Australia’s peak heavy vehicle industry body is calling on the Albanese Government to release the Productivity Commission’s landmark report on reforming the nation’s heavy vehicle rules, and embrace the recommended reforms, which could boost GDP by up to $4 billion per annum.
The final report was provided to the Government on June 30, 2026 and is expected to be publicly released shortly. The Interim Report of Study Into Heavy Vehicle Reform was released on April 13, 2026. The report was requested by Treasurer Jim Chalmers to provide advice on the impact of a heavy vehicle productivity reform package to increase transport productivity and support the uptake of heavy zero-emissions vehicles.
HVIA has written to Federal Communications Minister Anika Wells highlighting the significant impacts that recent telecommunications outages can have on Australia’s heavy vehicle industry and calling for greater recognition of telecommunications as critical transport infrastructure.
The correspondence (available here) follows the nationwide Telstra outage in July, which disrupted mobile services across Australia and exposed the freight sector’s growing reliance on reliable telecommunications networks.
Following highly successful events in Western Australia and Queensland, HVIA members in New South Wales and Victoria backed it up with impressive turnouts in their respective states.
For the first time, 10-year HVIA member TRS hosted the NSW Member Forum at its impressive headquarters in Huntingwood, where attendees were also treated to a colourful factory tour that highlighted the refrigerated body manufacturer’s focus on quality, technology and advanced manufacturing.
Daimler Truck Australia Pacific President and CEO, Daniel Whitehead, has announced he will leave his current role at the end of this year, marking the end of a stellar 30-year career with Daimler Truck and Mercedes-Benz.
During his tenture, Whitehead has overseen record growth of the Daimler Truck, which is currently the number-two truck manufacturer in Australia, including the Mercedes-Benz, Fuso and Freightliner brands.
The Federal Department of Infrastructure has released an updated Compliance and Enforcement Strategy, outlining how it will conduct its C&E activities under the Road Vehicle Standards legislation for the 2026-29 period.
The strategy may impact any HVIA member that has exposure to any part of the Road Vehicle Standards Act 2018, and its subordinate legislation, which includes Vehicle Type Approval and Component Type Approval holders, persons and businesses submitting either of those approvals, and test facilities.
Austroads, the association of the Australian and New Zealand transport agencies, is consulting with heavy vehicle industry stakeholders around updates to the damage assessment criteria for the classification of heavy vehicle statutory writeoffs.
The updates – including light vehicles – will be covered by project SRL6505 which kicked off at the end of October 2024 and is due for commencement by June 2027. These documents are guides for how an assessor determines whether a vehicle is added to the respective state-based Written Off Vehicle Register.
GTS Freight Management has added seven new Mercedes-Benz Actros trucks to its Mildura-based fleet. The range-topping 2663 models run the 630hp OM 473 16-litre six-cylinder linked to a 12-speed PowerShift Automated Manual Transmission.
The privately-owned company, which loads 500 trailers each day and covers three million kilometres every month, decided to purchase new models after a positive experience with six Mercedes-Benz 2658 trucks that joined the fleet close to two years ago.
The long-awaited update to the Heavy Vehicle National Law, colloquially referred to as ‘HVNL 2.0’, officially began on Saturday, August 1, 2026. The sections most relevant to HVIA members are the changes to Mass, Dimension and Loading, and the Performance Based Standards scheme.
All impacted members are strongly encouraged to carefully review the changes as HVIA is aware of inconsistencies between some of the new aspects of the HVNL, and existing regulatory instruments, such as the Australia Design Rules.
