The NSW Draft Master Plan recognises the constraints the heavy vehicle industry is operating under in NSW, and observes that if radical action is not taken to increase the productivity capacity of the heavy vehicle industry in NSW the effect will be detrimental to the economy.
The ATA has put forward the following submission with recommendations to most effectively address the issues highlighted in the Master Plan.
Businesses in TruckSafe and similar accreditation programs should be included automatically if the NTC goes ahead with a program to recognise organisations with a strong commitment to road safety, the ATA said in a submission this week.
The submission responds to the NTC’s draft strategy for a National Road Safety Partnership Program. The draft strategy proposes to set up a recognition scheme for organisations that demonstrate a commitment to creating and monitoring a positive road safety culture.
The ATA submission argues that businesses in TruckSafe and other trucking industry accreditation programs have already demonstrated their commitment to safety.
This submission uses industry evidence and financial modelling to show that one of the options in the Business Tax Working Group’s August 2012 discussion paper, removing the statutory effective life caps on trucks and trailers, would impose a significant cash flow burden on trucking businesses. This would reduce operators’ ability to purchase new trucks and renew their fleets with the latest equipment.
The ATA has put forward the following submission to the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency, highlighting the difficulies that are faced by the heavy vehicle industry through severe driver shortages. The submission outlines a series of recommendations to the government and industry to address this issue by increasing the attractiveness of the heavy vehicle industry to young and female workers.
The draft national truck laws should be amended to impose stronger safety duties on businesses and make them fairer at the same time, the ATA submission to the Queensland Parliamentary inquiry into the Heavy Vehicle National Law Bill 2012 says.
The ATA has produced a poster to explain common misconceptions about the Intelligent Access Program (IAP). It also contains facts about longer, safer combinations and higher mass limits.
The ATA has released new Australian truck population figures that show the NTC PayGo Model will overcharge the Australian truck and bus industries. These figures were calculated from registration data as at 31 December 2011 from state and territory road authorities, which was received through formal freedom of information requests. This data captured vehicles registered both with and without the Federal Interstate Registration Scheme.
The ATA has made the following submission to the National Transport Commission and the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator regarding the appropriateness of proposed penalties in the National Heavy Vehicle Law. The submission was prepared by Tony Hulett of Lord Commercial Lawyers to provide a robust professional opinion in this matter.
The ATA has put forward a submission to the Productivity Commission about the importance of sound Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) processes. As an example, the ATA outlined how poor regulatory impact analysis throughout the National Transport Commission’s (NTC) review of heavy vehicle charges has led to a poor outcome and a lack of trust between the NTC and industry.
This submission details the views of the members of the ATA NSW on the NSW Long Term Transport Master Plan Discussion Paper released for public comment.
All elements of NSW transport, from publicly provided transport and freight, through to pedestrians, cyclists and commuters, are all significant users of NSW transport infrastructure. With populations predicted to rise, and an anticipated increase in freight movements, the purpose of this discussion paper and the NSW Government’s vision for the future of transport is supported by ATA NSW. Accordingly, ATA NSW is committed to working with Transport for NSW and other relevant departments to achieve a workable, acceptable and viable solution.