Last month’s column in Big Rigs certainly fanned the flames of those who agree or disagree with a road freight licensing system!

It was actually very humbling to receive so many phone calls and emails from those who had constructive comments, feedback and support, especially from those who have been hit the hardest by under-cutting and dodgy operators who are encouraged by unscrupulous supply chain partners.

Even those who had criticisms still had great ideas. So… I thought we should continue the discussion and move towards what such a scheme might look like.

This article provides a peek into a white paper I’ve developed. Is it perfect? Ha! Far from it! But is it a start? YES! And I want your feedback to help design what a good system would look like.

I need to be clear – this is NOT just about driver licensing or training, although these form very important parts of such a scheme, it’s much broader than that.

This is about ensuring everyone who enters our industry understands their costs and the expected costs of operators they may engage (without going into commercial-in-confidence detail). It’s about ensuring operators are financially stable and capable to operate safely (that is, they allow for employee entitlements and are able to meet the servicing needs of their fleet).

It’s also about ensuring those who engage operators have a solid understanding and responsibility in relation to operator instructions or contractual requests. Telling someone they need to trim their rate by 3 per cent due to “productivity gains” (whatever that means!) is not acceptable or sustainable.

The solution proposed in this draft white paper is a national Road Freight Licensing Scheme (RFLS), underpinned by a new regulatory framework combining the investigative integrity of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and the legislative authority of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications.

This model ensures it is a federal system, not able to be watered down by states intent on inflating their own egos.

It also ensures the investigative powers of the ATSB are used for serious road freight crashes, which the Australian Trucking Association has lobbied for over a decade to achieve.

This scheme isn’t about enforcing current on-road activities like speed or fatigue breaches, that would still be managed by police and the NHVR. But we all know that road crashes are often not a single cause factor; there are always many contributing factors.

Police, however, often only investigate to find if they can charge someone (for example: “Driver claims they swerved for a kangaroo”), rather than the deep root cause of an incident (“Evidence shows no witness marks, indicating driver was potentially not conscious/asleep at the time of the crash”). And that’s assuming they even attend.

At the heart of the scheme is a tiered licensing system for operators, proportionate to the size of their fleet and their exposure to public risk. This allows small businesses to enter the market with achievable obligations while placing greater expectations on large-scale fleet operators who have a significant impact on road safety outcomes.

The scheme will also mandate registration for all parties in the heavy vehicle supply chain, not just operators. This includes consignors, consignees, freight forwarders, logistics companies, subcontractors, and third-party schedulers.

Each party will be assigned a risk profile and required to meet baseline registration requirements such as identification, insurance, safety documentation, training, and confirmation of Chain of Responsibility (CoR) awareness – not just a tick and flick exercise, actual, deep understanding of CoR and how what they do impacts the operator.

Higher-risk entities will be subject to more stringent documentation, audit requirements and inspections of their systems and contracts to ensure they are not flouting the system.

Driver licensing needs to be a national system. Currently, each state and territory has its own system, and there is no single source of truth for anyone to verify a driver’s work history, offence history, or licensing status, particularly across borders.

This gap in transparency prevents informed hiring decisions, limits regulator effectiveness, and leaves the industry vulnerable to hidden risks.

The work done in South Australia to address the issues in relation to management of international licences and training required to manage road trains is outstanding, and it should be expanded to cover all heavy vehicles, not just road trains.

A national driver register will be established that consolidates licence status, work history, and offence history across all jurisdictions. This is not dissimilar to how drivers are managed in USA.

Drivers will retain the right to control who accesses their records, but employers will be empowered to make informed hiring decisions based on verified data. This not only enhances safety but supports the professionalisation of driving as a career.

Importantly, the scheme includes a national offence registry for both drivers, corporate entities, and individuals who operate within those corporate entities.

This registry will be used to monitor compliance, identify patterns of recidivism, and support targeted regulatory interventions.

Evidence of pressure from supply chain partners (such as our 3 per cent rate cut example) will be a red flag for investigation.

Repeated offences or deliberate breaches will trigger licence suspension, downgrading, or cancellation, meaning the person or party cannot operate within the industry.

The system is designed to reward compliance and reform, while eliminating those who consistently demonstrate risk to the public and industry peers. It is beyond absurd that an operator who continually offends is permitted to continue operating, which is what currently occurs.

Implementation of the scheme will be phased, starting with the highest-risk sectors.

These sectors will be prioritised for licensing and audit of both operators and supply chain parties, followed by expansion into other, lower risk areas.

The benefits of this model are extensive. It will reduce the financial and social cost of road trauma, support good operators, and expose those who undermine industry credibility.

Critically, it will provide the community and industry with confidence that the people who manage, direct, and profit from freight movement are properly authorised, accountable, and monitored. That’s not the case now.

The system as it stands relies on a patchwork of goodwill, voluntary schemes, under-resourced regulators, and after-the-fact enforcement that doesn’t even scratch the surface of why an incident occurred.

The time for incremental reform has passed. The white paper I’ve created outlines a scalable, nationally coordinated system of licensing and oversight that puts safety, sustainability, and integrity at the core of Australia’s road freight network.

Is it perfect? No, far from it, as you’ll see if you download a copy. But is it a start? Yes, and with your feedback, we can find the right balance.

I’m not claiming to have all the answers, I certainly don’t, but we have to start the discussion somewhere, so why not here?

Why not you, the readers of Big Rigs, providing actual input into a scheme that can support you?

Why not you, who sees or hears about the customers telling you or your boss to lower freight rates, because apparently there have been some unidentifiable invisible productivity gains?

Why not you, who see the inexperienced or fatigued drivers drifting into your lane in the middle of the night, not able to navigate simple driving tasks, and completing unsafe manouvres like overtaking into oncoming traffic?

Why not you, the drivers who have worked hard in the industry to provide for your families, risking your lives by sharing the road with incompetent others?

Why not you, who experience these issues every day?

If you’d like to have a read of the white paper for a Road Freight Licensing Scheme, click here, or email jodie@deptoffuture.com and I’ll email you a copy.