National trucking law still unattractive to Western Australia

[kscarbel2]

Owner-Driver / June 3, 2015

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s (NHVR) attempts to woo the Western Australian trucking industry have come to nothing, with the sector still maintaining it does not need national truck laws.

NHVR CEO Sal Petroccitto recently emphasised the need for WA and the Northern Territory to follow the rest of Australia by enacting the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL), but WA Transport Association (WARTA) CEO Ian King does not see that happening anytime soon.

He says the industry and the Government of Western Australia firmly believe the existing state-based heavy vehicle framework is best and that the NHVR cannot demonstrate why Western Australia should change.

"Ain’t going to be on. Our [transport] minister and the shadow minister have both said show us why we should be [part of it] and we’ll support it," King says.

"We’re looking at what is happening over there [in the eastern states]. Do we need it in Western Australia since 97 or 98 per cent of the business is intrastate?

"We’ve got about 2 or 2.5 per cent that is interstate and about 80 per cent of that is on rail. You don’t see trucks going across from Perth to Melbourne."

Petroccitto told this year’s Trucking Australia conference the adoption of the HVNL in Western Australia and the Northern Territory was critical to delivering regulatory consistency and that both jurisdictions would eventually act.

"We will get WA into the tent at some point in the future. We cannot have a national regulator without the Northern Territory and Western Australia there. It’s just a matter of time," he told the conference.

Petroccitto hopes new fatigue management templates the NHVR has developed will encourage Western Australia and the Northern Territory to rethink their opposition to the HVNL.

Both jurisdictions have cited fatigue management and heavy vehicle access conditions as key reasons why they are not prepared to adopt a national regulatory framework.