Boosting truck productivity would reduce costs for families and support higher real wages, Australian Trucking Association Chair Mark Parry said today.
The Productivity Commission is wrapping up its initial consultations on five productivity inquiries today.
Mr Parry said that allowing longer truck combinations to have more access to Australia's roads could reduce the industry's operating costs by $13.6 billion over the years to 2050 and save households more than $400 per year on their everyday purchases.
"Increasing productivity is the key to reducing the cost of living for families now and increasing real wages in the long term. It is also the key to reducing costs for our exporters," Mr Parry said.
"For example, innovative businesses that switch from conventional semitrailers to what are called A-doubles can move the same amount of freight in half the number of trips while using 72 per cent of the fuel.
"But trucks like A-doubles can only be used on specific networks or under permits issued by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator.
"Australia's governments are working to create an automated access system to replace nine out of ten road access permit applications, but it is not clear when the system will be finished.
"The ATA's response to the Productivity Commission argues that the Government should strongly encourage the participating states to roll out the system faster and to publish timeframes for each component.
"Australian Government funding should be available to assist governments that are still reviewing the state of their roads and bridges.
"The ATA has called for a $5 billion, ten year program of targeted road upgrades to expand the roads that can be used by high productivity trucks, as well as battery and hydrogen electric trucks. These trucks are heavier than conventional trucks. They cannot carry the same amount of freight unless their gross mass is allowed to be higher.
"The road upgrade funding should also be used to increase the resilience of the road system, so it can cope better with the growing number of natural disasters we will face."
Mr Parry said the Government needed to take action to build the industry's workforce.
"The Australian Government provides financial support to some apprentices, but it does not support apprentice truck drivers. That needs to change," he said.
"The Government should also push for changes to truck driver licensing. At present, drivers advance through the truck licence classes based on the time they have held each licence, followed by training and competency tests.
"The time based approach should be removed and replaced with a requirement that drivers log a minimum number of driving or working hours before being eligible to be tested for the next licence class.
"This would increase safety and help with the driver shortage, for drivers could be advanced through the licensing classes more quickly."
Mr Parry said the ATA's plan to reduce the industry's emissions would save more than 35 million tonnes of CO2 over 25 years.
"Our plan comprises a voucher scheme to encourage businesses to purchase battery electric trucks, our plan for high productivity and EV networks and production incentives for renewable diesel," he said.
"These measures would deliver 9.3 per cent reduction in total cumulative emissions over 25 years compared to the base case in the Deloitte Access Economics modelling we provided the commission."
