The Australian Logistics Council (ALC) wrote a letter to all transport ministers ahead of the Standing Committee on Transport meeting on 30 March 2011 and the Australian Transport Council meeting on 20 May 2011, expressing concern in national laws for heavy vehicles, maritime safety and rail safety.
“ALC is very concerned that these regulators will not be deemed a success if a new layer of regulation is created, rather than real national laws with a national approach to compliance and enforcement,” said ALC CEO Michael Kilgariff.
“ALC is concerned that a national approach to the Australian Heavy Vehicle Industry may not be achieved by the recently released draft National Heavy Vehicle Law (NHVL) and its accompanying draft regulatory impact statement (the draft 2011 RIS).
“ALC is of the view that COAG and transport ministers should ensure that the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) is the government agency with responsibility to administer and enforce the national law.”
The ALC suggested that in the model, all critical functions of the national system are to be performed by officers of the national regulator; with other agencies (such as state police forces and work cover authorities) only eligible to receive a delegation if they have undergone suitable training provided by the national regulator; and delegated agencies prohibited from publishing guidelines on how the national law is to be interpreted or implemented.
“While the National Rail Safety Draft Bill, Regulations and Regulatory Impact Statement have not yet been released, ALC is also concerned that a truly national approach to rail safety should be a similar objective.
“ALC notes that the draft 2011 RIS estimates total gains of $12.4 billion could be available if a national scheme is implemented.
“However ALC is concerned that the total gains identified in the draft 2011 RIS could be lost if the proposed national regulator does not have full responsibility for the operation of the national law.
“It is also unclear what is meant when the draft 2011 RIS suggests the national regulator will ‘administer’ the national law. ALC notes the draft 2011 RIS suggests ‘compliance functions’ will be contracted out to existing jurisdictional bodies.
The main concern of the ALC is that without clear guidelines, individual government entities could develop their own cultures, interpret the provisions of the national law in diverging ways and develop their own enforcement priorities.
“The net effect may be that the national law will not be enforced uniformly and the benefits of a single national law identified in the draft 2011 RIS could be lost.
Mr Kilgariff said, “ALC will continue to engage with all governments and officials to encourage the adoption of measures designed to achieve real national laws in the Australian transport and logistics industry.”