The Australian Logistics Council (ALC) has continued to advocate national transport reform by publishing a list of issues it believes need to be addressed to fulfil the economic benefits of the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL).
The inaugural meeting of the Standing Committee on Transport and Infrastructure (SCOTI) is due to convene in Canberra this Friday, 4 November, with transport ministers considering the Rail Safety National Law as well as the first Bill of the HVNL.
The role of ALC in communicating to government the views of industry have been highlighted by ALC Deputy Chair and Toll Executive, Andrew Ethell, as well as ALC Member, Phil Halton of the Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association, being invited to attend and observe the SCOTI meeting.
“ALC has continued the lead advocacy role on behalf of the freight logistics industry, by outlining a series of amendments to Bill 2 of the HVNL which will help to ensure the full economic benefits of this reform are realised”, ALC managing director, Michael Kilgariff said.
“These issues have also been adopted by other transport associations and bodies as the key issues that need to be considered by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) Project Board,” he said.
The amendments proposed by ALC aim to strengthen the governance arrangements for the NHVR and hope to maximise the productivity, efficiency and safety benefits promised by the reform.
Kilgariff said after a long period of negotiation, he was pleased that the laws were close to being approved by transport ministers.
“The SCOTI meeting will mark an important milestone in the process to establish an NHVR and National Rail Safety Regulator, however it is important to remember there is still much work to be done to establish a truly national regulatory framework”, he said.
Kilgariff said he expected a second Bill for the NHVR to be introduced into the Queensland Parliament in 2012, sometime after the introduction of Bill 1 which is being voted on by SCOTI this week. Both ‘Bill 1’ and ‘Bill 2’ will need to be passed by the Queensland Parliament and subsequently by all other state parliaments, before the NHVR can commence on 1 January 2013.
Image: Road freight. Source: Transport Needs