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Fuel rebate is “unjust, inequitable and unfair

  

The Civil Contractors Federation has been trying for four years without success for the construction industry to be given access to excise-free diesel fuel.

In that time Adelaide earthmoving contractor and CCF life member David Truran, in his capacity as chairman of the National Diesel Fuel Committee, has seen Prime Minister John Howard three times.

He has also written several letters, the most recent dated April 6 this year. A letter to opposition leader Mark Latham, seeking Labor's support, was sent the same day. Truran says the time has come to be “inflammatory” about a rebate that is unjust, inequitable and unfair.

His open letter to the PM asks: Why is it that a `club' of diesel-fuel-tax-exempt industries are looked after when civil contractors, the builders of roads and the nation's infrastructure as well as remediators of our environment, continue to be discriminated against? Truran spells out who's in the club – marine, forestry, farming, mining, rail and on-road heavy transport.

Fly in the ointment

The problem goes back to 1998 when the federal government announced plans for a new tax system. The intention was to extend the Diesel Fuel Rebate Scheme (worth 38c/litre) to all off-road businesses using diesel. But the Australian Democrats succeeded in denying the civil construction industry access to the off-road scheme despite undertakings that it would be included.

The civil construction industry missed out because it was deemed irresponsible for using a carcinogenic product. Currently a low loader carrying a grader to a job site gets the diesel grant but the grader doesn't when it starts working.

Truran says this and other inequities create a compliance nightmare with the potential for rorting. It's a fact that people are purchasing diesel at a rebate and using it for competitive advantage. But far worse is the alienation of the civil construction industry, which contributes about 6% to the GDP.

Dire consequences

This “ill-considered exclusion” of civil construction has put a levy on all aspects of the industry, resulting in less funding for capital works, slower replacement of “cleaner” equipment by the construction industry, and for the livelihood of many CCF members.

On behalf of the federation its SA branch has produced a briefing paper setting out the history of the campaign for diesel tax justice which summarises the injustices it is causing. SA branch past president John Chamberlain is using the document to help him inform state MHRs of the situation in the run up to the federal election.


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