Tas Freight Equalisation Scheme report highlights broken system
The Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme [TFES] is a broken system failing Tassie businesses, according to Senator Tammy Tyrrell, Independent Senator for Tasmania.
The report for Senator Tyrrell’s Senate Select Committee into the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme was released today with five recommendations. The report highlights a scheme that is ineffective, clunky, a deterrent to businesses setting up in Tasmania and a burden to established businesses.
Senator Tyrrell also published additional comments to the committee report, with several further suggestions for how to improve the scheme.
“The scheme has one goal: to make sure Tasmanian businesses aren’t disadvantaged because of the cost of getting things across the Bass Strait. And right now, the scheme is nowhere close to doing its only job.
“The committee recommendations are fine - they’re the product of consensus amongst all parties. But I want to take a giant leap for Tassie businesses, not a timid step. That’s why I’ve put forward additional thoughts as an independent, not as chair. My ideas - like making payments to businesses far simpler or including air freight in the scheme - would see Tas businesses getting a fairer go from this scheme.
“I set up this inquiry because freight costs impact every Tasmanian. I’ve ploughed paddocks on spud farms and stood in way too many cow pats on a dairy farm. Farmers and producers pour their heart into their work, just to get smacked in the face with a bad system that costs them time and money. Not to mention how high freight prices are impacting grocery prices. It’s Christmas - we’ve all noticed how little we’re getting in our baskets for a higher price at the checkout.
“The challenge is open to Labor and the Coalition to take on the recommendations. If they do, it’ll improve the scheme for Tassie businesses. If they don’t and the scheme continues as it is, businesses will drown in a sea of red-tape trying to figure out a confusing system no one understands. And get nothing for their efforts.”
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