Without viable and reliable freight networks, Australia stops. This refreshed strategy sets the agenda for a collaborative approach to deliver actions by governments and industry across freight modes in Australia. It outlines four priority areas: productivity, resilience, decarbonisation and data in order to support more efficient supply chains. 

Since the National freight and supply chain strategy was first released in 2019, Australia’s supply and freight networks have experienced significant setbacks including; COVID-19, geopolitical shifts, extreme weather events and worker shortages. A review of the existing strategy found its foundations remained strong and recommended the strategy be refreshed with a smaller number of nationally significant actions. 

Key actions

• 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 strategy is accompanied by an action plan and implementation plan. The National Action Plan outlines a set of actions that government and industry will work together to deliver over the next five years. The Implementation Plan is a living document that may be updated periodically as actions are progressed.