With the commencement date of the amended Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) locked in as August 1, 2026, Big Rigs spoke with the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) to break down how the changes will impact transport operators and drivers.
Those changes have been on the table since the National Transport Commission (NTC) commenced a review back in 2019.
The review resulted in the Heavy Vehicle National Law Amendment Bill 2025 and the Heavy Vehicle National Amendment Regulations 2025, which were passed without amendment by Queensland Parliament on November 18, 2025.
The aim of the HVNL review was to update the existing law to improve safety and productivity across Australia’s heavy vehicle industry.
As we move closer to launch, there are still many questions around how the changes will work in practice.
According to Paul Daly, NHVR’s Director of Strategic Policy, the amended HVNL aims to bring the legislation in line with today’s freight needs – which have changed substantially since the current iteration of the HVNL was put into practice back in 2013.
“What we’ve done is look at legislation that is over 10 years old to understand where the industry is going, while reducing some of the regulatory burdens and roadblocks operators face, without compromising safety outcomes,” he said.
“When the review process started back in 2019, the legislation was six years old, so the NTC and NHVR have looked at what was working, what wasn’t, how certain aspects can be improved, and how we can provide less bureaucracy, while at the same time improving safety.”
For the past 12 months, Daly says the NHVR has worked towards a July 2026 commencement. “Because the HVNL is an applied law scheme, all jurisdictions had to vote in favour. We made it clear that the start date for the amended HVNL would come two months after the last vote came in – that happened in late May,” explained Daly.
“Now that all the jurisdictions have ticked that off, it gives us a two-month window to get everything in place – that includes ensuring that the industry is aware of and understands the changes, and what they need to do to remain compliant.”
The HVNL will continue to operate across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory.
Some of the major changes are centred around fatigue management, accreditation, Safety Management Systems, updated length and mass requirements, and Performance Based Standards.
Here’s a breakdown of how the HVNL changes will impact operators.
Mass and length
Changes to mass and dimension limits aim to improve freight productivity, support safer technologies, and align with modern freight operations.
General Mass Limits (GML) are being increased to align with current Concessional Mass Limits (CML). This means vehicles under 55 tonne will be able to carry 1 tonne of extra weight, and those over 55 tonne can carry an additional 2 tonnes, without the need for any additional accreditation or permits. These changes will apply to trucks, however buses will be exempt from accessing the increased GML.
“This is about improving productivity. There is no point in purchasing new trucks if you can’t carry what it’s capable of carrying. These changes apply to trucks operating on general access,” said Daly.
“It’s a very straight line – if you currently have accreditation just for mass, unless it’s for Performance Based Standards (PBS) purposes, you may no longer require a permit. General access vehicles benefit in the extra tonnage they can carry, while receiving some regulatory burden relief.
“We’ve found that the networks are capable of handling the extra weight and the industry is calling out for greater productivity. This is about creating a safe and productive industry.”
Along with increased weights for general access vehicles, these will also benefit from increased length. The current maximum length of 19 metres for general access vehicles will be increased to 20 metres.
“With changes in technology and innovation, today’s vehicles are safer than what trucks were previously. By allowing 19-metres to become 20-metres for general access vehicles, you could have a longer trailer or a larger sleeper. It allows operators to run a longer combination on the general access network,” explained Daly.
He also hinted that although there are no changes to B-double length limits coming into play from August, this is likely to happen in the next iteration of changes – either later this year or early next year.
Additionally, updated HVNL requirements accommodate new emissions standards for new heavy vehicles, aligning to the Euro 6 standard. These vehicles incorporate additional and more advanced emissions systems. As a result, they are generally heavier than equivalent Euro 5 and earlier models.
As part of the changes to the HVNL, new Euro 6 steer axle masses will be introduced. Euro 6 vehicles may have up to 500kg additional mass distributed across the steer and drive axles, provided a 315mm tyre is fitted to the steer axle if this axle is loaded to more than 6.5 tonnes and no manufacturer ratings are exceeded.
