Australian truckers clog highway in fuel protest

Truck drivers angry about rising fuel prices clogged Australia's busiest highway yesterday for the second time this month to protest against the high cost of diesel and repairs.

About 100 trucks staged a "go-slow" convoy protest on the Hume Highway, a major route into Australia's biggest city of Sydney, blocking one lane and disrupting peak-hour morning traffic in the city's west.

The drivers want more government help to counter rising maintenance costs and fuel prices which have risen around 50 per cent since January, due to higher world oil prices.

They said drivers may be risking lives by cutting maintenance on their trucks to save costs.

"A lot of these guys have not only mortgaged the house but everything else they own to keep the truck on the road," Transport Workers Union spokesman Richard Olsen told Australian radio.

He said many owner-drivers were locked into contracts which made it impossible for them to pass on the higher fuel prices. They want the government to pass new laws to enable them to recover higher fuel and maintenance costs.

"I'm just going backwards. I looked at my bank account and it's going down all the time. I get nothing in return for the extra I'm paying out," one driver told Australian Broadcasting Corp. television.

The union has warned truck owners may be forced out of business unless they get relief, and many may cut spending on maintenance in order to remain profitable, making road transport more dangerous.

Protests by truckers, taxi drivers, fishermen and farmers demanding fuel-tax breaks spread across the world in recent months, increasing fears of political instability and a global economic downturn, as high fuel prices add to inflation and squeeze business margins.

High fuel costs have become a major political issue for Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who had promised before his election last November to tackle higher petrol prices.

Australia's opposition has urged a cut in fuel tax, at 38 cents a litre, but the government has rejected this, saying it would only have a minor impact on prices. About 75 per cent of Australian domestic freight is carried by trucks, despite a national rail network.