The trucking industry has been joined in their push for changing to fuel based heavy vehicle charging by Katter’s Australian Party (KAP).

On one hand the policy makers have said that they are interested in implementing a mass-distance-location pricing system for heavy vehicles, Ray Hopper the leader of KAP has said that charging based on fuel was a good option.

He said that operators who accumulate lots of kilometres would end up paying more than others who only accumulate low mileage.

When the modifications to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) were discussed in the Queensland Parliament Mr Hopper requested that the State Government implement the fuel based system or at least commit to looking into its validity.

He said that it was worth looking into the fuel-based option because there are some freight operators who only accumulate low mileage yet their registration is still high; the fuel based system seems to be much fairer.

Mr Hopper said that a fuel-based system of registration would enable the costs to reduce for some users and it would be the high mileage operators that would pay for the amounts that they used.

He said the that mass-distance-location method of pricing which means that trucks would be invoiced for the weight they carry, the different roads that they use and the number of kilometres that they drive could put drivers at risk for fatigue.

The reason being that there would be higher charges for truck drivers during peak times and drivers could become fatigued if they work to avoid the peak hour traffic to make their deliveries.

Currently the government is looking at an alternate framework for charging that would effectively replace the system that is in place. The system that is used at the moment is based on fuel excise and registration fees.