ATA pushes HVNL changes to government

The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) has called on a Queensland minister to push national truck law changes into the state’s parliament.

ATA chair and CEO Mark Parry met with Queensland transport minister Brent Mickelberg last week to urge him to support planned changes to the national truck laws and get them into Queensland parliament.

Mark says transport ministers would consider the draft Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) Amendment Bill and regulations in March.

“We urged Minister Mickelberg to support the legislation and press its passage through the Queensland parliament,” he says.

“It’s true the HVNL review has not delivered the broad scale reform needed to support a world leading road freight sector in the fast-moving decades ahead, but the amendments it does include would be substantial and worthwhile.

“In arguing for the law, the ATA is putting forward two final amendments for ministers to consider.”

Mark says the ATA proposes that ministers approve codes of practice under the law, rather than the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR). He says this would match the approach used for work health and safety codes, delivering a high level of independent scrutiny and reflecting the importance of these codes to the law.

“We are also urging ministers to reduce the penalties for minor work diary record keeping offences from an indexed $2,000 to $1,500, and to reduce the corresponding infringement notice fines from $200 to $150,” he says.

“Minor record keeping mistakes such as failing to draw a vertical line between a work and a rest period have no bearing on fatigue risk or the ability of enforcement officers to understand a driver’s work and rest hours.

“It is important to bring this long running review to a close so that both industry and governments can focus on alternative reform options.”