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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 4763 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

Things have certainly changed from the day when somebody had an old petrol-driven Bedford truck out the side of their house to these days, when to be competitive petrol-driven Bedfords are not good enough anymore. You have to have something with more horsepower to pull greater loads. That sort of thing has grown in the suburbs and has been a source of problems for neighbours. There is no question about that. To take the self-righteous position that we can clean this up quickly by pushing these people around is a bit extreme. Many of these people have been living under these arrangements for decades.

Mr Moore: They have been thoughtless for decades.

MR BERRY: I hear Mr Moore say that they have been thoughtless for decades. I think that is generally not true. There might have been some examples where the truck drivers' etiquette has not been satisfactory for some people. I used to drive a truck a long time ago, in the days of petrol-driven Bedfords and not too many fire-breathing Macks. Things have changed since then, but the rules in this city have not. I ask people to have a wee bit of tolerance for this custom and practice which has developed over the life of motorised transport.

That is not to say that I think nothing should be done. It has become a problem and it has to be dealt with, but I think we have to try to do this in a way which does not marginalise people. I would be the first to try to take a point or two off this Government over this issue. It is all very well for middle-class people or wealthy people to sit around and pontificate about people who have been making a living, and sometimes not a very good living, out of driving a truck in a small business arrangement. I know somebody who lives in a suburb near me who has an old International petrol-driven truck that would not make much more noise than - - -

Mr Moore: It is not covered by this legislation at all or even by Ms Horodny's amendment.

MR BERRY: It is a fairly big truck. It is a lot quieter than some of the fire-breathing diesels that are around. Society has developed around the road transport industry. Members of that society, including truck drivers and owners, live out there in our suburbs. I do not hear enough compassion for some of the changes that these people are going to have to go through. If this sort of change were asked of many other business people and this lack of compassion were shown to other small business groups or other groups within the community, there would be a hell of an outcry.

The Government says that it has it all stitched up through the consultation. There will be a sea change for a lot of people who drive trucks and operate small businesses from home. I hope the Government has got it right. If they have not got it right, it is going to blow up in their faces, and we will be pointing the finger at them for not getting it right.

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