LRTAWA – We must keep the pressure on for ‘better’ driver facilities

LRTAWA by David Fyfe, President, Livestock and Rural Transport Association of Western Australia (Inc)

Unless we keep this issue high on the agenda it is doubtful it will receive the attention it needs. Our association has been pushing for better access to toilets for many years and the progress has been slow. Usually our quest is for public facilities to be provided, but the need goes beyond that.

There are many examples in the day to day life of a truck driver where they are denied access to toilets at various sites where they deliver or load from. We frequently talk of driver shortages and lament the fact that young people are not entering the industry. Why would you encourage your son or daughter to join an industry where they may not be able to use a purpose built toilet during their working day?

Our members load from grain storage centres and saleyards. In the case of grain transport the loading schedules often require a driver to camp overnight. In many cases there is no option to use a toilet or shower prior to commencing the day as individual CBH sites frequently deny access.

Recently Graincorp was ‘called out’ in the East for preventing driver access to toilets and showers as a fatigue management risk and potential exposure under chain of responsibility laws. What is a driver expected to do in these circumstances? The only option is unhygienic, unpleasant and against the law. Urinating in public can attract a ‘disorderly conduct’ fine.

In no other workplace or site would denying access to facilities for either employees, contractors or visitors be acceptable. Extra coronavirus restrictions have made the problems worse. Truck drivers around the world have reported problems with access to toilets and handwashing facilities. In the US, truck drivers have taken to carrying a ‘porta potti’ the problem is so bad. Interestingly, it

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is warning 60,000 businesses who are yet to comply with tax lodgement requirements under the taxable payments reporting system (TPRS) to lodge their reports as soon as possible.

The TPRS — a measure designed to identify contractors who under-report their income — was extended to businesses outside the construction, cleaning and courier industries in 2020.

Any business that pays contractors for road freight, information technology, security, investigation, or surveillance services may need to lodge a taxable payments annual report in the system.

ATO assistant commissioner Peter Holt said in a statement that businesses in retail and hospitality that pay contractors to deliver goods to their customers may now need to lodge a taxable payments annual report in the TPRS.

“These businesses may not have previously needed to lodge a taxable payments annual report. However, if the total payments received for these deliveries or courier services are 10% or more of the total annual business income, you’ll need to lodge,” Holt said.

The ATO estimates that around 280,000 businesses need to lodge a taxable payments annual report for 2019-20.

The reporting system was set up to combat the black economy which costs the Australian community as much as $50 billion — approximately 3% of GDP, the ATO said.

The system, which was first developed in 2013 for the building and construction industry, was ramped up following the black economy taskforce in 2016 to also include the cleaning and courier industries in 2018.

The ATO announced in November it would continue to conduct regular audits of the TPRS to ensure contractors are meeting their income tax and GST requirements.

The ATO says businesses who have not yet lodged their annual reports in the TPRS should lodge them as soon as possible to avoid penalties.

Penalties for non-lodgment of the taxable payments annual report can be up to $5,550 for small and medium sized businesses.