“These mass changes assist with Euro 6 coming in, as these are heavier vehicles, so this allows for that without people having to apply for extra permits.”
The Mass, Dimension and Loading (MDL) Regulation will remove the previously prescribed 1:1 tow mass ratio. The new tow mass ratio will be 1:1.3.
What’s an SMS and will I need one?
Well, that depends. If you are a heavy vehicle operator seeking a form of heavy vehicle accreditation, then yes, you will need to have a Safety Management System Standard in place.
An SMS is a ministerially-approved standard that provides defined auditable evidence requirements focused around five key areas:
• Leadership and Commitment
• Risk Management
• People
• Assurance, Monitoring and Improvement
• Safety Systems
“An SMS is compulsory for any operator seeking accreditation – and accreditation itself will be changing considerably,” said Daly.
“It needs to be approved and audited by the NHVR. Once an operator has that, they can then apply for their accreditations.”
Accreditations and fatigue
The current National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme (NHVAS) will transition to the new Heavy Vehicle Accreditation (HVA) scheme.
The HVA introduces a new tiered accreditation framework: General Safety Accreditation (GSA) and Alternative Compliance Accreditation (ACA).
GSA is the core accreditation requirement, required to access maintenance, mass and fatigue accreditations; while ACA provides flexible alternative compliance pathways.
It’s important to note that operators can continue operating under NHVAS until it expires, or request to renew it ahead of the new HVNL scheme starting.
What this effectively means is that there is a transition period of up to three years – and during that time, we’ll have both the NHVAS and HVA running concurrently.
The NHVR will communicate directly with operators to ensure they are aware of their accreditation expiry dates and have adequate time to access available transition options.
Daly describes the transition from NHVAS to HVA as “a soft launch”.
“For example, if you have accreditation expiring on September 15, 2028, then it’s still good up to that date. You can run on your current accreditation until August 1, 2029, so long as it doesn’t expire before then,” he said. “So everyone doesn’t need to change over straight away.
“We’ve spoken to every operator with accreditation expiring between now and the end of this calendar year, and invited them to come to us to seek to maintain the accreditation they have. If they complete the process to maintain their accreditation before July 31, they can have another two years on their accreditation. Alternatively, they can let it expire and move to the new HVA on August 1, or ask for an administrative extension up to a maximum of three years.
“But under the law, they have to ask for it. This gives operators more time to get all their ducks in a row. Instead of transitioning now, they can sit tight for a bit and wait until they have a handle on what’s what.
“Especially now, with all that’s been going on, there are operators worried if they will still be around in the next few months due to rising costs – so changes to administrative law is the last thing on their minds.
“The NHVR is advising operators that if they are comfortable with the accreditation they currently have, to come in and see us by July 17 so that they can maintain that.”
Fitness to drive – sorting fact from fiction
‘Unfit to Drive’ is a new safety duty where drivers must not drive if they are unfit for any reason – such as being impaired by physical or mental illness, injury, drugs, alcohol or fatigue.
The duty not to drive while impaired by fatigue or unfit applies to drivers of all heavy vehicles over 4.5 tonnes – not just those operating fatigue-regulated heavy vehicles.
While a person must not drive while unfit, parties in the Chain of Responsibility (CoR) must also ensure their business practices do not cause or encourage a person to drive while unfit.
Daly has allayed concerns shared by some in the industry about these new powers. “I’ve been asked how NHVR’s Safety and Compliance Officers (SCOs) will enforce this. The answer is they’ll be doing exactly what they are already doing,” said Daly.
“If they see an obvious sign you are unfit to drive, they will take action. If they don’t see any obvious signs, they won’t be taking any action.
“For example, if a driver is falling out of the cab or they are clearly incoherent, SCOs have an obligation to take action on that. Outside of that, our officers aren’t going to be making drivers walk in a straight line or touch their nose.”
