Hearing Reveals Truckers’ Costs Impact Economy and Cost of Living

The Australian economy could lose billions of dollars from making freight trucks ‘go green,’ among other road user costs, a parliamentary hearing on the cost of living has heard.

Inflation and a post-pandemic recovery were the revolving topics at the hearing on Aug. 21, highlighted by the aviation, tourism and transportation industries, with advocates voicing their frustrations with the push for getting trucks off of diesel, which could cost the economy up to $264 billion (US$169 billion).

“The headlong drive to replace Australia’s 660,000 trucks with green trucks, be they electric or hydrogen, will cost the economy and the community $264 billion, which is $12,750 per adult, just to implement the changeover,” said the Executive Officer of the South Australian Road Transport Association Steve Shearer.

“For the long-term foreseeable future, trucking will continue to be the cardiovascular system that supports the community’s daily life and the economy.”

Appearing before the committee, Shearer also raised the issue of the abolition of the fuel tax credit under the former Morrison government, which he said added $2 billion in costs in just two months.

“The current government’s 20 percent increase in the road user charge by 1 July 2025 slashes the fuel tax credit that operators receive by 38.5 percent.”

He says that will force the industry to pass on an additional $2.05 billion to the economy.

“Government should not unilaterally increase taxes and charges or impose regulatory reforms on trucking without consulting the trucking industry and fully understanding the impact.

“The consequence will usually increase the cost of living and often prove counterproductive, as in the case of the abolition of the fuel tax credit.”

Livestock and Rural Transporters Industry Also Concerned

Executive Director of the Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association Rachel Smith echoed a similar sentiment at the hearing, taking a stab at calls for truckers to switch over.

“Hydrogen hubs are just not practical when you’re 600 kilometres from Darwin transporting livestock. Reliability and consistency are key, not to mention the cost to upgrade to emerging technologies that lack the range of a diesel internal combustion engine,” she said.

“For renewable technology to be viable for the rural transport sector, technology needs to be comparable to existing internal combustion engines in cost and operation and also needs to meet the range requirements of at least 1,000 kilometres.”

Currently, the federal Labor government’s National Electric Vehicle Strategy doesn’t include anything about long-haul trucks or heavy vehicles.

However, The Electric Vehicle Council has long been advocating more fuel efficiency in trucks, saying operators will save by “reducing the burden of the volatility of fuel prices.”

“In order to reach our climate targets, the last internal combustion engine trucks must be sold by 2040,” according to an Electric Vehicle Council report.

“The others have touched on decarbonisation, but for our industry, it’s a fundamental issue, and managing the costs of transition to low and zero emissions will be a huge challenge,” said Chief Executive Officer of the National Road Transportation Association, Warren Clark.

He says they’ve been pushing for a “road user charge reform” and a one-year freeze on taxation.

According to Mr. Clark, the road user charge is “fundamentally flawed” and is based on past state and territory road expenditures.

“This leads to a situation where charges are driven solely by government spending plans, even where those plans are inconsistent with industry requirements such as the need for more road maintenance.”