The head of the state's peak road freight body says government regulation is acting as a brake on encouraging younger drivers into the industry, which is chronically short of labour.
Victorian Transport Association chief executive Peter Anderson said while there were 165,000 heavy vehicle licences in Victoria, surveys had shown the industry was between 4000-5000 drivers short.
Speaking from the VTA conference, on Phillip Island, Mr Anderson said the peak body was working with the union to drive "real reform" and bring people into the industry at a younger age.
He said the old days of drivers needing five or 10 years of experience "and then being good at it" was something the industry wanted to see ended.
"We want to see people ready from day one to be a constructive, safe member of our community and be professional in what they do," he said.
Read more:
He said technology was not going to alleviate ongoing worker shortages.
"We have to try and change the way the bureaucracy and regulations restrict us," he said.
The licencing system did not allow for proper training, he said.
"We want trained and capable drivers."
The VTA had an apprenticeship scheme, supported by the previous and current federal governments, which was being stymied by state regulations.
"We need to change the licencing laws to allow 18-year-olds to be trained," Mr Anderson said.
"In our business if we get an apprentice for two or three years, under current laws we still can't give them a truck licence at the end of it - and it's wrong," he said.
Drivers could be licenced to drive a light truck at 19 "that's the smallest truck," he said.
"But you can't get a semi [trailer] licence until you are at least 20 and then you have lost the person.
"Who is going to hang around waiting to drive a truck, when they can earn money doing something else?"
He said the conference was about people, the industry's greatest asset.
The industry wanted to make sure it could attract, retain and build careers for workers within the sector.
"We are really talking about how do we professionalise the industry," he said.
He said technology was not going to alleviate ongoing worker shortage.
"We need people to do what they do - it's about training, it's about building that process.
"We have to try and change the way the bureaucracy and regulations restrict us."
Freight Victoria strategy and policy director Andrew Newman told the conference there were more than 170,000 heavy vehicles registered in the state.
"Virtually all are powered by diesel and transport contributes 25 per cent of all emissions," he said.
Emissions standards for diesel trucks didn't address the emissions of greenhouse gas and a step change was needed.
The government was focussing on the uptake of rigid electronic vehicles, with the goal of all small-to-medium trucks sales being EV by 2035.
It was also looking at the growing use of hydrogen in heavy vehicles and using the Port of Melbourne to regulate to regulate access for older trucks.
It would also encourage the implementation of national reforms to use registration and charging as tools to encourage transition.
But while Mr Anderson said he applauded the motivation behind the government's plans, "the reality isn't the same as that," he said.
While companies were working hard on the technology, it was still many years away.
'We have three hydrogen trucks in Australia, we have to gear up and put another half a million trucks, whether they be hydrogen or battery, into the system by 2035," he said.
"You can't make them that fast - we sell 30,000 trucks a year in Australia
"That's how fast they can go, that's how fast they can make them.
"The transition process is what is going to kill us."
A spokesman for the Department of Transport and Planning said the government had invested $21.7 million to deliver heavy vehicle driver safety reform, ensuring drivers were equipped with the knowledge, skills, competence and experience to operate a heavy vehicle.
"We're working to make the roads safer and ensure goods can move freely across Victoria while supporting heavy vehicle drivers and the freight industry who are vital to our growing economy and communities," he said.
The Victorian heavy vehicle driver licensing system was modelled on the National Driver Licensing Scheme and National Heavy Vehicle Driver Competency Framework.
Subscribers have access to download our free app today from the App Store or Google Play
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
