Trucking trials and tribulation laid at Transport's door
The South Australian Road Transport Association (SARTA) has a meeting booked with the state’s transport minister this week, and it says it has plenty to tell him.
SARTA plans to make industry concerns impossible to ignore when it meets with the South Australian Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan on Wednesday.
SARTA executive director Steve Shearer says the minister, who took up the role in March, has shown interest in the state’s transport issues and that he will bring a full brief to this week’s talks.
“Thus far the minister has been very approachable, open and clearly prepared to listen and even though we can never expect to get everything we ask for, it is critical that we are able to raise our issues directly and thoroughly with the elected government,” Shearer says.
“This is particularly true when we come up against a brick wall with officials, as we sometimes do, who we think are not listening or are not open to all the arguments.
“Generally they are doing their job of course but sometimes the reality is that some key decisions are made at the political level, taking everything into account, including the differing views of the industry and officials.”
This will be SARTA’s second official meeting with the SA Transport Department, after the first came together to discuss better management of infrastructure planning and technical defects in April.