HINO BOSS CALLS FOR ALBANESE GOVERNMENT TO SHARPEN FOCUS ON THE TRANSPORT SECTOR

April 21, 2026 Jon Thomson Truck and Bus News

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Richard Emery the boss of Hino Australia believes the role of transport minister in the Federal Government should be a stand alone ministry  focussed on road transport believing that  the current multi facetted portfolio  has taken  attention away from one of the most vital industries in the country.

Emery, the president  and CEO of Hino Australia, believes that there needs to be a stronger focus  on the transport industry by the Federal Government and believes that Transport should be a single focus for what ever minister is in charge.

He said current minister Catherine King, who happens to be his local member as a long time resident of Ballarat, is good minister but hat the fact that she has so much responsibility across a number of industries and portfolios is watering down the importance of transport and  has called for a stronger focus on the transport industry from the Federal Government.

Speaking at a business briefing where he shared his predictions for Hino Australia’s sales trajectory through to 2030, Emery said the challenges faced by Australia’s transport industry warranted the creation of a single portfolio for Transport within Cabinet and the appointment of its own Minister.

“What continues to frustrate is the lack of genuine understanding, care,  dialogue and focus on this industry at a Federal level, and to some extent at the state level as well,” Emery said.
“I think it’s about time that the industry calls for renewed focus on the transport portfolio and for me, the best way to do this is via a dedicated transport minister in the cabinet,” the Hino boss added.
It currently sits with the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, and this is not a criticism of the minister, Catherine King, who happens to be my local member, it’s just that it is a huge portfolio,  and an expectation that any minister can be across the intricacies of such a diverse portfolio and give transport the focus it deserves and requires, is unrealistic,” he added.
“We really need a stronger voice at the table in government than we currently have a minister who can oversee the industry and really start to acknowledge and give focus to the industry is what’s required, whether it’s safety, emissions, efficiency or productivity,” he continued.
Emery said he believed that we’re at a point where it needs to be acknowledged at a cabinet level, and pointed out that when current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was in the Rudd/Gillard governments that he was  the then transport minister and it was a cabinet position .

“He was the Transport Minister before, so there’s been a focus on it before, but I think is if  we’ve learned anything in the last two months, then its that the transport industry is critical to how Australia works and the fact that it’s bundled together with the whole mega cabinet post,  then I think it’s time we do something about that,” Emery said.

Emery emphasised that Australia has  an aging truck fleet and that the Government has really taken no action in this area.

“I know is an old discussion that we keep on having, but from a government perspective, it has not really taken any action in this area, and it’s something that is critical and we need to get the age of our truck fleet back to a more acceptable age,” he said.

“This is not just for emissions reasons, but for safety, maintenance and productivity as well,” Emery said.

The Hino boss believes we need a practical and balanced regular transition to low and zero emission vehicles that will potentially goe off the rails if the government takes an overly aggressive stance.

“The reality is that because of the added cost and the loss of load or payload capacity, many operators will keep their old trucks longer than they normally would if the government forced a change too early,” Emery said.

“That means our aging truck fleet has the potential to get worse before it even gets better,” he said emphatically.

Emery said that everyone understands that an aging truck fleet is less safe, less efficient and less productive than a younger fleet. but reckons the government seems to be unable to tackle this topic by bringing the average age of trucks down because they’re so fixated on a direct leap to zero emissions,
“Zero emissions is relevant, and it’s something we all need to work towards. but the reality is the government does not have the budget flexibility or capacity to make fundamental shift in adoption of low or zero emission vehicles at this point,” Emery said.
“There needs to be a balanced and practical solution approach to tackling a number of these issues over a period of time, and not to be tunnel vision in one area only, which is where we are in danger of being at the moment,” he said.
Emery said that Hino has seen a steady increase in interest in its hybrid trucks  and a surge in customers talking to the company  about full electric for a period of time during 2022 and 2023 but that it has seemed to slip away.
“I  think you’ve seen that in the registration data from last year and into the start of this year, there really hasn’t been a significant growth or step in take up of electric at this point in time, and as that’s because of the compromise in terms of the many factors, including cost and payload, it’s not quite practical,” Emery said.
“It hasn’t quite got the right balance yet, we’ve seen a solid month on month increase in interest in our hybrid trucks, but its probably not as strong as I would have liked, but its certainly been predictable and shown regular growth over the last two years,” he said.
“We suspect that we will see that continue. but this industry really works on fine margins, and this is not just the stark focus on the current diesel price, but it’s just one of the reasons,” he said.
“Another is the lack of drivers and we still get customers saying to us, if you could find me some drivers, I’ll buy some more trucks from you, so we need to do more work to encourage people to choose trucking or the truck industry as a great career, and we need to be able to keep them in the industry,” he added.

For Hino, Emery says the current uncertainty in the global market has had a dampening effect on truck sales, and predicted a subdued outlook for 2026, with growth likely to be delayed until next year.

“Despite the obvious short-term global uncertainty, we believe the Australian economic outlook remains positive with steady long-term growth through to 2030 – having said that, market conditions are likely to remain subdued through 2026, with growth now likely delayed until early 2027,” Emery says.

He says challenges with supply over the past couple of years had impacted Hino’s sales numbers in its core market of trucks under 500hp. With those challenges easing, he says Hino is now expecting sustainable growth in sales over the longer term to 2030.

“We’ve got some issues rolling around the country at the moment in terms of workload, delivery pressure, growing racism, and  issues that is forcing many people out of the industry, along with an overly zealous NHVR,” he said.
“At the moment, we need to keep everybody in the industry  because we’re already short of people, and if we keep losing or suffer leakage  of people from the industry, then that’s only going to make things harder.
“Over the next five to 10 years, we’re already have a shortage of around  30,000 drivers, and that will only get worse if we don’t arrest that leakage of drivers,” Emery said.
Emery also spoke about Hino’s current challenge which is that it has none of its  500 Series medium duty trucks  available for sale in Australia until later this year, when it will start taking orders in July for new 500s to be delivered in early 2027.

“Hino is well-positioned with our Euro 6 emissions-compliant 300 Series 150hp diesel light-duty models available to order now, and the high horsepower and crew cab options arriving in the middle of 2027.

“Our 700 Series heavy-duty range is gaining strong momentum driven by improved supply, a compelling value proposition and an expanded model range,” Emery said.

“We are also increasing our range of Built to Go products over the next 18 months, starting with a 300 Series Hybrid Electric Tipper, which will be on sale in Hino dealerships nationwide from June.

“Higher diesel prices have further highlighted the strong value proposition of our 300 Series Hybrid Electric versus its diesel equivalent – it will compound further when we introduce our Euro 6 diesels in the middle of the year as they will have an associated price increase.

Emery pointed out that Hino’s 300 Series Hybrid light-duty models can reduce fuel costs by as much as 24 per cent in Wide Cab variants and 22 per cent in Standard Cab models.

“2025 was a record year for Hino Hybrid with a 24 per cent increase compared to 2024  and  we expect 2026 to be even stronger.

“Completing our range is our 500 Series medium-duty trucks which will be on sale from July, and arriving in dealerships in early 2027.”

TRP

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