INDEPENDENT Senator for Tasmania Tammy Tyrrell has described the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme (TFES) as “broken” and “no longer fit for purpose".
Senator Tyrrell, who previously chaired a Senate Select Committee into the TFES, told the forum that the scheme had failed to keep pace with freight costs in Australia and was “designed for a world that no longer exists”.
Speaking to the Tasmanian Freight and Logistics Forum in Hobart, she called for change to bring about better outcomes for exporters.
“Costs have risen dramatically. Fuel costs have risen,” Senator Tyrrell said.
“The cost of doing business has gone up and the TFES has not kept up the support [it is supposed to provide], which was never generous to begin with, has been quietly eroded in real terms, year after year.”
She said the result had caused businesses to go backwards, not because they were doing anything wrong, but because they had been “let down by a scheme that is no longer fit for purpose”.
Senator Tyrrell said the Senate Committee that examined the TFES took evidence from businesses, industry groups, freight operators, economists and government departments, to “find out what was actually going on”.
The committee report made five recommendations to fix the scheme including “a total, comprehensive review of the scheme, not just tinkering around the edges, but a root and branch examination of whether TFES is designed appropriately for the modern trade environment”.
Senator Tyrrell also raised concerns about the condition of Tasmania’s ports, referring to “aging infrastructure, underinvestment and capacity constraints”, with rising costs being passed on to operators and then passed on and again to businesses and then “inevitably passed on to every Tasmanian consumer at the checkout”.
“That's not acceptable, and it isn't inevitable. It's a policy choice, and it's a choice that is being made by default, by governments that are not paying close enough attention,” she said.
“Our freight industry is doing its absolute best. And I want to say that clearly, that operators, the freight forwarders, the logistics companies, the port workers, they are professional, they are hard-working and they are innovative, but they are being asked to perform at a world class standard without world class support, and that has to change.”