Heavy Vehicle Charges Determination Implementation Options

In December 2021 we provided the Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) from the heavy vehicle charges determination and several recommendations to ministers for consideration.

Following consultation ministers subsequently decided to increase heavy vehicle charges by  2.75 per cent in 2022-23. They will revisit the determination later in 2022, and will consider: 

• options for setting heavy vehicle charges from 2023-24, including multi-year charge setting
• other technical recommendations outlined in the RIS.

We recently released a consultation paper that built on this previous work, and presented three different options for setting heavy vehicle charges for a single year, or a three-year period commencing in 2023-24. The consultation has now closed. 

Anyone who owns a heavy vehicle that uses Australian roads pays a vehicle registration fee. Heavy vehicle operators also pay a road user charge on diesel fuel. The charges are set to ensure that those vehicles that cause more wear and tear on our roads, or those that travel further, pay more.

State and territory governments use this money to recover what they spend to maintain and improve roads for heavy vehicles. The NTC advises transport ministers on these charges.  

Through our review of PAYGO as part of the determination, we explored if the method we currently use to calculate charges is still fit for purpose. Now, we are looking at how new heavy vehicle charges could be implemented from 2023-24 onwards.

The PAYGO model was introduced in 1992. Transport ministers ask the NTC to review the model about once every five years.  

The process of reviewing how charges are set is called a determination. Typically, a determination will develop multiple options and implementation scenarios for ministers to choose from.  

The last determination was done over seven years ago. Since then, important factors such as distances travelled, and the weight of trucks have changed. We also need to consider a range of options for how ministers could set charges from 2023-24 onwards.  
 

We offered a series of online information sessions throughout July 2021. These workshops have now concluded - but we have included a copy of the  presentations we used for your reference. 

High-level overview and discussion (90 minutes)

These sessions provided a high-level overview of technical content in the RIS, with a focus on financial impacts for industry.

Read the high-level presentation

In-depth presentation and discussion (180 minutes)

These sessions provided an in-depth dive into technical concepts in the RIS.

Read the in-depth presentation