A leading operator has warned the federal government’s fuel relief measures will do little to ease the immediate pain gripping the transport sector.
Ross Transport boss True Ross-Sawrey said the changes were “a step forward” but fell well short of what operators need right now with cash flow pressures, weak fuel levy recovery and rising costs continuing to bite.
“It’s obviously a step forward. It’s better than nothing, yes, but my personal opinion is it’s still not going to provide much relief to the now,” Ross-Sawrey said.
“I think more still needs to be done.”
She said reductions in the fuel tax at the bowser for the next three months will have an immediate and welcome impact.
But the scrapping of the road user charge (RUC) of 32.4 cpl for the same period won’t be felt until most operators file their first business activity statements (BAS) in mid-May.
“We still have to make it through another 30 days or 45 days before we’ll get that [FTC],” Ross-Sawrey said.
She added that conversations around fuel levies are becoming harder as customers themselves struggle, with payment terms stretching out and cash flow tightening across the supply chain. Ross-Sawrey said a lot of customers have gone as far as asking to have the levies removed altogether.
“A lot of have also already moved their payment terms, a lot from 30 to 45 days, which is understandable, everyone is struggling, but it’s just really unhelpful.”
The scale of the cost blowout is stark. Ross-Sawrey revealed her business, which runs about 55 trucks, absorbed an additional $550,000 in fuel costs over March.
“We’re looking at about $30,000 a day, give or take,” she said.
Ross-Sawrey said Ross Transport’s average fuel levy through March was hovering around 20 per cent and moved to 33 per cent as of March 30.
But that still means that Ross Transport is absorbing most of the increased diesel costs, particularly with the bigger customers who set the fuel levy for them.
All through March, one major customer’s levy was fixed at just 0.68 per cent and it wouldn’t budge, said Ross-Sawrey.
“They refused to move it until April 1 so roughly $400,000 of our income is on a 0.68 per cent fuel levy for March.”
While grateful for some relief at the bowser for the next three months, Ross-Sawrey is adamant that more aggressive intervention is needed, including backdating the road user charge relief and broader financial support.
“I still think that they needed to put a pause on people’s loans, they did do that through Covid,” she said.
“I think we’re facing the inevitable, that disaster relief payments are going to have to come.”
Small Blue Mountains operator David Bailey said the federal government’s latest fuel relief measures may buy him time, but not enough to fix the underlying crisis gripping the industry.
Bailey, who runs the two-truck operation Bailey Brothers Haulage, described the announcement of a fuel excise reduction as offering only limited short-term relief.
“It will give us a little bit of breathing room, not much, but it will be helpful,” said Bailey, who wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers pleading for help in the days prior to the three-month reprieve.
“It doesn’t put so much of a strain on cash flow.”
However, he made it clear the timing of the relief does little to address immediate pressures, particularly existing fuel bills.
He revealed the extent of the financial strain, explaining he has been forced to wind back long-standing business practices to preserve cash.
“I’ve always tried to operate where all my vehicles have got 12 months rego. At this point in time, I’ve had to reduce it back down to three.
“That’s how much it’s affected the cash reserves that we had.”
Bailey said the announcement may have delayed the worst, but only marginally.
“It might give us a month; it’s brought us a little bit of time,” he said.
A major concern remains whether customers will accept rising fuel levies, with Bailey warning many are already pushing back.
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