Truckies have raised grave concerns around a proposed new ‘fit do drive’ duty within a revised Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) Bill quietly working its way through the Queensland Parliament.
Although just one of several significant proposed changes to the HVNL, the new fitness duty could have a devastating impact on the driving ranks, fears high-profile truckies’ advocate and long-time interstate driver, Rod Hannifey.
Hannifey said not only does the maximum penalty for a breach of the current laws prohibiting anyone driving while impaired by fatigue increase from $6000 to $20,000, but the tougher new duty also appears to vastly widen the scope of what being fit to drive entails.
“Who decides whether I’m fit to drive? That’s what I want to know,” said a frustrated Hannifey.
“The NTC’s [National Transport Commission] answer to that was it won’t be until you go to court. But where does that leave us?
“It’s like standing on the edge of a chasm, and what happens when someone pushes you?”
A despairing Hannifey said the proposed law could dramatically deplete a sector already struggling to put bums on seats.
“It’s like they’re saying, let’s make it harder and let’s give them more penalties to scare the living shit out of them and have them say why would I bother going to work with having that hanging over my head.
“We’re the ones swinging at the end of the chain [of responsibility] and now they’ve put an extra couple of links on it just to wrap around our throat.”
In a post to his company’s website at Holding Redlich, industry legal specialist Nathan Cecil advised the new prohibition would cover a broader range of situations such as physical illnesses and injuries, mental health issues, substance use, and other factors that may compromise safety.
Further, proposed amendments to section 540 of the HVNL would allow an authorised officer (such as a NHVR official or police officer) to stop a vehicle if it perceives that the driver is ‘unfit to drive’, he said.
“The expanded duty means that drivers must self-assess their fitness before and during driving,” Cecil said.
“This includes not only monitoring for fatigue but also for signs of illness, stress, or substance impairment and taking the appropriate action such as resting, seeking medical advice or notifying their employer.
“For employers and schedulers, the amendment reinforces the importance of supporting driver health and wellbeing. This may involve revising policies, updating training materials and investing in health monitoring technologies. Failure to support and ensure driver fitness could expose employers and those engaging drivers to liability under chain of responsibility provisions.”
This new duty applies to all drivers of heavy vehicles over 4.5 tonnes, not just those operating fatigue-regulated vehicles over 12 tonnes.
Owner-driver Adam Craig told Big Rigs he’d like to know if the ‘fit to drive’ duty was devised after discussions with drivers or owner-operators.
“Or was it just with people who used to live it, or people who never have?” said a frustrated Craig.
“The regulations that we’ve got are what are stopping more people coming into the industry.”
As he understands it, if the new fit to drive law is passed, a driver could be pulled off the road for a wide variety of reasons, including being deemed overweight.
“It’s open to interpretation – there is no clear line in the sand,” Craig said.
“And the fine is f****n ridiculous. Even as an owner-operator we don’t make enough money to be able to afford fines like that.”
Operators also raised their concerns about the fitness to drive duty at the public hearing into the Heavy Vehicle National Law Amendment Bill 2025 in Cairns earlier last month.
Dale Bray, Director of Brays Transport, told the parliamentary committee overseeing the bill inquiry he had doubts around the ability of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator officers to determine if a driver is unfit to drive.
“This is a pretty grey area,” Bray said. “I have a large staff of about 120 employees over various parts of the business.
“That part there is probably the hardest part for other people to determine – how they are going to enforce ‘fit for duty’.
“Currently, as the rules stand today, it is put back on a driver to say that they are fit for duty and legally we cannot force them to work if they are unfit.
“Moving forward, where does that leave us with this? You can look at a person and you might say that they look tired but they may be fine. How do they judge that? How is that determined?”
Debbie Gostelow, co-owner of Gostelow’s Cattle and Freight Transport also shared her concerns with the committee about the new fit to drive duty.
“I also have very big concerns about somebody perceiving someone to be tired,” Gostelow said.
“My husband is 65. He does not bother shaving and he is often hairy. Is someone going to pull him up – because it has happened – and say, ‘You look like you should have a couple of hours off’? If this comes in, does that mean he can be told to sit on the side of the road after he has had seven or nine hours sleep?
“Whose perception is it? Is it ours? It also says part the way through that the driver must know he is safe to drive. Who is right? Is it the driver or the officer on the side of the road who does not know the driver?”
Gostelow said she was also concerned her business is getting pushed very quickly towards electronic diaries.
“In our industry, we have a lot of older drivers who are very experienced and safe and who know cattle. They are often cattlemen.
“They are not real good on technology or spelling et cetera and they are being fined for silly mistakes and we do not think that is fair.
“These are people who have never had accidents. They are good, upstanding drivers, but because it is difficult to understand they cannot continue with the job.”
The committee, however, has now tabled its report and agreed that the bill should be passed in its original format, which includes the expanded fit to drive duty, despite the confusion it’s already created.
As host jurisdiction for the HVNL, the legislation needs to be enacted in Queensland before it can be applied by other participating states and territories.
In its inquiry submission, the Australian Trucking Association recommended the Queensland Parliament should pass the Amendment Bill.
But cautioned that the process of reviewing the HVNL must not end with this bill. “The review process was not able to finalise important changes to the law; there will always be legislative maintenance and minor policy issues to address.”
The ATA said governments should agree to a systematic process for reviewing and updating the HVNL, with a package of amendments to be introduced into the Queensland Parliament every two years.
The ATA said the program for reviewing the HVNL should be arranged by theme and should include a fatigue education option as a one-time alternative to fines and a review of standard hours.
“The standard work and rest hours under the HVNL are difficult to understand and force drivers to work by the book rather than taking sensible steps to manage their fatigue.”
