Road managers
Accessibility tools
What is changing?
On 1 August, 310 staff, including 250+ Compliance Operations Inspectors will transfer from the NSW Government to the NHVR, where they will continue to provide heavy vehicle compliance monitoring and enforcement under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL).
These officers will also continue to provide heavy vehicle inspections under the NSW Government’s Heavy Vehicle Inspection Scheme (HVIS).
On joining the NHVR, these officers will become Safety and Compliance Officers (SCOs) in NSW. They will have the same authority to stop heavy vehicles and check the vehicle, operator, and driver compliance with the HVNL and other state-based laws, as they currently do. This includes checking for compliance with heavy vehicle driver licensing, registration, and road rules as part of mobile patrols and at heavy vehicle safety stations located across NSW.
Branding
The NHVR’s Safety and Compliance Officers will be easily recognisable by their distinctive uniforms, badges, and vehicles.
The rebranding may take several weeks, however irrespective of the vehicle branding, drivers and operators must comply with the lawful directions of authorised officers.
Functions
The NHVR will assume responsibility in NSW for:
- Conducting HVIS inspections — the NHVR will provide HVIS inspections in the same way at the same locations. There will be no change to the current booking and payment arrangements.
- On-road compliance and enforcement of the HVNL as well as other state-based offences like registration and licensing.
- Investigating and prosecuting of serious offences, including primary duties.
- Providing education and information to the heavy vehicle industry on compliance under the HVNL.
- Monitoring fatigue and heavy vehicle registration offences through the Safe-T-Cam network.
- Monitoring heavy vehicle access compliance through the Intelligent Access Program (IAP).
What’s not changing?
TfNSW will continue to:
- licence heavy vehicle drivers in NSW
- register heavy vehicles in NSW
- manage tow truck investigations and conduct compliance
- monitor road rule-related camera detected offences including speeding and red light offences.
Service NSW will continue to:
- accept HVIS bookings for inspection of vehicles
- sell National Written Work Diaries.
Why is this change important?
The NHVR was established in 2013 to be the single, national regulator of heavy vehicles in Australia, and to apply and enforce the HVNL. All states and territories — with the exception of the Northern Territory and Western Australia — have adopted the HVNL as the single rule book for heavy vehicles.
The NHVR relied on state and territory agencies to deliver the majority of its frontline heavy vehicle regulatory services. However, over the past few years, it has been working closely with states and territories to transition these services to the NHVR, enabling a more streamlined approach to service delivery, compliance and enforcement, and a greater degree of consistency in how heavy vehicles are regulated.
As a national regulator, the NHVR can provide nationally consistent training and enforcement methods and resources and undertake more complex cross-border Chain of Responsibility investigations.
NSW is the fifth state or territory — after South Australia, Tasmania, ACT and Victoria — where the NHVR will be directly delivering heavy vehicle regulatory services.
Transition of NSW heavy vehicle services from TfNSW to NHVR
NSW heavy vehicle services transitioned from Transport for NSW (TfNSW) to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) on 1 August 2022. This means that the future supply of any goods or services in relation to heavy vehicle services for NSW now need to be procured from and invoiced to the NHVR. For more information please see the NSW supplier transition letter (PDF, 288KB).