Your Records Are Your Defence
From 1 August 2026, unfit-to-drive penalties reach $20,000 and audit reports are admissible evidence in duty prosecutions. Protekt gives you timestamped pre-starts, service records and driving evidence, from $22 per vehicle per month.
Could You Prove It, Six Months Later?
The primary duty is not satisfied by intending to be safe. It is evidenced by records. When an investigator asks what you did about a fault reported in March, the honest answer is either a dated record or a shrug.
- Pre-start books that live in the cab and go missing with it
- Faults reported verbally and never written down
- No way to show a check actually happened, or when
- Service history spread across three different systems
- Nothing to hand an auditor except good intentions
A Dated Record for Everything That Matters
Every check, fault and service event captured with a timestamp, kept in one place, and exportable when someone asks to see it.
- Timestamped pre-start records with photo evidence of faults
- Maintenance reminders and a service history that stays put
- Trip and driving records showing what the vehicle actually did
- Reports you can hand over without assembling them first
- Australian-hosted data, Australian support on the phone
How It Works
Evidence collected as a by-product of the work, not as extra admin
Driver Checks the Vehicle
Scan the QR sticker, tap through the checklist, photograph anything wrong. Takes a couple of minutes and works without signal.
The Record Is Made
Timestamped, attributed to the driver and the vehicle, stored in Australia. Nobody has to remember to file anything.
You Can Produce It
Filter by vehicle, driver or date and export. The evidence exists before anyone asks for it, which is the entire point.
What Heavy Vehicle Operators Use
The evidence trail the primary duty actually asks for
Timestamped Pre-Starts
Daily checks recorded against the vehicle and the driver, with photos of any defect found. $11 per vehicle per month.
Fault Escalation
A reported defect notifies the right person immediately, and the record shows when it was raised and when it was actioned.
Maintenance Reminders
Service intervals tracked against real distance travelled, so the schedule reflects what the truck did rather than a guess.
Driving Evidence
Trip records, speed and harsh-event reports covering what happened on the road, kept alongside the inspection records.
Data Hosted in Australia
Your records sit in AWS's Sydney region and stay there. We are Australian-owned and SMB1001 Gold certified.
Exportable Reports
Pull the records for a vehicle, a driver or a date range and hand them over as a file, not a shoebox.
What the 2026 Changes Actually Say
Plenty of vendors are telling operators that a safety management system became mandatory on 1 August. That is not what the law says, and knowing the difference is worth more to you than the software.
The HVNL Amendment Act 2025 commenced on 1 August 2026 in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT. It does not apply in Western Australia or the Northern Territory, and there is no grace period on penalties.
A formal safety management system is an accreditation requirement. It is not legally mandatory for operators outside the accreditation scheme. What every operator does have is the primary duty, and the need to be able to evidence how risk is managed. That is what your records are for, and it is the part software can genuinely help with.
- Unfit to drive. Driving while impaired by fatigue or unfit for any other reason is prohibited for all heavy vehicles over 4.5t. The maximum penalty rose from $6,000 to $20,000.
- Audit reports as evidence. Approved-auditor audit reports are now admissible in duty prosecutions. Documented records cut both ways: they are your defence, and their absence is conspicuous.
- Fatigue records. Record-keeping obligations continue, with records kept for three years.
- What Protekt is not. We do not provide a safety management system, and nothing here replaces the statutory fatigue record. We provide the inspection, maintenance and driving evidence that sits underneath your own system.
Straight About What We Do and Don't Do
The vendor that gets this right is the one worth listening to
What we do give you
Timestamped pre-start records, fault escalation, maintenance history and driving evidence, hosted in Australia and exportable on demand.
What we don't
We are not a safety management system, we are not an accreditation service, and no part of this replaces the statutory fatigue record. Telematics alone does not pass an audit, and any vendor telling you otherwise is selling you something.
Check it yourself
Everything above comes from the NHVR's own published material. We would rather you verified it than took our word, because the operators who get caught out are the ones who took a vendor's word.
Built in Ballarat. Backed by Real People.
Protekt GPS has been Australian-owned and operated since 2015, founded by Matt Penhall and Robert Layton. Every feature is developed in-house by our Ballarat team, your data stays on Australian servers, and we're CyberCert SMB1001 Gold certified.
Meet the team behind ProtektGet the Evidence Side Sorted
Book a demo and we will show you what a month of pre-start records looks like, and what you would hand over if someone asked. Or call 1300 95 25 30 and talk it through.