Transport 'not given fair go’

Press, 6 December 1985, Page 30

Transport 'not given fair go’

PA Tauranga Road transport is not getting a fair go, particularly in provincial areas, according to the Opposition spokesman on transport, Mr Winston Peters. Speaking at the opening of a new transport depot in his Tauranga electorate, Mr Peters said the Government’s treatment of road transport was an attack on the rural provincial infrastructure. “Diesel costs have increased and with GST just around the corner there will be an added taxation and clerical burden,” he said. “Already taxation is around 39 per cent of the cost of road transport and in many cases road trans-

porters are experiencing capital returns on investment of three per cent or less,” Mr Peters said. In February this year, when the dollar was at a lower rate, transporters were arguing that preChristmas customs duty cuts on imported trucks would have little effect on 1985 prices, he said. “That was true then and by July of this year with a rising dollar, rebuilding trucks was rapidly becoming a practical alternative to the high price of new vehicles,” he said. “The artificial strength of the New Zealand dollar now is certainly not going to help capital investment in road transport,” Mr Peters said.