector, the passenger transport sector, the economy, the environment, for an ageing population, for access to employment, the list goes on. The benefits of a coordinated and strategic approach to moving people within a holistic strategy for transport are underestimated but the PT Modal Group provides the opportunity to open the eyes of all Governments about how important this is. The Federal Government can no longer stand by and say Public Transport is a state issue. Moving people and how we manage this in the future is a critical issue of national importance.

 

In the last 2 years the language of the Federal Government has changed in relation to public transport. For example the Auslink Plan for how infrastructure will be funded in the future and will probably pass through the Parliament at the next sittings includes a strong focus on public transport infrastructure and planning, something previously unheard from a Commonwealth perspective.

 

As well as the big picture policy issues that the BIC pursues it also looks at specific issues that arise that will impact adversely or positively on the industry and work toward ensuring that the Federal Government understands industry views and implements policy that is conducive to bus and coach operators either making or saving money. It is all about working with the Government to remove impediments to industry efficiency or creating a business environment that promotes industry growth.

 

EFFECTIVE LIFE DEPRECIATION PASSES THROUGH FEDERAL PARLIAMENT –an example of what we can achieve.

 

During the last sittings of Federal Parliament ( February ), an example of the specific issues that BIC is focused on to assist industry and see put in place a conducive business environment for bus and coach operators and suppliers was the passing of legislation to cap the effective life depreciation rate of buses to 7 years. This whole lobbying exercise was about reducing the tax burden on the industry and seeing put in place a tax framework that supports industry investment into new vehicles. The winners were every bus and coach operator who purchases a new vehicle and every chassis manufacturer, every body builder and every supplier to industry. Anything that encourages or supports the purchase of new vehicles and does not discourage it has to be a benefit to an operator’s bottom line and to supplier’s sales figures.

 

The history of this is relevant however because without a voice in Canberra the effective life depreciation rate would not have changed from 6 and 2/3 years to 7 years but from 6 and 2/3 years to 20 years.

 

As background, John Ralph as part of the whole tax reform process that saw the GST introduced undertook on behalf of the Federal Government a complete review of Business Taxation. One of the recommendations by John Ralph was to change the way that business assets could be depreciated.

 

This recommendation was accepted which saw the Government adopt what is now known as the Effective Life Depreciation of Business Assets approach.

 

18 months ago it happened to become the bus and coach sectors turn for the Australian Tax Office to review the depreciation schedules for the bus and coach industry and see if these fitted within the realms of the Governments new Effective Life depreciation approach. The Tax Office in undertaking this review of bus and coach purchasing and estimating what they believed to be the full effective life of the vehicle recommended that the depreciation schedule be changed from 6 and 2/3 years to 20 years.

 

As background the Tax Office recommendations to the Treasure, Mr. Costello, for depreciation schedule change have only been changed by the Government twice in the whole review process, (and we were one of the last industries to be reviewed). As I remember it aircraft and pipe lines were the only two exceptions.

 

BIC mounted a campaign to see the 20 year recommendation of the Tax Office abandoned and the status quo retained.

 

The campaign involved the development of a comprehensive research paper to the Tax Office and Government outlining the reasons why the Bus and Coach sector was important to the Australian economy and why the depreciation rate should be reduced.

 

The arguments presented our thoughts on the average age of the fleet and the Commonwealths role in public transport, in improving the environment, in reducing congestion and making our economy more efficient and the costs of introducing accessible transport standards under the Disability Discrimination Act.

 

The campaign involved a lobbying program in Federal Parliament to bring members up to speed with the issues and what Industry concerns were and included everyone from the Prime Ministers Chief of Staff to the relevant Minister Mal Brough the Assistant Treasurer, the Attorney General, Phillip Ruddock, Minister For Industry, Ian Macfarlane, the Outer Metropolitan Government backbench committee, many backbenchers, the Opposition and smaller parties. No stones were left unturned.

 

The campaign involved attendances at Federal Parliamentary Inquiries which included seeing the National Road Safety Inquiry recommend in May last year that effective life depreciation rates be set at 5 years for the Bus and Coach Sector.

