Greater road access for high-productivity and zero-emissions vehicles, along with automated access approvals, clearer planning rules for charging infrastructure, and updated curfew and licensing settings are critical to boosting productivity and improving emissions outcomes in the heavy vehicle industry, according to a new report.
The Productivity Commission’s Interim Report of Study Into Heavy Vehicle Reform was released on April 13 in response to a 2025 Australian Government request for the Commission to provide advice on the impacts of a heavy vehicle productivity reform package to increase transport productivity for all heavy vehicles and support the uptake of heavy zero emissions vehicles.
HVIA made a submission in December 2025, arguing the study presents a great opportunity to identify and advance productivity and emissions improvements for the sector. HVIA also argued that whilst specific, discrete improvements can be made, a step-change is needed by government, regulators and industry leaders to not only make real differences on productivity, but also to address the real business pressures and strains currently being faced by many operators, which have become even more acute since the commencement of the Middle East fuel crisis.
Encouragingly, many of the themes in HVIA’s submission – particularly the need for a “step change” in approach – have been picked up in the Productivity Commission’s draft recommendations. HVIA’s submission has also been quoted on several occasions throughout the Interim Report.
Early modelling suggests access reforms could lift Australian GDP in the order of between 0.035 per cent and 0.148 per cent, or between $950 million and $4 billion, with negligible impacts on inflation.
Specifically, the Interim Report notes that:
> Heavy vehicle transport is vital to Australia’s economy, but road freight physical productivity has stalled for more than a decade and has effectively slowed to zero.
> Advances in technology and vehicle design provide opportunities to re-start productivity growth and improve emissions outcomes, but reform is needed. All tiers of government need to collaborate to remove regulatory barriers to innovation and investment. The largest potential productivity benefits will arise from reforms that increase access to Australia’s road network for high-productivity vehicles.
> Heavy vehicles represent significant, long-lived investments for freight operators, and fleet turnover occurs gradually. Australia’s truck fleet has a median age of 15 years, which is significantly older than other OECD countries. Vehicle access to roads and design rules are also factors that can limit fleet transition.
> Right now, the safest, most-productive and lowest-emission heavy vehicles face more barriers to get on the road than a standard ‘prescriptive’ heavy vehicle.
> Opportunities to reduce emissions are also being missed – the Australian Government has a goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, but some regulatory settings for heavy vehicles are actively working against this.
> The current settings do not support road managers to make optimal trade-offs between the benefits and costs of increasing access. As a result, business and industry face unnecessary costs (via permit processing time and restricted access) and governments, including local governments, are missing opportunities to reduce their administrative load. Road managers must be encouraged to support as-of-right access for PBS vehicles where it is safe to do so. Governments should enable eligible PBS vehicles to be added to existing gazetted authorisation notices for equivalent non-PBS vehicles without requiring a new notice.
> Adjusting curfews, aligning planning definitions and improving information will assist with the uptake of heavy zero-emissions vehicles, complementing commercial, technological and emission policy drivers.
> There is a case for allowing a degree of transitional tolerance in regulations to support early deployment of electric heavy vehicles. The Australian Government can help play a coordinating role and, along with state and territory governments, work to embed a concessional mass limit in the Heavy Vehicle (Mass, Dimension and Loading) National Regulation to ensure electric heavy zero-emissions vehicles can operate across Heavy Vehicle National Law jurisdictions without significant payload disadvantages from battery-related weights.
> The infrastructure impacts of a concessional mass limit for electric heavy zero-emissions vehicles are likely to be small in the immediate term.
> While much charging will be installed on privately owned or managed land, state and territory governments will need to more actively facilitate charging infrastructure investment at government-provided heavy vehicle rest areas.
> Changes to heavy vehicle driver licence settings, including weight concessions for electric vehicles and strengthening recognition of overseas heavy vehicle licences, will help the net-zero transition and heavy vehicle driver shortage.
HVIA urges all governments at all levels to positively consider and respond to the vital recommendations outlined in this report.
As well as supporting productivity improvements, the reforms will also provide a confidence-booster for the sector facing extremely difficult business conditions – most recently as a result of the Middle East fuel crisis.
HVIA and its members will review and comment on it by the closing date of May 5, 2026.