Kimberley Floods: Government freight subsidy application ‘very hard’ says Bishop’s Transport

More price pain could be in store for East Kimberley businesses with a major trucking company dragging its feet on applying for government freight subsidies, saying its customers should do so themselves. Bishop’s Transport general manager Michael Ferraro said he did not have the staff to apply for grants to compensate for the extra transport cost of moving freight to the East Kimberley since the region’s only sealed road was cut by flood damage in January. “I don’t have the staff to look after that, it is very hard. We have 500 consignments a week that go to Kununurra I would have to put on a person just to do that paperwork,” he said. He said it would be easier for his customers to apply for the subsidy themselves. Last month the State and Federal Government announced a Freight Assistance Program to address rocketing freight costs that almost doubled after the Fitzroy River Bridge was destroyed by a flood, cutting the East Kimberley off by sealed road from the rest of WA. Since then triple road trains have been taking a massive 5,300km detour from Perth through South Australia and the Northern Territory. The grants are for essential supplies for businesses, not-for-profits and Aboriginal corporations in and out of the Kimberley, including transport of agricultural products out of the region. The subsidy is calculated as the difference between pre-flood and post-flood freight costs and is paid directly to freight operators. Businesses and infrequent freight receivers will also be able to apply for a subsidy on a per pallet rate. The new scheme is backdated to January 1 when the Great Northern Highway was first cut by floodwaters. Mr Ferraro said the grants on offer weren’t generous enough. “The grant does not cover what we say how much it costs. The grant is a little more than 23 per cent - that’s nowhere near what it actually costs,” he said. Centurion, the other major freight company to service the East Kimberley, previously welcomed the announcement of the Freight Assistance Program. The trucking company has already made claims in the Resupply Subsidy Scheme which was for goods deemed essential supplies by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services’ Incident Controller. “For Centurion’s customers, we have deliberately kept freight rates the same as they were pre-flooding and claimed the subsidy directly from the government,” a spokesman said. “This was to minimise cost disruption to our customers and their feedback tells us it was the right thing to do.” A business survey by the East Kimberley Chamber of Commerce and Industry in January found 41 of the 50 respondents had experienced freight cost increases of 75 percent or more since the flood. Businesses reported they would have to lay of staff or increase prices if they did not receive financial assistance.