The 2019 Australian Infrastructure Audit makes several important findings on our freight networks and the challenges that they face. The findings by Infrastructure Australia highlight a number of issues and priorities that are well known to the Australian trucking industry.
The ATA submission to Infrastructure Australia, following the 2019 Australian Infrastructure Audit, recommends that governments:
Businesses certified under an approved accreditation scheme – such as TruckSafe – should be deemed to comply with their safety duties under the national truck laws, the ATA submission on assurance models to the national truck law review says.
The Australian Government should prioritise delivery of a national High Productivity Freight Vehicle (HPFV) network, to reduce the emissions of the road transport task and incentivise the purchase of newer heavy vehicles with the latest emission standards.
The Australian Government should mandate autonomous emergency braking for new trucks and extend mandatory electronic stability control to new rigid trucks.
Inconsistent defect notices and inspection policies must be fixed in the new truck laws.
Any changes to fatigue management in the national truck laws must treat drivers like humans – not machines.
The ATA’s submission on effective fatigue management to the national truck law review calls for more flexible fatigue management, simplified rules and record-keeping, and a reduction in the penalties for work and rest hour record-keeping offences.
More productive heavy vehicle access is a critical public policy goal that would benefit Australian consumers and businesses. Better access lowers freight costs, which ultimately means more local jobs.
Modelling from Deloitte Access Economics shows that trucking contributes to the cost of everyday consumer goods. For example, trucking makes up 4.4 per cent of the cost of a beer, 4.1 per cent of the cost of fruit and vegetables and 2 per cent of the cost of personal electronics.
Quicker refuelling and greater vehicle range are a potential opportunity for hydrogen fuelled heavy vehicles. However, take up within industry will remain low until refuelling infrastructure is in place, it is demonstrated that whole of life cycle running costs reduce and hydrogen fuel cell heavy vehicles become commercially available.
The Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) has not driven reductions in transport emissions in the road freight sector as it fails to enable the increased uptake of everyday business practices which would move more freight with less emissions.
Boosted safety and productivity for the trucking industry must be a priority in the national transport regulatory reform agenda