HEAVY vehicle regulations, the state of rural roads and farm safety were among the topics discussed at the Victorian Farmers Federation grains conference last week.
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Warracknabeal farmer and federation grains group president Ross Johns said the conference was well attended and there was a lot of good discussion.
“Roads was a perpetual issue that continues to come up,” he said. “We talked about strategies around getting better quality roads for rural and country Victoria.”
Riordan Grains managing director Jim Riordan told the conference that the state’s roads were falling well below average standards.
“We replace the shock absorber on every truck we own every 12 months,” he said.
“That’s only happened in the past two years – we are getting failures in equipment we have never seen before.”
Mr Riordan called for a major funding injection for the regional road network.
“Roads need to be kept to a minimum standard, so at least they are not making our vehicles unroadworthy,” he said.
Mr Johns said poor roads were an issue across regional Victoria.
“Most trucks are roadworthy, but most of the roads are untruckworthy,” he said.
He called for the state government to abide by its ‘chain of responsibility’ laws as the state’s roads were not fit for purpose.
Tarranyurk farmer Marshall Rodda said Victoria’s roads were an absolute disgrace.
“We need a strong commitment from the government to start fixing those rural roads, to get our produce to ports efficiently,” he said.
“These roads are wrecking our trucks.”
Mr Johns said heavy vehicle regulations and occupational, health and safety issues were also discussed at the conference. WorkSafe statistics showed the agricultural industry accounted for half of Victoria’s 27 workplace related deaths last year.
“As an industry we have to do something about this safety record,” Mr Johns said.
“It’s important for our families, for our workers, for our contractors that come onto our businesses that we need to make a change.
“If we don’t recognise the need to address this, someone else will be coming in and enforcing change on us.”
Mr Johns said the federation had produced safety checklists, covering chemical storage, farm equipment, machinery, hazards and infrastructure.
He said the federation would continue working to improve issues in the industry.
“There is work going on in relation to roads and heavy vehicle regulations,” he said.
“The federation has also appointed a farm occupation officer to look at safety issues.”
