A planned scheme to rate the safety Australian trucking companies has been abandoned.

“After careful consideration, the Australian Government has decided not to provide further financial assistance towards the Safety Rating System for Heavy Vehicles project,” a spokesperson for federal infrastructure minister Warren Truss said this week.

The proposed project would have seen a ratings framework set up, which allowed a single avenue for feedback.

The scheme has now been axed partly due to fears that it would cross over with similar efforts by the National Transport Commission (NTC) and the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR).

The two groups are about to launch a review of heavy vehicle roadworthiness standards.

The infrastructure department spokesperson said it would “improve a range of existing heavy vehicle regulatory arrangements, including the National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme.”

Federal Labor MP Allanah MacTiernan has told Parliament the original plan was a good idea.

“This project, which was to provide a clear market incentive for trucking companies to lift their game and improve road safety, was developed after a 13 per cent increase in road fatalities in New South Wales in 2009,” she said.

“Nearly two years of hard work has been abandoned without any formal discussion with industry.”

The spokesperson for Mr Truss said the NHVR had to focus on unforseen access problems with the new Heavy Vehicle National Law.

“The difficulties could not have been envisaged by transport ministers at the time they agreed to the Safety Rating System [and] it is not unreasonable now to expect the NHVR to focus on its core responsibilities,” he says.