Hansard debates

        TRANSPORT (SAFETY SCHEMES COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT) BILL 2014
                                 Second reading

  Mr MULDER (Minister for Public Transport) -- I move:
  That this bill be now read a second time.
Speech as  follows  incorporated into Hansard  in accordance with  resolution of
house:
  The main purpose of this bill is to improve compliance and enforcement support
  for Victoria's local rail, bus and marine safety schemes.

  The house will recall that 2013 was  a year of change in the rail  and  marine
  sectors which saw the finalisation of national schemes mandated by the Council
  of  Australian Governments  including new governance  settings and  regulatory
  changes.
  The national schemes set the platform for bringing most parts  of the rail and
  marine sectors  under  national  control  while  leaving remaining areas under
  state cover.
  For  example, the national rail safety regulation  and  investigation  schemes
  apply to  most  Victorian railways including metropolitan and V/Line services,
  both passenger and freight.

  However,  tram and light  rail systems, including the  major Melbourne system,
  and  most  of  the  state's  tourist  and  heritage railways,  remain  locally
  regulated.
  Similarly,  many small  commercial  vessel activities  are caught  nationally,
  especially licensing and certification functions.
  But  significant  activities  in  the  marine sector  remain  under state  and
  territory cover including  regulation of all  waterways and pilotage  and drug
  and alcohol standards.
  As a  result of these new arrangements, there are both national and state laws
  in place for these areas of transport in Victoria.

  The national  rail  and  marine schemes  are  headed by South  Australian  and
  commonwealth laws respectively.
  The  national  laws are then  applied  by statutes  enacted  by  the Victorian
  Parliament to provide  for the full rollout of the national schemes throughout
  the state.
  The national rail and marine schemes  largely  adopted  pre-existing Victorian
  legislation  and  underlying  policy  in  those  areas, although the  national
  statutes did make improvements in some areas.
  As a result,  differences now exist between  the national scheme statutes  and
  local Victorian statutes,  including in the important  area of compliance  and
  enforcement standards.

  These  provisions  give important  support  to safety schemes  as they contain
  essential  aids like  inspection  and  search  and  seizure  powers  and  also
  establish  sanctions  that  the  regulator  Transport Safety Victoria and  the
  courts can use to prevent and deal with breaches of safety standards.
  It  is also important to  note  that these powers are  also used by the  chief
  investigator,  Transport Safety when investigating incidents and safety trends
  which concern the public transport and marine sectors.
  While Victoria already  has separate statutes  which set safety standards  for
  the rail, marine and bus industries, the compliance and enforcement provisions
  which support the standards  are contained in a single statute, the  Transport
  (Compliance and Miscellaneous) Act 1983.

  This step was taken some years ago due to the similarity of the compliance and
  enforcement issues which arise across all three transport schemes and the need
  to maintain coordination and consistency.
  The  house will be aware  that good compliance  and enforcement provisions are
  essential to the effectiveness of regulatory schemes, particularly those which
  support public safety.
  It is  plain  that  there is little point having transport safety standards if
  the  industry regulator  and  the courts do  not  have sufficient  powers  and
  sanctions to apply them.
  With  this  key  point  in  mind,  it  is critical that Victoria continues  to
  maintain high standards for  locally regulated transport on land and water and
  remains nationally consistent.

  Taking  this  common-sense  approach,  the  bill  predominantly  aligns  local
  compliance and  enforcement standards with  national provisions drawing mainly
  on the national rail safety scheme.
  More particularly, the bill is needed to avoid anomalies.
  It makes  little sense to  have different compliance and enforcement standards
  in rail depending on whether a train or a  tram is involved or whether a train
  is nationally or state regulated.
  Similarly, material differences  in  powers and  sanctions  in marine are  not
  appropriate  based on events involving national matters -- like safety duties,
  the condition of vessels,  certification or crewing  -- or state matters  like
  waterway management, pilotage, port management, drug and alcohol controls.

  This is especially when the national and state schemes  may be used during the
  same incident.
  The answer is to better align state standards with national standards.
  Accordingly, the bill creates a new and more  aligned  statute  to replace the
  state's ageing and nationally inconsistent laws.

 Page 458


  I note that the proposal also adjusts existing director's liability provisions
  to bring them further into line with national standards.
  The  bill is complex  in  parts. Accordingly,  detailed  information about its
  provisions  and  their  impact  and  origin  is set  out  in  the  explanatory
  memorandum for the benefit of members.
  This is an important bill.
  It is needed so that compliance and enforcement standards for Victoria's local
  rail, marine  and  bus  safety sectors enjoy the same levels of compliance and
  enforcement support as  recent  national schemes and  to help avoid  anomalies
  between state and national regulation.

  The  bill  helps  to maintain  and  improve Victoria's  high  transport safety
  standards on  land and  water and  for that  reason it deserves  to enjoy  the
  strong support of all members.
  I commend the bill to the house.
Debate adjourned on motion of Mr NOONAN (Williamstown).
Debate adjourned until Thursday, 6 March.