The ATA said it would also like to see an extension of 19-metre B-doubles to 20 metres and an increase of general access truck height to 4.6 metres.
“The Decision RIS on the review concluded there would be productivity and red-tape benefits from increasing general access truck heights from 4.3 metres to 4.6 metres.”
Public consultation on four key areas of the updated Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) is now open for submissions.
You are supposed to have a medical degree to determine your health whether it’s a HVNL or court judgement how can it even make the court room
Good and its about time as the amount of unfit drivers that can not do the job and I have to go and help them. no difference to other work places where you have to be fit to do that job so bring it on.
gee Les you sound like super man
Who determines if the people making up these laws are fit for work or fit ( in the mind) to make decisions.
The relevant people who want to impose this new law, don’t realise that they will all have too go and learn a new language. There will very soon only imported driver’s in the industry. An industry ruined by the people in power,including the nhvr. Any immigrants on what types of visas they come into Australia have to meet the same criteria as to be able to read ,write and speak English to a competent level set by dept of immigration. Yet another failure by the corridors of power
well said mate
There is no way in this whole wide world will I ever be paying any fines of this magnitude to NHVR and if they approach me and tell me that I am unfit to drive.as this is why I have cameras fitted all over my truck, to offer videos up as evidence to the contrary. The only drivers who are unfit to drive are the foreign drivers who hold dodgy licenses
you are so right mate
it is ambiguous. employers have always been able to say to a employee your not working today i dont think your well enough for work. and they have always been able to ask you to go to a doctor if they think something is medically wrong. this is under OHS laws.
the problem has always been how fatigue affects people isnt the same for everyone.
while there are some comonalities the exact effects and when they occur is different for everyone.
is it really fair to expect police officers and transport inspectors to determine if a person is unfit to drive.
with booze or illicit drugs its easy there is testing equipment for that and the use of that equipment is well understood and established you have a positive test your impaired.
what are we going to give them not just police training but medical training to be able to recognise when someone is medically impaired.
or do they hire nurse-practitioners to give all commercial drivers a brief medical assessment when they intercept them at a way bridge or inspection site.
Everyone’s been hailing the NHVR as such a good development for the road transport industry. But, whenever any level of government makes rules and regulations, it usually just turns into yet another revenue-raising device. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in court, when someone decides to challenge this ‘fit to drive’ bullshit. As always, the poor truckie is at the bottom of the feeding-chain; a convenient ‘dog’ to kick, when government’s having a ‘grouch’ about something. I’m retired now; but, I always enjoyed driving heavy vehicles. However, the way things are now; if I was a young bloke again; there’s no way I would consider truck-driving as a career. All you need is one big fine; and, there goes your livelihood. Better off being a plumber or electrician; or, a lawyer!
Don’t worry when there are no truck drivers left and all the shelves in the supermarket are empty and people start fighting for the last bag of chips on the isles. they’ll be total chaos in society, why is there a war on truck drivers at every level of government? why are we so hated?
we are a criminal organization. truck drivers must be stopped now,
The truth is that the decision makers sit behind a desk not a steering wheel….yes trucks are dangerous but educating our young ones learning too drive has to be the priority…truck drivers are not the killers, in most cases they are the innocent victims…rediculous drivers that don’t know or don’t care about the true dangers on our roads are the ones the authorities need to crack down on & make the penalties for them severe enough to get them of the roads….the facts don’t lie most truck accidents are not caused by the truck driver yet we have too take the blame..
Wow….. I wonder if these fines are going to be enough to cover the costs of all the new rail lines required to move freight to every corner of the country…. We will be back in the 1800s when it comes to paddle steamers and railway line to move everything from place to place because no one will risk BS fines like this by unqualified pigs in uniform who are out on a quota match for the day…. if the government wants trucks off the road so badly, why not just ban them from being registered or imported…..oh that’s because you get stamp duty and taxes for doing FA behind a desk but collect revenue from an industry already struggling to retain drivers, yet let’s create more fines at higher rate because out records show a 50% drop in revenue from truck drivers…. HELLO….that’s because all the smart drivers have retired early or left the industry you desk jockeys F up’d…. importing drivers have already proved dangerous but let’s import more to rid more innocent people from our roads and society because 1, they cant or don’t understand English, 2, rules don’t apply to them, some sort of government visa protection program…. I think the government needs to have a hard look at the current holes in the industry and realise its their own doing of driver shortages and un-roadworthy vehicles running the highways because the industry makes no money to maintain stuff from the companies who are allowed to screw drivers rates into the red, week after week, year after year while running along the national goat tracks they call highways causing damages to trucks and equipment…. bigger fines are not the solution, its the end of an industry this bloody country was built on, along with paddle steamers and rail….. this industry needs to stand together for a Fn change, strike for 1 month….no movement of any truck or freight….. until the politicians pull their heads out of their arse and come to the table with realistic rates, fines and work conditions…. not NHVR bs who couldn’t even start a truck let alone drive one and make rules on one how it should be operated…. but no drivers stick together anymore unlike the 80s and 90s… if you don’t stick together and stick it to the government, they won’t listen, but when 20million people are not getting their food, parcels, cars, fuel and everything else the transport industry delivers, the Fn politicians will listen to them… so as drivers, pull your heads out your arses, grow a pair, stick together and educate the country what happens when trucks do stop…. 1 month…. this country would change and you turn it into 2, 3 or 6mths…. the government will fold to the population and fix the industry rates and BS Fines that exist purely as revenue… if they dont, no wheels turn. the army can’t move all.of it for them so they will have to sit down at the table or risk the public’s vote at the next election. COR has and will always be a joke, it’s made for drivers only, bugger all above drivers have had any issues with COR since it came in..