In a free market system, the government was dictating to owners and drivers what they must charge and threatening to fine and prosecute their customers up to $54,000 if they failed to do so.

In most cases, owners were being forced to increase charges by around 30 per cent.

Big companies with employer drivers not related to the owners of the business did not have to charge these rates.

It is not hard to see what would have happened.

The big trucking companies would run the owner and operators out of business. They would buy their trucks cheaply and the owners would lose their trucks and homes.

This tribunal was the greatest con of all time. It was never about road safety.

It was about Tony Sheldon of the TWU and the big operators squeezing out owners to control the road transport industry.

It is a classic example of what happens when ex-unionists like Bill Shorten do the bidding of powerful unions like the TWU.

The answer to road safety lies more in making greater use of the Heavy Vehicle Regulator, better driver training and better use of new technology.

TREASURER Morrison says banks will kick in $121 million as a funding boost to ASIC.

Mr Morrison says he would be very disappointed if the banks pass on the cost to consumers.

These are the very banks that have been found in court to have charged exorbitant fees.

These banks are out to make profits, the same banks that each year show continued record growth in profits.

What makes you so sure, Mr Morrison, that the banks will not recover $121 million from their customers? Oh, that’s right, it must be a Liberal/National thought bubble.

IN RESPONSE to Lawrence Gregan’s letter defending the Catholic Church, you say the church does offer the confessional as a way of reconciling all sinners. 

They must have been very busy reconciling the various priests and brothers over the years who where abusing children and most were repeat offenders.

As for the church being rebuilt and reinvigorated, when and where has this happened? I, like many Catholics, find it very hard to believe this with the constant denials and refusal to accept the wrongs of the past. You only have to see the numbers at mass every Sunday to see this institution is in decline.

AUSTRALIAN Electoral Commission regulations will disenfranchise many voters registered on the NSW electoral roll in the coming federal election.

The AEC does not recognise the automatic enrolment on the NSW electoral roll, which occurs in NSW when you apply for a driving licence, and unless you actively enroll on the Commonwealth electoral roll, you will not be allowed to vote at the coming federal election, even though you have been able to vote in NSW state and local government elections.

You can check your eligibility to vote in person at the Australian Electoral Office, or online at https://oevf.aec.gov.au/.