The opening panel at Trucking Australia 2025 in Adelaide set the tone for the conference by addressing two critical challenges facing the industry: truck safety and workforce development. With the federal election only days away, ATA CEO Matthew Munro stressed the urgency of having a clear, evidence-based vision for the trucking industry:
“Now more than ever, it’s important for us to be clear about our own vision for the trucking industry, to back this up with evidence and good reasoning, and to communicate this remotely.”
Munro outlined the ATA’s key election platform, including funding for no-blame truck crash investigations, improved level crossing safety, accelerated rest area investment, financial support for apprenticeships, and migration reforms to boost driver numbers.
The first panel featured six leading industry figures: Lisa Fraser (QTA), Christian Cornell (NTRTA), Coralie Chapman (TWAL), Anthony Boyle (ALRTA), Glyn Castanelli (NRFA), and Steve Shearer (SARTA). Each highlighted the practical needs for a safer and more sustainable workforce pipeline.
Practical Training, Not Just Compliance
Lisa Fraser called for a shift from regulatory compliance towards more practical, experience-based training:
“The industry faces the same challenges year on year — supply challenges, barriers to entry, attraction issues, over-prescription of compliance — with little change.”
She outlined QTA’s workforce strategy: Get aware, get ready, get employed, and get qualified, emphasising the need for:
“Practical solutions that deliver real outcomes and create change.”
Fraser stressed the need for fully funded apprenticeships and more on-road driving hours in real-world conditions.
Responsibility on Employers
Christian Cornell noted that the responsibility for building skills also lies with businesses:
“It should fall a lot on the employer… to fund or put that money into their new staff.”
He warned of the growing shortage of experienced drivers:
“I’ve got about five or six drivers that are about 65. I’ve been doing my best to put the younger generation in trucks with them.”
Cornell also criticised excessive regulation and called for more common-sense safety practices.
Linking Training and Safety Outcomes
Coralie Chapman agreed, highlighting the link between proper training and achieving safer outcomes:
“If we’re not training them properly, we’re not going to get the safety standards that we need.”
Chapman strongly endorsed no-blame crash investigations as a way to gather meaningful data and refine training programs. She also advocated for reintroducing young people to the industry at an earlier age, suggesting:
“Going back to some of the old-school ways of having kids coming in on weekends, doing the truck washing, taking them through safety procedures.”
A Rural Training Academy
Anthony Boyle described ALRTA’s bold move to establish a Rural Driver Training Academy to directly tackle workforce shortages:
“Even in the bush, they’re now realising the value of good training.”
He stressed that funding programs like the ATA’s apprenticeship proposals were critical to success.
Long-Term Commitment Needed
Glyn Castanelli urged the government to stay the course with existing reforms like the Road Transport Advisory Group (RTAG) and minimum standards initiatives:
“All their problems can be fixed overnight. The only problem is that overnight fixes all take 10 years.”
Castanelli argued for continued support rather than constant resets:
“We need whoever is in government to keep supporting the work we’ve already done.”
He outlined the vision for apprenticeships where young entrants could earn forklift licenses at 16 and progressively move to MC licensing during an apprenticeship.
Fixing Licensing and Enforcement Approaches
Steve Shearer warned about the patchwork approach to licensing across Australia, pointing to South Australia’s new policy of not recognising overseas heavy vehicle driving experience without Australian standards training:
“Otherwise, we’ll just have a good arrangement in South Australia, and the problems will just walk across the border.”
He also blasted outdated adversarial enforcement:
“There’s no room in today’s world for an adversarial approach. Work with us so you can focus on safety and stop nitpicking bullshit that adds cost and does not improve safety at all.”
Audience Contributions
Audience questions raised several important points:
- Apprenticeship Pay: Concerns about low apprenticeship wages were addressed, with Lisa Fraser clarifying:
“Currently, there is no pay structure attached to the heavy vehicle driver apprenticeship… you pay for the role they are performing.”
- Age of Entry: Calls to allow 16-year-olds to gain forklift licences and start early in trucking careers received strong support. Christian Cornell added:
“The young ones that are eager, if we can get them in the workforce legally and have them there, it’s a breath of fresh air.”- Payroll Tax and Costs: Attendees asked for relief from levies like payroll tax for employers investing in apprenticeships.
- Promoting the Industry: Coralie Chapman stressed the need to showcase real people and real trucks:
“We need to make it sexy. Use images of our vehicles, not stock images from overseas.”
Minimum Standards and Detention
Finally, Glyn Castanelli flagged that the next wave of reform through RTAG should include rules on detention and waiting time:
“If you’re free, people can spend your time. We need to come up with ways to set these minimum industry standards.”
Closing
The session closed with strong applause for the panel, a reflection of the industry’s hunger for practical reform that is led by operators, based on real experience, and sustained by government backing.
“Working together, we can fix our industry. But it will take time, patience, and continued commitment,” Castanelli concluded.
