Aussie perspective

Posted on 22-08-2007

It is hard to appreciate blogs & comments from overseas corrispondants without a fundimental knowledge of the society they are coming from so here it is from Australia. It may not be the same for all of Australia & I have no experience at driving Road Trains in arid central Australia. I live & work on the populated east coast in a major State capitol, Melbourne. By the way Aussie is pronounced Ozzy, as in Ozzy Osboune, Melbourne is shortened in speach to Melb’n as is Brisb’n (Brisbane).

As with most western democracies, the Australian Federal Government is made up of two houses of Parliament, the Lower House called the House of Representatives & the Upper House is the Senate. The Prime Minister is both the Leader of his Party & principal Government representative, the Queen of England is our Head of State & represented on her behalf in Australia by the Governor General. Unlike in the U.S.A. our Head of State is pretty much there to ensure the Government does not exceed their authority & cannot ‘Veto’ legislation legally voted into force.

Since one of the two major political parties has traditionally represented the labour force there are a number of main stays in Australian work-force which differ greatly from the U.S. The biggest is until recently (& it is debatable if the current government will survive changing it) is the Award System which sets minimum scales of pay & conditions for ordinary workers. There is no such thing in Australia as being paid a retainer & relying on tips to make ends meet. Even within the transport industry there are higher rates for petrol tanker drivers & those working in waste & recycling, those Awards were probably the result of past union influence than inherrant hazards in each sector.

Thirty eight hours is the normal working week with overtime penalties awarded beyond that, time & a half or double time. Four weeks Annual Leave, eight days Sick Leave & Superanuation (pension benifit) is also normal. Casual workers, employed as a temporary work force are entitled to a higher rate for not being awarded Annual or Sick Leave. Owner Drivers are awarded a rate applicable to their labour plus running costs for their vehicle.

For many years Union membership was compulsory in many large work places & unions had the right to enter any work place without employer permission. Comfortable with their influence, the union movement had become arrogant & in more recent times conservative politicians & employer groups have been on the war-path eroding union activity. Despite union influence, most ordinary workers were not union members & relied on employers being honest enough to stick to the Award & felt little sympathy for union heavy weights. It is only since the present Governments aggressive reforms which have had a flow-on effect whether you were a union member or not that a new voter back-lash has been gaining momentum leading up to elections in the latter part of 2007.

In the east, drivers of heavy vehicles are allowed 12 hours of driving & 2 hours non driving work & a 30 minute break for every 5 hours driving. Log Books are maintained for country & interstate driving, but as with any driver entry record these can be diddled to a degree. Truck drivers hold a National Licence, previously drivers were known to hold a State licence under friends addresses in each state they drove, lose one licence, another appears from their wallet! On top of financial penalties for breaches of road law Demerrit Points can be taken away from a start amount of 12, lose all 12 points & your license is automatically suspended for 3 months. Many employers these days won’t employ a driver who has less than 6 Demerrit Points on there record.

What we refer to as Dangerous Goods, e.g. flammable liquid, gas, toxic, corrosive, oxidizing agents, etc. if carried in bulk, i.e 1000 litres/kilograms or more a specific permit is required. Another E.P.A. permit is required for transporting Prescribed Waste, e.g. asbestos, filter cake, Contaminated soil, waste paint, etc. Separate specific permits are also required for transporting Explosives (including fireworks), Radioactive Material (including X-ray equipment) & Biological Substances (including medical waste). In fact, you name it, we’ve got a permit for it. Carry a lift truck to unload bricks, Forklift Licence, a timber truck with a hoist, Crane Licence, a tipper with a bobcat…., licence!

Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a loss of licence for 3 months. No sobriety test in Australia, accurate electronic devices are carried by all police so you can seem sober as a judge, but if you’re over the limit… Tests are carried out whenever you are stopped by police as a matter of routine regardless of what it was you were stopped for. What we call a ‘Booze Bus’ can set up a testing station on the fly on any road (even a freeway) & stop every vehicle for a random breath test & has the facilities for an on-the-spot Blood Test if you blow a reading on the prelimanary Breath Test. Recently new innovations in testing has provided reliable means of testing for a variety of illegal drugs.

Road Trains are not permitted on Victorian roads, but we do have B-Doules. Two trailers, the A-trailer seems shorter than the B-trailer only because the last third is reserved for a turn-table & its wheels are therefore positioned under the front of the B-trailer, the combined length is 82 feet. Ford Australia also runs a B-Tripple between its Engine Plant & Assembly Plant about 37 miles. These trucks have strict restrictions on which roads they can drive on & must have air-bag suspension. Shorter 19 metre (62 1/3 foot) B-Doubles have been developed for the petroleum industry & can travel any road a semi trailer uses.