Thank you to ALRTA National Partner
Lowes Petroleum
ALRTA Executive Director Update
Welcome to another weekly update, coming to you live from Beef Australia 2024, in sunny and hot Rockhampton.
Rachel Smith, Tammie Swalling and Sue Davies
Last week was a busy week with the commencement of ALRTA new team member, Tara Edgar as Partnerships and Stakeholder Manager. On Monday we travelled to Toowoomba to meet with Cr Carol Taylor and Graeme Hoare, Chair ALRTA Driver and Animal Welfare Committee regarding potential roadside Effluent disposal sites. Tara is now investigating some commercial options for effluent to assist in offsetting the maintenance costs of any potential sites. A big thanks to Cr Taylor for following up post the LRTAQ ALRTA Combined Conference regarding this critical issue.
On Tuesday, Tara and I participated in the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) Rural Road Safety Research Forum. This was a great opportunity to meet with key industry stakeholders including Adam Gibson NTI and Tony McMullan Truck Industry Council. The goal of the forum was to identify key rural road safety issues that require research support policy and advocacy efforts across industries. Key themes that presented were competency of internationally trained drivers (light and heavy vehicle), state of the roads, accident and incident response, how to inform driver behaviour (education vs enforcement) and increasing skills of urban drivers to support safe driving practices in rural and regional settings. The outcome of the forum, ie. the agreed research priorities will be known later in the year. So far AAA has invested over $4M in road research funding.
Wednesday, saw a return to Canberra, with Tara meeting the team. We met with a potential partner, KPMG following a conversation at Trucking Australia 2024 a few weeks earlier. We’re hoping to bring on a national partner to support members in maximising their fuel tax credits. Watch this space.
On Thursday Tara, Elanor and I met with Bec Coleman LBRCA to introduce Tara, discuss next year’s conference and ALRTA’s 40th anniversary.
I travelled to Wagga for the Wagga Gold Cup as a guest of Byrne Trailers. Thank you to David for the invitation, I was very pleased to attend. It was a great couple of days, good to be on the ground to connect with members and industry representatives.
Looking forward to a busy week here in Rocky, until next week.
Rach
Important Announcement – TruckSafe Animal Welfare
ALRTA has signed an agreement with TruckSafe to resume management of the Animal Welfare component of TruckSafe Accreditation. ALRTA will extend all participants with existing or expiring accreditation until the new system is launched, expected in the first half of 2025.
The new Animal Welfare accreditation is being developed in partnership with NTI and will aim to support consignors, transporters and consignees in meeting their driver and animal welfare requirements.
ALRTA will also be launching animal welfare / handling training in the next twelve months. These important initiatives demonstrate industry’s commitment to upholding world leading driver and animal welfare standards.
ALRTA launches Effluent Code Media Campaign
ALRTA this week has launched a Media campaign to promote the Effluent Code of Practice. The hashtag is #mindyourpeesandpoos. You will see this campaign across our social media channels, Facebook and LinkedIn.
TfNSW survey – feedback on draft NSW Heavy Vehicle Access Policy
Transport for NSW is seeking feedback on the draft NSW Heavy Vehicle Access Policy to ensure access decisions remain responsive to changing markets, emerging technologies and the increasing freight task.
The NSW Heavy Vehicle Access Policy, originally released in 2018, features a new strategic approach to heavy vehicle access in NSW.
The draft Policy sets out five policy pillars to enable a future focused freight network:
- 1. agile and resilient networks
- 2. innovative vehicles
- 3. streamlined access
- 4. telematics and data
- 5. strong partnerships.
The Policy also sets out:
- proposed access priorities and Performance Based Standards (PBS) network opportunities
- networks and access conditions for heavy vehicle classes
- examples of innovative vehicle design templates.
TfNSW wants your feedback
Your input will help inform the update to the NSW Heavy Vehicle Access Policy.
Have your say by completing a survey (here) or uploading a submission by Friday 31 May 2024.
Save the dates for 2024
- LRTASA – May 31 – 1 June 2024 – ADELAIDE SA
- LRTAWA – 3 August 2024 – WA
- LRTAV – 16-17 August 2024 – SHEPPARTON VIC
- LTAT – 18-19 October 2024 – DEVONPORT TAS
Save the dates for 2025
- LBRCA/ALRTA National Combined Conference – 4 – 5 April 2025 – CANBERRA ACT
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