History The History of the West Australian Road Transport Industry

By Russell McKinnon

an editorial in the December Road Runner that: “No doubt many of you will have reacted as I did and felt disturbed by some of the material that it contained“. He continued: “Whilst I have had a number of meetings with the Minister and his senior advisory staff to ensure that we are not going to be burdened with aspects of the review that serve no good purpose for anyone — contractors or the kids — I would again ask you all to be ever vigilant and let Brian know if you see evidence of bits of it sneaking in. As previously indicated, this is not how the Minister sees the application of the review. However, given his busy schedule and therefore his inability to scrutinise every move from officers in DOT, we need to play our part, too — after all, we are the businessmen and women directly affected.”

WARTA was being heavily supported by the following sponsors: 10 Star — Commercial Union; 4 Star — BP Oil, Crown Equipment, Drake Low Loaders, Max Winkless Volvo, Motorola, Telstra, Western United Insurance Brokers; 2 Star — Caltex Oil, CJD Equipment, Fairport Technologies, Howard Porter, Modern Motor Trimmers, Western Transport; 2 Star — BOC Gases, Drive Straight Alignment Services, General Transport Equipment, Reflex Computer Systems, ROH Steel Wheel Co, Shell Company; 1 Star — HDTE, Westrac Equipment.

Newly appointed President Frank Marley was born in Katanning and moved to the Merreden area. His parents ran a 24-hour service station at Naneenan, which in the 1960s was the only service station between Merredin and the WA border. He worked in Waroona as a boilermaker/welder before doing a 12-month stint on the Merredin-Koolyanobbing standard gauge railway line. He then bought a 20-foot tray truck, a Commer powered by a 354hp Perkins engine and carted fertiliser, rain and livestock. The business grew to a fleet of 28 trucks, mainly carrying grain. Frank was at the forefront of removing the regulations, which dictated that freight had to be carted by rail. Frank is a former president of the Livestock Transporters’ Association of WA and currently is a vicepresident of the Australian Livestock Transporters’ Association. He is an industry representative on the newly formed Remote Areas Group and is president of the Merredin Tourist Bureau.

Minister for Transport Murray Criddle announced the release of the Student Assistance Review on December 2. He said that the Association would be involved in ongoing discussions during the implementation phase as the recommendations are gradually introduced between now and 2003. President Frank Marley said in

Association President Frank Marley and Executive Director Alan Layton met with the State Opposition Transport Spokesperson, Allanah MacTiernan, early in December to discuss a range of road freight issues. Her concerns included road freight access to the Perth metropolitan area; heavy vehicle traffic in her electorate of Armadale; fatigue management, a strong legislative base needed; the restructuring and performance of Main Roads; and the lack of investment in rail and under-utilisation for freight transport.

It was a busy year for the Association. A Special General Meeting was held at the Ascot Inn in Belmont on March 25. It dealt with the sale of the Wellington Street premises, and more precisely, the lack of interest from buyers at a projected sale cost of $700,000. It was stated that the market was flat and that the for-sale sign would be taken down. The Association had by now shifted offices to the Road Transport Training Council site at 47 Cohn Street, Carlisle at a rental of $13,000 per annum. It was hoped that perhaps the Wellington Street premises could be rented out for $20,000pa. There was much discussion at the April 20 Executive Council Meeting when the only offer was in the $630,000 region. The council finally decided to get an accountant to draw up a cashflow projection before deciding on how to progress.

The financial situation of the Association was not good with a loss of $50,000 up until June 30, 1999 and the shortfall had been addressed by sending out the 1999-20000 subscription invoices early. It was noted that the 1998-99 financial year had ended with a surplus of $40,000 and that over a two-year period there was a $90,000 decline. There was talk of securing an overdraft facility to the tune of $100,000-$200,000. This could clear the budget by June 2000 and the debt could be serviced through a reduction in staffing costs. Cont… next edition

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