It’s been over a month since the federal election was run and done, with Labor swooping to claim a major victory across the nation. As the latest federal government continues to prepare for its next term in office, ABC sat down with Bus Industry Confederation (BIC) executive director, a former Labor party general secretary in the NT, to discuss what implications the election result has for the industry.
“One has to congratulate Labor on a really well run campaign that was solid and disciplined,” he told ABC.
“They stuck to their core values. For BIC, this gives us continuity and assurance in what the next three years look like.”
Varenya says the main benefits of Labor being re-elected mean previous commitments are most likely to hold true, meaning long-term planning can come back on the cards for the entire industry. With global economic challenges continuing to rear their heads, Varenya is hoping a stable government can circumvent some worrying trends being seen in the world’s transport markets.
“With the cost of capital becoming more expensive due to global inflation, it puts our financiers and investors in a precarious position,” he says.
“So, we welcome continuity and stability.”
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Another boost of having the Labor party return to government is that Varenya and the BIC team can quickly get to work on implementing changes it wants to see made that benefit the bus and coach industry. When the dust settles and BIC begins having conversations with federal ministers once again, Varenya has three key pillars he wants to see actioned “with some haste”.
“The first is the recruitment and retention of drivers issue, while the second is about working with states and territories to define local content,” he says.
“The third pillar is a broader discussion on procurement around the nation. All three of these parts come back to continuity and stability – prior to my time as executive director BIC had started these conversations with government, but now we need to continue them to show the government that we’re focused on these issues.”
Varenya says he knows how these three priorities interconnect with the government’s own focuses, meaning BIC can work to extract benefits for the industry. One example is the workforce development announcement made by Labor to get 6,000 people through the TAFE system via fee-free programs.
“While you can argue it doesn’t have a direct impact on our current driver shortage, it could then still result in us getting more mechanics coming into the bus and coach industry,” he says.
“BIC wants to work with every government of every persuasion, but we have a responsibility to our members and the industry to see how the current government’s goals work with our own.”
The idea of local content when it comes to bus and coach manufacturing has been a constant topic of discussion for the industry in recent years, but under the next term of government it’s set to intensify. With more international manufacturers establishing bases in Australia and announcing plans to assemble or produce vehicles within the country, there’s a need for clarification on what constitutes local content in Australia’s industry.
“We want to have dialogue on what the incoming government thinks about local content,” Varenya says.
“It will only get more complex if we receive no definition. The idea of local content is important to our bottom line and the current price points that do exist. What are the economic benefits of relaxing local content rules? We need the country and our industry to benefit from having international companies producing buses in our nation. We need an equal playing field for all.
“If a company just has a local PO box and makes cheaper products that are brought in, it doesn’t suit what Australians stand for and where our industry should position itself. We need to agree on what this definition means to Australia’s industry.”
From a broader workforce perspective, Varenya wants the next government to ensure the industry’s workers are well looked after to help make the sector more lucrative, thus solving the current skilled worker shortage.
“With Labor always having a good relationship with the union movement, where the economic employer is the government, we want to know how operators and associations can work with the union movement to ensure workers in our industry receive the right wages.
“This goes to the heart of retaining and recruiting our drivers. I’m interested in pulling these wishes together from both sides to fit outcomes we’re both after.”
An additional idea that Varenya is willing to tease out with government representatives is the state of the zero-emissions transition. Currently there’s no clear-cut political announcements on what is expected from the bus industry to use alternative fuels.
Varenya acknowledges the transition requires forward planning and infrastructure support. It’s fuelling his wish to discuss with government how they can better support the industry in the massive change to new technology.
“BIC empathises with our operators who are trying to do the right thing and need support that they aren’t receiving,” Varenya says.
“It’s causing a bit of angst, as if you bring in electric buses and can’t support it with enough power or infrastructure, how will it work and be viable?
“If it takes longer for buses to be charged then to have them filled with diesel, how does that help with operational efficiency? Currently we see operators struggling to meet what governments want of them.”
While Varenya is congratulatory to the Labor party, he’s also hoping the Opposition can provide a productive presence to create a productive term. On his side, the focus will be to push the key issues to the government to hopefully gain some improvement in the industry.
“We as an association want to make sure we’re putting our case forward so that government understands what we want as an industry,” he says.
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