The arguments for and against could go on for ever...but I think...

The arguments for and against could go on for ever...but I think we would all like to see fewer trucks on the road towie, and with that more drivers coming home to loved ones at night.

It is tragic when there is an accident involving a heavy vehicle, whether a single vehicle roll over or involving other vehicles and lives are lost. I have known many drivers critically injured and some have died unnecessarily, rarely due to pushing them selves, but because they or some one else just made a mistake.

Road transport is a necessity in Australia because of the distances.

Many are probably not aware that to move produce from North Queensland for example to Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne just isn't ptactical by rail as the trains do not operate daily, but are more often a weekly service. There is no requirement to be at the destination at a given time, derailments and delays through mechanical failures are common. There is no storage facility at the sidings for hundreds of tonnes of temperature sensitive produce. So much for your potatos, water melons, bananas and mangoes being on the shelf before they wither and go off.

To move daily supplies from Perth to many mine sites by rail is not an option as there is no rail. It is not practical to build a railway line to a mine somewhere as the cost far outweighs the practicality.
Truck operators do not want to come back empty so freight will always be returned by road.

The majority of Australia Posts overnight mail is by road to major cities. Australia Post operates one of the largest truck fleets in Australia. Some articles go by air like your yellow envelopes, but most is by road.
Just in time warehousing has influenced businesses to not carry stock, so they rely on regular daily deliveries direct from suppliers.

The parts you need for your car that broke down if not at the dealership will come overnight or near to by truck from Sydney or Melbourne. If you had to wait for rail your car would be off the road for an awful lot longer than a couple of days.

Governments are sitting on their hands, they know they need road transport as the costs to build and upgrade rail now is astronomical. By utilising privately owned transport it takes the costs away. Road funding is far easier to justify to the electorate than a railway line upgrade from Sydney to Brisbane.