The association hands down its election policy priorities
The Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia (HVIA) has released its election policy roadmap ahead of the May 21 federal election.
The association says voters must focus on not voting based off an image, but instead on how the total party will manage key sectors like transport.
“Rather than electing our government based on how it will manage the government, jobs, education, health and security, voters are all too inclined to vote for a local candidate based on their image, or their leader’s image,” the HVIA says.
The HVIA has identified a range of policy issues that are crucial to the heavy vehicle industry and will impact every Australian.
It all falls under the theme of ‘a strong heavy vehicle industry – vital for a resilient Australia’ and will include the need for increased support for Australian manufacturing.
As part of these election priorities, the HVIA is calling for supply chains to be streamlined to avoid local production, delivery and support bottlenecks.
The association says the government can achieve this by “adding heavy vehicle manufacturing to Australia’s national manufacturing priorities including explicit support in the government’s modern manufacturing strategy”.
Included in its list of demands is asking the federal government to prevent cheap overseas imports from flooding the market, including vehicles not suitable for the country’s unique transport challenges.
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The HVIA says this could displace Australia’s innovative heavy trailer designers and builders, as it instead asks the government to quicken regulatory approvals, reduce red tape and lower compliance costs.
By doing this, the HVIA says allowing high productivity vehicles on more routes can help take the burden off Australia’s freight task.
But to do this, the HVIA wants to see the government prioritise bridge improvements and other upgrades on the road network to allow access for more innovative and productive vehicles.