The Good Oil by Rod Brown *
It was 4.30 am and we were driving to Sydney to collect our daughter from one of her overseas jaunts. Hurtling up behind us was a truck, which then proceeded to tailgate us. This went on for an eternity, until it flew downhill at 140kmh. Minutes later another truck repeated the same process. I was hoping one of these trucks would stop to refuel, but I could NOT keep up with them. But we got the truck’s Chippendale NSW address, and I gave the MD some friendly advice the next day. Water off a duck’s back.
It was thus absolutely refreshing to note the leadership displayed by New South Wales Minister for Roads, Carl Scully, on 14 September in announcing that heavy vehicle operators will be held responsible if their trucks are caught travelling in excess of 115 km/h. Speed limiters, introduced in 1991 as a mandatory safety device, will henceforth be deemed to be defective if a heavy vehicle is caught at these speeds.
Minister Scully says there is strong anecdotal evidence to suggest that speed limiters are being tampered with. Trucking companies will be hit with a fine of $1,500 in addition to driver copping the appropriate speeding penalty.
Scully says operators who recklessly set unattainable timetables and encourage their drivers to speed are now on notice. He quotes RTA speed surveys on major freight routes in NSW showing four per cent of heavy vehicles travelling at over 115 km/h.
But it’s a safe bet that 60-70 per cent of trucks would consistently exceed the actual limit of 100 km/h, not to mention the practice of tailgating.
The Australian Transport Council’s National Heavy Vehicle Safety Action Plan has identified the problem, and the NSW Minister is looking to swing support for a nationally consistent policy. Hats off to Carl Scully!
Social Cohesion
John Thwaites, the Minister for Victorian Communities, flagged some very interesting research recently. It emanates from the University of NSW (Professor Tony Vinson) where social cohesion factors have been analysed in two postcodes, one in each of NSW and Victoria.
Three factors were measured:
- Community engagement, including levels of volunteering. Volunteering is seen as important because the initial establishment of ‘social bridges’ may engender other sources of cohesion, such as trust and further establishment of support networks.
- Social and support networks, such as how many people have someone to turn to in a crisis?
- Social participation, including how many people are actively involved in sport, recreation and community groups?
Professor Vinson then matched an overall level of social cohesion against a number of outcomes like unemployment and imprisonment. He found that in postcodes where there was low social cohesion, there was a strong correlation with imprisonment. There were also strong correlations with unemployment and with young people leaving school early. These might not seem earth shattering findings, but they are a start.
It would be extremely interesting if social cohesion indicators were measured across a wider number of communities. Things would really come into focus, and agencies would have the hard data to more effectively address social disadvantage.
A little bird tells me that the Federal Department of Community Services is open to ideas in this area, so if you’re working in this field and would like some leads, send me an email.
Defence spending
There is lucrative business to be won in the $400 billion US defence and aerospace markets. Advice from our UK colleagues is that there is a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program sponsored by US government departments. These programs offer 51 per cent of grants in amounts ranging from $100k to $1 million to support new products and research and development.
Here in Australia there is no proactive government program to facilitate the winning of this US defence work.
One of the few initiatives is the Industry Capability Network, which plays an important role in matching supplier capability with the procurement requirements of the global defence and aerospace industry, identifying business opportunities, consultancy and supply chain services.
Our Department of Defence is very much hands off. It does alert companies to its own upcoming contracts, but there is little done in terms of encouraging or supporting Australian companies to access the big US contracts. The running is left to the so called prime contractors, and SMEs are simply encouraged to link up with them.
This is too passive. There are important segments of Australian engineering that could disappear over the next decade. And there are regions where defence work could provide an economic lifeline. The best practice solution would be for the Federal Government to designate defence industry zones, built around the competitive advantages they hold, rather than simply encouraging them to bid against each other in the name of competitive tendering.
Major investments in economic and social infrastructure have been made over the years – it therefore makes sense to utilise this capability rather than see new publicly funded capacity coming on in other States that further fragments our industrial capability. Best practice would mean designated zones in each State and Territory, such as Williamstown (for frigates and similar sized vessels), Adelaide (submarines and certain electronics), Perth (patrol vessels and heavy transport equipment), East Sale (radar technology) and so forth. This is the approach taken in many other OECD countries. It might come in Australia – but don’t hold your breath.
Speed wobbles in election run up
I am writing this on 30 September, so when you read this, the results of this crazy ‘expenditure-led’ election will be known. The lowlights include:
- Massive electoral overloading about who has promised what. They forgot the KISS principle.
- General lack of long term strategies and foresight associated with promised expenditure.
- Major electoral cynicism about expenditure being screwed to the floor for the past three years.
- STILL nothing to address tax bracket creep.
- National Party falling into the economic rationalist black hole.
- The Government’s threats about making pre-emptive strikes on terrorism.
- Some of Bob Brown’s zany policies (but thanks for his moral strength).
Hard to think of many highlights – Latham clawing his way back into the frame wasn’t a bad effort, and Howard was so busy in the marginal seats.
* Rod Brown’s Canberra based consultancy group, Australian Project Developments Pty Ltd, specialises in industry/regional development and government liaison. For further information telephone (02) 6231 7261 or email apd@orac.net.au
