Just a few weeks ago, Sal Petroccitto, the CEO of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR), announced that he would be leaving the organisation in late January 2025.
Marking the end of what will be an almost 11-year tenure as the head of the NHVR. For those who do not remember, the concept of a national regulator for heavy vehicles was first proposed by state, territory and federal transport ministers way back in mid 2011 and was a result of the ineffective implementation of model laws developed by the National Transport Commission (NTC) in the various jurisdictions.
The NTC drafted Model Laws, with the intent to have them implemented as written, by each state and territory.
However, in practice these model laws were modified and adapted by each state and territory, beyond recognition in some cases, with resultant nil national consistency and confusion within the industry.
Hence the concept of a national regulator who would apply current and new heavy vehicle regulations consistently across the country was born, similar to the aviation and rail regulators.
With much hope the NHVR was created by transport ministers with a governing board established and the announcement that the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator would be established on the 1st January 2013.
Richard Hancock was appointed as CEO of the NHVR and work commenced in recruiting personal and developing the framework, IT systems, etc that would be necessary to undertake the tasks of a national regulator.
The work of the NHVR was always planned to be phased in over a number of years with initial responsibilities to be managing the National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme and Performance-Based Standards (PBS) design and vehicle approvals, with national heavy vehicle permits to closely follow.
Well as they say, “the best laid plans of mice and men”, the NHVR got off to a rocky start. The Northern Territory (NT) and Western Australia (WA) refused to sign-up, so much for a national regulator.
Some 12 years on and they are still not on board officially, though the current management team at the NHVR have a good working relationship with the NT and WA.
The next problem was the somewhat mixed messaging that went out about the NHVR’s official commencement on 10th February 2014. Who could forget the slogan “One Regulator, one rule book”, but NT and WA were not of “one”.
But the worst was yet to come. The NHVR had totally underestimated the task of issuing vehicle access permits, with their systems and processes crashing within the first days of initial implementation in February.
The result saw many freight tasks grind to a halt as valid permits were unattainable.
By the 19th of May 2014 each state had taken back control of access permitting from the NHVR. CEO Richard Hancock soon departed and the NHVR was in crisis.
Urgent action was required. In May 2014 it was announced by transport ministers and the NHVR Board that Sal Petroccitto had been appointed CEO of the NHVR effectively immediately.
Sal was going to need all his previous experience as General Manager of Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads to prevent the NHVR sinking into obscurity.
Sal proved that he was up to the task, and over the next 12 months he turned the NHVR around, to the point that it took back national access permitting and the other roles that the regulator had been tasked with implementing from February 2014.
Over the next ten years Sal and his management team have accomplished the rollout of Chain Of Responsibility laws, the expansion of the PBS scheme that has seen thousands of high productivity trucks enter into service, has overhauled, expanded and applied nationally VSB6 modification standards, further streamlined national vehicle access, developed nationally consistent vehicle Notices, revised and nationally applied the Heavy Vehicle Inspection Manual, including taking control of all heavy vehicle inspectors (except in NT and WA), applying infringements notices with national consistency and just made it easier and safer to operate a heavy vehicle in Australia.
Of course, there is more to do and that will be left to the new CEO.
The NHVR Board has a very important task to find someone to replace Sal Petroccitto, they are going to be big shoes to fill.
This person needs to understand the road freight sector in great detail, be across our federal and state regulatory systems, but most importantly, be able to listen to the requirements and feedback from operators and vehicle OEMs, as these are the organisations and people who actually keep freight moving across Australia.
Farewell, good luck and thank you Sal, it has been one hell of a journey.
Tony McMullan CEO,
Truck Industry Council
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