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Hancock sets sights on top gig at truck regulator

NHVR Project Director Richard Hancock expresses interest in leading the regulator when it begins on January 1 next year

By Brad Gardner | January 30, 2012

The bureaucrat in charge of crafting the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator has expressed interest in running the show when it kicks off on January 1 next year.

The NHVR Project Office’s Project Director, Richard Hancock, who is currently involved in work to finalise the structure of the regulator, has cast his eye to filling the role of CEO.

Transport ministers in November last year voted to conduct an international search for the NHVR CEO, along with finding a candidate to lead the National Rail Regulator.

“It’s a position that I’d be interested in at this stage,” Hancock says.

“It’s a pretty exciting project to be involved with.”

The regulator will act as a one-stop-shop for permit applications, maps and heavy vehicle registration from 2013 and will also be responsible for ensuring regulations are consistent across borders.

“From January 1, 2013 that’s really pretty exciting because there’s a lot of work that will still need to be done,” Hancock says.

There will be some variations, however, with Western Australia sticking by its decision to retain its own fatigue and heavy vehicle accreditation schemes.

Hancock says he is continuing to work with Western Australia, which remains the only jurisdiction not to sign the intergovernmental agreement on national heavy vehicle regulations.

“We’d be looking to try and minimise any difference between WA and the rest of the states and territories,” Hancock says.

“We need to make sure that to the fullest extent possible there’s mutual recognition of accreditation schemes, of fatigue schemes, of inspection standards, of on-road enforcement processes in WA as compared to the rest of Australia.”

Hancock took up the post of NHVR project director in 2010. He was previously the CEO of the Northern Territory Department of Construction and Infrastructure, and has held senior roles in local councils in Queensland, Victoria and NSW.

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