NSW Freight Reform Program must deliver better roads

It’s often been said that without trucks, Australia stops. For those trucks to keep delivering, we need a functional road network.

Roads are often a thorny issue for government. That’s why it’s refreshing to see encouraging signs of positive action in the Interim Directions Paper of the NSW Freight Reform Program.

The Paper proposes several critical actions and future directions to improve our road network.

The proposal to implement service level standards on our road network would be a strong step towards better roads.

The standards would shine a light on parts of the road network which fall short on road quality, safety and rest areas. Standards must be backed, with governments prioritising funding to fixing the gaps in the network.

The reform paper also supported the importance of the updated heavy vehicle access policy, which was then launched by Minister Haylen at NatRoad Connect in Coffs Harbour in September.

The access policy makes a fundamental shift towards optimising the use of our road network and better access decisions.

There is clear recognition of the importance of delivering automated access, which is a vital opportunity to reduce red tape on industry. The paper includes an improved focus on the resilience of our road network.

This includes the need to consider freight needs when building back damaged road assets. There is also critical recognition of the need to plan for how to mitigate the impact of disruption.

The recognition of the need to commence planning and delivery of key infrastructure barriers to heavy vehicle access is welcome.

This includes the need for rest areas, replacing restricted bridges: especially Sheahan Bridge on the Hume Highway, and critical upgrades in Sydney.

Taken together, these proposed reforms represent an opportunity to deliver a better road network and support the lifeblood of our community and our economy — the road network.

However, parts of the proposed reform program should go further to deliver a better road network. Right now, while the current rate of road crashes is increasing, governments must address the worsening road safety situation on our roads.

We need clear, fundamental change to put road safety strategies across all governments, agencies and regulators back on track.

The reform paper also falls short on the need to fix toll roads including the impact of tolls on small businesses and the fundamental need to reduce the truck toll multiplier. We also need reforms to introduce variable lower truck tolls for off-peak journeys and discounts for multiple trips.

For the sake of keeping Australia moving, government must get these reforms right.

Warren Clark,
National Road Transport Association CEO