The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) has received the support of several fellow transport organisations for its election policy platform.
Revealed gradually in the lead-up to the May 3 federal election, a panel of speakers at the opening of Trucking Australia 2025 spoke on what the next government needs to prioritise to lead Australian trucking to greater success.
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Representatives from the NRFA, SARTA, Road Freight NSW, the Western Roads Federation, NatRoad, ALRTA, QTA, AFRA and more were all present on the panel.
“We are an essential industry, supporting Australians through fires, floods, cyclones and the global pandemic,” says ATA chair Mark Parry in the association’s policy platform.
“In 2023-24, we delivered almost 250 billion tonne kilometres of road freight to homes, businesses, ports and communities. Yet we face a challenging and uncertain future.”
The ATA’s platform is built on four key pillars – boosting truck safety, reducing the trucking industry’s emissions, building the trucking workforce and building better roads.
Anthony Boyle, recently appointed executive director of the Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association says his organisation has been particularly focused on the recruitment and retention of workers.
“We’re trying to take a more proactive approach to training and safety improvements,” he says.
“We had a lot of feedback from members who are desperate for more training. Even now we’ve got people realising the value of it. We support the ATA’s focus on building the trucking workforce.”
National Road Freighters Association president Glyn Castanelli says the minimum standards now being enforced by the Fair Work Commission need to be shaped by the rest of the industry.
He believes it will take a united front to do so.
“What we need to see from whoever our government is next week is support to finish what’s already been started,” Glyn says.
“We need time to see the new division of Fair Work process and implement minimum standards to improve safety in our industry. What that looks like is up to us to help formulate that.”
On the emissions front, the ATA wants to see the federal government implement a voucher scheme to cover the price gap between electric and diesel trucks.
This will allow trucking businesses who are unable to look at going electric to cover the cost gap.
They also want to see domestic renewable diesel production to meet at least five per cent of the country’s current needs, as well as a distance-based road charging system for electric vehicles to come into force once sales reaches 30 per cent.
Funding-wise, they want to see $5 million over 10 years in targeted road upgrades to support high-productivity and low-emission tailpipe trucks.
You can read the ATA’s full policy platform here.
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