In its submission to the development of the Transport and Logistics Industry Reference Committee Workplan, the ATA has called for improving truck driver licensing training and assessment to be a high priority.

According to the submission, the two highest road transport priorities in the work plan should be to:

• address the concerns of the trucking and driver training industries about the quality of heavy vehicle driver training, and
• liaise with Austroads and implement any changes to the driver training packages that are required as a result of the national heavy vehicle driver competency review. 

Training and assessment for truck driver licensing is the most significant skills and workforce development issue for industry, and the top safety priority. The quality of training and assessment can be highly variable. While there are many excellent trainers, others train to a price and the duration of the course, and not on the level of competency attained.

The IRC issues paper is available from the Australian Industry Standards website.