By DAN MOSS, STATE PARLIAMENT EDITOR
HEALTH impacts from trucks would be investigated at a parliamentary committee if a Greens motion due to be put to a vote this week gets up.
The economy and infrastructure standing committee will be asked to inquire, consider and report on air pollution, crashes, road damage and traffic congestion due to freight trucks.
They will also be asked to look at “alternatives for moving the growing freight task”.
The motion will need a majority in the upper house to begin the inquiry, and needs support from one of the major parties.
The move was slammed by the freight operators’ peak body, the Victorian Transport Association, whose chief executive Neil Chambers said trucks were vital for moving freight.
“You can never remove trucks from the network because trucks move freight the last mile,” he said.
The state government is due to release its Victorian Freight and Logistics Plan early this year. “It seems not necessarily a good use of the committee’s time [to look into trucks],” Mr Chambers said.
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