Rather than complain, the Australian Trucking Association has come up with an alternative, an HVNL circuit breaker, says David Smith, ATA Chair.
The National Transport Commission’s review of the Heavy Vehicle National Law has dragged on since 2018 and there’s no end in sight. Many of us have made submission after submission and yet there’s been no movement at all.
To say it’s disappointing is an absolute understatement.
The ATA could easily just sit on the sidelines and complain about the situation. However, we’ve decided to take action and introduce a circuit breaker. That circuit breaker is an alternative policy we’ve drafted called the Road Transport Act, which would replace the Heavy Vehicle National Law.
The draft Road Transport Act shows our commitment to laws that have the national economy at the heart and ensure the safe, productive movement of freight. Our draft Road Transport Act would be a Commonwealth Act, not a cooperative national scheme, so the law would be the same for all the participating states and territories.
Under the draft Act, all businesses operating trucks would be required to have a safety management system (SMS). This would mean that every business operating trucks would need to address driver fatigue in its SMS. The regulations would set out maximum work hours for non-certified businesses. For a certified business to exceed that level, it would need appropriate risk controls.
The draft Road Transport Act could see the end of official work diaries, which are nothing more than a compliance trap for hard working truck drivers. Under our model, businesses would be required to keep records of driver work hours, which could be in any format as long as they meet the requirements of the law. This would be more efficient and would save operators millions of dollars every year.
The proposed law would also eliminate minor fatigue and work diary offences. Long term fitness for duty would be handled through the licensing system. All truck drivers would be required to have regular medicals against fit-for-purpose medical standards.
The new Road Transport Act would dramatically boost the industry’s productivity. It would define vehicle access on the National Land Transport Network to include combinations up to 53.5 metres. The Road Transport Act would also replace the permit system and the number of access permits would be reduced by at least 95 per cent.
Operators would be able to check their access 24/7. The system would match each vehicle’s configuration to the network assets on the vehicle’s possible routes. Operators would generally be able to use an available route without needing a permit. PBS vehicles would be handled the same way.
The Road Transport Act would make changes to heavy vehicle registration, with heavy vehicle plates to become truly national. The inconsistencies in the current scheme would easily be eliminated and heavy vehicle registrations would be exempt from state stamp duty.
We know it’s unusual for a national industry association to create a draft law. However, to us, it’s the obvious way to break the impasse.
We urge governments to adopt our proposed law and put an end to this policy review circus that has frustrated far too many of us for far too long.
