Various trucking associations have combined to blast the proposed changes to the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) that passed Queensland Parliament on November 18.
In a joint submission from the Queensland Trucking Association (QTA), Victorian Transport Association (VTA) and National Road Transport Association (NatRoad), the trio have warned policymakers about flaws in the HVNL Amendment Bill.
While the associations acknowledge the good intentions of a risk-based approach to safety, they say that the reform’s new two-tiered accreditation framework is “fundamentally flawed” and threatens the industry’s viability.
The QTA says this framework deters safety, denies justice and needs to be revoked due to potentially undermining legal principles.
“The proposed HVNL reform, despite its stated objectives of improving safety and productivity, introduces a systemic conflict that we simply cannot accept,” QTA CEO Gary Mahon says.
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“It effectively reverses the burden of proof, denies standard legal defences and will actively deter operators from engaging with a system designed to improve safety.”
Mahon says the primary concern is with the framework’s potential to weaponise accreditation. If a company director hires an independent auditor to obtain accreditation, the resulting audit records could be used as evidence against them in prosecutions.
This approach, the submission argues, fundamentally undermines the presumption of innocence and jeopardises “rights of natural justice” by creating a mechanism to apportion blame rather than genuinely enhance accountability.
“Accreditation should be an incentive for improved and consistent safety practices, not a punitive mechanism that imperils fundamental legal rights,” Mahon says.
“If the scheme is perceived primarily as a means of imposing personal liability for executive due diligence failures, operators will rationally choose to opt out, negating any public safety benefits.”
Operationally, Mahon says the reforms will impose significant new burdens, including increased costs as operators face substantial new costs and time investments to develop and implement Safety Management Systems, or SMS, along with higher consultancy fees and audit expenses that could potentially double or triple existing rates.
Mahon says a new mandatory 28-day audit submission timeline places significant financial, operational and professional risks on both auditors and operators, while operators choosing to withdraw from accreditation could face severe financial repercussions that include reduced payloads and restricted operating hours.
He also says the new framework imposes an unsustainable level of risk on both the heavy vehicle industry and independent auditors, jeopardising the operational foundation of the accreditation scheme.
The QTA argues that the proposed framework lacks a compelling argument to justify denying legal defences.
“This policy proposal must be revoked and reconstructed with full and meaningful participation from the industry,” Mahon says.
“Anything less risks creating a system that fails in its primary goal of improving road safety, while imposing unsustainable burdens on the heavy vehicle industry.”
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