 

The campaign involved meetings and dinners with key Ministers and Members of Parliament in most States of Australia. And most importantly it involved individual operators meeting with their Local Member of Federal Parliament to express their personal concerns.

 

The reality was by the time we had finished our campaign the Government, the Opposition and the Democrats were all with us, so whilst the Tax Office made the recommendation in the end that the schedule be changed to 15 years for buses (this was changed from 20 years to 15 years after they received the BIC research document) we had been able to effectively lobby the Government to support Industry’s concerns and adopt a more favorable number. The end result was the Government at the last Parliamentary sittings passed through Parliament that the new depreciation rate would be 7 years. It is not 5 years that we sought, it is not 6 and 2/3 years that we had but 7 years is better than 20 years, better than 15 years and even a better result in the context that only two other industries have received this concession before.

 

BIC presented a united view across the nation, we presented a professional case to justify our concerns and BIC was persistent in leaving no stone unturned to ensure that Industry views were heard, understood and acted upon. Lobbying is important; lobbying is a key to Industry’s future viability and lobbying is not a one man show but the responsibility of every person in the industry to make a difference when it counts.

 

The effective life depreciation example is only one of the specific successes that BIC has been able to achieve since being in Canberra but highlights most importantly that a united industry that supports its State and National Association can influence the regulators thinking (look at the ATO in this instance) and can influence the political decision making process by presenting a professional argument.

 

So for all of those cynics out there, we can make a difference if we work together. If you are not a member of a State Association then you should be and we can together create a business environment in Australia that makes it conducive to making money in the Australian Bus and Coach Industry in Australia.

 

Don’t forget to Mark Your Diary – Oct 16-19 at Hamilton Island for the BIC National Conference. Flights are cheap with Jet Star flying in direct from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne and we have a good deal on what I would term some of the best accommodation for the price in Australia. Registrations brochures will be out in the next month so you can get yourself organized early.

 

 Contact List

Batteries            Island Batteries                      03 6334 9888   Gary Clayton

                                                                        03 6273 8600  Scott Nicholson

 

Tyres                Dowling McCarthy Tyres    0418 995 748   Stephen Dowling

Bus Sales Pty Ltd                  1800 288 777  (Bridgestone 40% less than list price)

 

Spare Parts       Bus Sales Pty Ltd                   1800 288 777

 

Finance              GE Commercial                     1800 353 046 Graeme McDonald

                                                                        or 03 9867 0010

 

Insurance           Lumley Insurance                   03 6331 5844 Chris Hemsley

                           Australian Bus & Coach       

   Underwriting Agents  1800 035 653  Thea Hillier

 

Workers            Hiscock Insurance

Compensation   Brokers                                 03 9596 5292  Alan Limpyer   

 

Signs                  Association office                  03 6423 2611

Shipping             Association office                  03 6423 2611

Flashing lights  Association office                   03 6423 2611

 

Accommodation

The association has negotiated rates with Hotel Grand Chancellor group for rates to members at the following locations. The rates are all for room only twin share and subject to availability.

 

Hotel Grand Chancellor                        03 6235 4535              Hobart                         $130.00 room only

Hotel Grand Chancellor                        03 6334 3434              Launceston                   $130.00 room only

Chancellor Inn                          03 6431 4455              Burnie                          $  65.00 room only

Chancellor Inn                          03 6372 5255              Scamander                   $  65.00 room only

Chancellor Inn                          03 6471 1033              Queenstown                 $  65.00 room only

Chancellor Inn                                      03 6250 2217              Port Arthur                   $ 65.00 room only

Chancellor Resort Tamar Valley            03 6330 0400              Grindelwald                  $110.00 premier                                                                                                           suite Inc one                                                                                           

                                                                                                                                    Continental Breakfast

Lemonthyne Lodge the Chancellor        03 6492 1112              Cradle Mountain           $105.00 treetop                                                                                                                                   cabin Room only

                                                              

For any further information please contact the association office 03 6423 2611.