A New Zealand national accused of the road rage murder of a fellow motorist on a busy Brisbane freeway was due to return home to be married next week.

Instead, Tamate Henry Heke, 36, will spend his scheduled wedding day, along with Christmas and New Year, in jail, after he allegedly pushed a 50-year-old Munruben man into the path of an oncoming garbage truck on the Gateway Motorway on Tuesday afternoon, causing fatal injuries.

Just more than 12 hours later, Mr Heke sat slumped in the dock of the Brisbane Magistrates Court, an accused murderer.

In an appearance that was over in less than a minute, Mr Heke was remanded in custody to reappear on January 25 next year.