Information forums will be held across Australia to give the trucking industry a say on proposed national heavy vehicle regulations
By Brad Gardner | April 7, 2011
A series of information forums will be held across Australia to give the trucking industry a chance to have its say on proposed national heavy vehicle regulations.
The four-hour sessions will be run in Sydney and Dubbo from April 18 to 20, while a series of three sessions will take place in Queensland from April 27 to 29. Western Australia will host sessions in Port Hedland, Perth and Bunbury from April 12 to 14.
Forums have already been held in the ACT, the Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania, NSW and Victoria as part of a 10-week consultation period on the proposed regulations.
National regulations are due to take effect in 2013 and will be overseen by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, which will be based in Queensland with offices across Australia.
Released in late February by the National Transport Commission (NTC), the Heavy Vehicle National Law Draft Regulatory Impact Statement recommends a host of changes to resolve 368 regulatory variations that exist across borders.
As reported by ATN, the document proposes altering fatigue management laws, abolishing the ‘three strikes’ policy and scrapping B-double suppression sprays.
The paper also recommends creating a new advanced fatigue management (AFM)module and allowing jurisdictions to retain their existing provisions on overloading offences and higher mass limits (HML).
Following the release of the paper, West Australian Transport Minister Troy Buswell hinted that the state was prepared to walk away from national reforms unless it retained its existing fatigue management provisions.
Western Australia runs a different fatigue management system to eastern states. It says its scheme reflect the sparse distances drivers must cover.
Victorian Transport Minister Terry Mulder this week called for a sunset clause under national regulations to give states and territories a set time to move from their existing laws to a single model.
Click here to view the locations of the information forums and to register to attend.
Those interested in making formal responses must submit them to the NTC by May 6.