Western Australia waives dangerous goods vehicle licence paperwork for five years

The Chief Dangerous Goods Officer of Western Australia has issued Exemption Notice No. 93 under section 22 of the Dangerous Goods Safety Act 2004, waiving the vehicle-licence documentary requirements that dangerous goods vehicle licence applicants must otherwise satisfy. The notice, dated 3 September 2026, was published in the Western Australian Government Gazette No. 115 of Tuesday 8 September 2026, under the Industrial Relations section (reference IR401). It takes effect from the date of grant and remains valid for five years unless amended or cancelled.

What the exemption waives

The notice relieves applicants for a dangerous goods vehicle licence from two documentary obligations set out in the Dangerous Goods Safety (Road and Rail Transport of Non-explosives) Regulations 2007:

• Regulation 230(1)(c) — the requirement to hold a vehicle licence under the Road Traffic (Vehicles) Act 2012; and
• Regulation 230(3) — the requirement to provide a copy of that vehicle licence with the application.

In place of those documents, the exemption imposes a single condition: the application must be accompanied by evidence satisfactory to the licensing authority that the road vehicle is lawfully registered or licensed for use on a road under a law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory.

Issuing authority and legal basis

The exemption was made by Iain Dainty, Director of WorkSafe Petroleum Safety and Dangerous Goods and Chief Dangerous Goods Officer for Western Australia, exercising the powers conferred by section 22 of the Dangerous Goods Safety Act 2004. Under section 22(4) of the Act, the exemption may be amended or cancelled at any time during its five-year term.

What it means for operators

For road transport operators across Western Australia, the notice removes a layer of duplicate paperwork when applying for a dangerous goods vehicle licence, since proof of lawful registration under any Australian jurisdiction is now accepted in lieu of the specific vehicle licence documentation. The five-year validity gives the industry regulatory certainty while the underlying safety obligations — that the vehicle be lawfully registered for road use — remain unchanged.

Source: Western Australian Government Gazette, No. 115, 8 September 2026, Industrial Relations, p. 1877 (official reference: IR401).