Industry body backs chain of responsibility but believes present treatment is flawed
August 14, 2012
The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) wants a stronger and fairer chain of responsibility element included in the Heavy Vehicle National Law Bill.
The ATA has proposed six sets of amendments in a 39-page submission to the Queensland parliamentary inquiry into the two bills that will enact the national laws.
The Heavy Vehicle National Law Bill is being dealt with first, with an amendment package to follow later this year to address unresolved issues.
“Over time, robust chain of responsibility laws will drive the cowboys out of the industry and stop our customers from making demands that can’t be met without breaking the law,” ATA CEO Stuart St Clair says.
“But there are problems with the Bill. As it’s drafted, businesses and people like loading managers will not have positive duties to stop trucks being overloaded or loaded improperly.”
St Clair claims offenders will only be able to be prosecuted after an offence is committed, which is too late if an incident happens. He says businesses should have a positive duty to take reasonable steps at all times to prevent trucks from being overloaded or loaded unlawfully.
National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) Project Director Richard Hancock says the placing of “positive duties” on all supply chain participants is “being looked at”.
The ATA says its proposed amendments aim to ensure that company directors, officers, the members of business partnerships and the managers of unincorporated businesses are innocent of chain of responsibility offences until proven guilty.
“This would also align road transport law with work health and safety law, where the prosecution bears the burden of proving its case,” St Clair says
“It has been argued that the reverse onus of proof is necessary to get off-road parties like consignors and consignees to focus on their obligations. But many of these businesses are not even aware that chain of responsibility applies to them.”
The ATA’s submission wants the NHVR to carry out a national training and communications plan that targets the industry’s customers.
The ATA submission also recommends that dissatisfied applicants for road access should have the right to appeal to an independent, external review body, which transport ministers oppose.
“More than half the economic benefits of this reform are expected to come from increasing the use of restricted vehicles on the road network,” St Clair says.
“But the access measures in the Bill are not strong enough to deliver the expected productivity gains.”
St Clair says the ATA’s proposal will enable operators to approach an external review body such as the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.