Government announces National Freight Strategy and Action Plan

PRODUCTIVITY, resilience, decarbonisation and data are the four priority areas of a refreshed National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy announced this week by the federal government.

The strategy was first released back in 2019. The government says change was required given a tumultuous past five years, as well as the need to handle the nation’s growing freight task (projected to grow 26% between 2020 and 2050, according to the government). 

This updated strategy is said to underscore the importance of the sector for the national economy and the refreshed strategic freight priorities. 

The four priority areas of productivity, resilience, decarbonisation and data are noted as being vital towards supporting more efficient supply chains. 

Accompanying the strategy, the new National Action Plan outlines actions that government and industry are to work on together to deliver during the five years ahead.

Key actions include:

• Developing a National Freight Resilience Plan to ensure a consistent and coordinated response to significant supply chain disruptions.
• Developing a Freight Infrastructure Investment Framework to guide infrastructure investment decisions in freight networks across Australia.
• Conducting safety research on batteries and zero emission power technologies for freight vehicles and locomotives as well as promoting the uptake of safety and productivity boosting technology.
• Modelling the current and future freight and supply chain network, to consider what is needed to support its efficiency and effectiveness into the future. 

The refreshed National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy and new National Action Plan can be viewed here: www.freightaustralia.gov.au/.

Infrastructure and transport minister Catherine King said without viable and reliable freight networks, Australia would grind to a halt.

“The journey of goods from farm-gate, factory or port to the shopping aisle or building largely goes unnoticed, except in those rare instances where something in the supply chain goes wrong,” Ms King said.

“As industry and consumer demands grows, it’s vital our roads, rails and ports can accommodate increasing freight movements with resilience, efficiency and emissions-reduction front of mind.