In its submission to Australian Industry Standards (AIS) the ATA has called for safety and driver training to be the key focus for the proposed four year schedule of work for the TLI Transport and Logistics Training Package.

The submission was in response to the Transport and Logistics IRC Skills Forecast Key Findings Discussion Paper 2017.

The discussion paper makes no mention of safety as a skills issue – despite its paramount importance in the transport industry. The ATA recommends that the consistency and quality of heavy vehicle driver training should be included as a key issue.

Additionally, road safety statistics show that a large number of accidents between trucks and light vehicles are due to mistakes by the light vehicle driver. The ATA recommends that light vehicle driver training standards and competencies should be reviewed to include awareness of sharing the road safely with heavy vehicles.

The ATA also recommends the review of training units in light of amendments to the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL), and to include criteria to understand the key differences between the HVNL and the requirements in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.  

Issues relating to an ageing workforce, industry attraction, diversity, and responding to technological change are also key issues.

Finally, the ATA recommends that AIS should increase the transparency and release information and data that is informing the discussion paper.