Effectively, says Daly, it’s really business as usual in this area. “What’s been happening for the past decade will continue happening, we’re just shining more of a light into it in our legislation.
“In the current HVNL, the Unfit to Drive law currently only talks about fatigue. That’s now being expanded under the amended law, to include being unfit to perform your duties for any reason, as it already states in the Workplace Health and Safety Laws which apply whether you’re a carpenter, bricklayer or a hairdresser. What these changes have done is formally bring it into our legislation.”
Daly pointed to some examples of what may constitute being unfit to drive: “Some obvious ones are you wake up in the morning with a screaming headache and there are dots in your eyes, you’ve tripped playing soccer and sprained your ankle, or you have a new baby and have only slept three hours in four days,” he said.
“The Unfit to Drive duty goes beyond physical unwellness and also extends into mental fitness to drive. Many operators have a checklist for truck drivers before they get into the vehicle.
“They’ll now expand on that to include mental fitness to drive – and if an operator deems a truck driver to be unfit to drive, they need to take action.”
What to know around fatigue
The biggest change under the fatigue banner is that the Alternative Compliance Hours (ACH) standard replaces both Basic Fatigue Management (BFM) and Advanced Fatigue Management (AFM). NHVR says it’s a more flexible, performance-based model – which can be more tailored to suit operator needs.
Operators will be able to select work and rest hour arrangements that suit their operations within approved limits, including through templated Tables of Hours based on existing BFM and common AFM-equivalent arrangements.
The regulator says templated work and rest hours are based on schedules that have been used successfully by industry.
To make the move across to ACH, there will be a corresponding template to switch across from BFM and templates for some of the most popular AFM standards.
“But for those who want truly bespoke fatigue accreditation, they can do that too. Operators will now have greater flexibility.”
Changes are also being made to the written work diary (WWD) to align with the amended HVNL, including simplified record-keeping requirements and the inclusion of new fatigue accreditation terminology and provisions.
The updated WWD will be available from August 1, and progressively introduced as existing stock is depleted, with drivers able to continue using current diaries until completed (even if this is after the amended HVNL commences).
The NHVR is also working with Transport Certification Australia (TCA) to develop a coordinated, staged program of improvements to Electronic Work Diaries, aligned with upcoming HVNL reforms.
Changes to fines
With the rollout of the new HVNL will come new and updated penalties. There are 71 fines that are changing when the amended Act commences on August 1 – with 21 of the fines decreasing and 50 fines increasing.
PBS – what changes?
Not a lot really. Daly says changes impacting the Performance Based Standards (PBS) Scheme are predominantly administrative, as opposed to operational changes. “Most of the changes for PBS are being handled in-house – so if you have a permit to run an approved combination on a particular road, you’ll still be able to do that on August 1,” he said.
Accreditation will no longer be required for CML. This condition will no longer appear on Vehicle Approvals (VA) issued after August 1, 2026.
Importantly, existing VAs do not need to be updated. VAs issued before August 1, 2026 will continue to be valid and operators will still be able to access the road network under those approvals. For these legacy VAs, any references to CML should be read as GML, meaning operators can continue operating without needing changes to their approval documentation.
Accreditation will still be required for PBS combinations such as split-axle and quad axle combinations and for certain combinations at HML masses.
Due to the three-year transition period, the conditions on VAs issued after August 1 will state operators with either NHVAS or HVA are deemed compliant.
Final word
While the amended HVNL will be coming into effect from August 1, 2026, not all the changes will have an immediate impact.
For newly launched accreditations under the new Act, operators will have until their current accreditation expires to transition.
In effect, elements from both the current HVNL and the new amended version will be operating simultaneously, until all operators move across to the new system.
“The NHVR is spending a lot of time through June and July talking to operators and doing webinars, as there is a lot to take in,” said Daly. “But we’ll be there if people need to ring and ask questions, as we’re trying to make this transition as seamless as possible for operators.”