Transport Legislation Review - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Transport Legislation Review was a policy and legislation review project conducted by the Department of Transport

Department of Transport (Victoria, Australia)

The Department of Transport or DOT is the central Government agency responsible for the coordination, integration and regulation of the transport system in the State of Victoria, Australia...

in the State of Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

between 2004 and 2010.

The broad aim of the project was the review of Victoria's transport policy and laws and the generation of new policy and legislation as a platform for improved transport settings across the State. The Review was the most extensive project of its kind in the transport portfolio in Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

since the 1980s.

The Review touched all areas of the transport sector in Victoria including land and water based transport activities. Proposals were developed by the Review for consideration by the Victorian Government and proceeded initially as policy ideas or concepts. The proposals were progressively refined over time as part of modules or sub projects and often in response to stakeholder involvement. Outputs from Review often proceeded as new State regulatory schemes and laws, commonly in the form of new Acts

Act of Parliament

An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...

of the Victorian Parliament

Parliament of Victoria

The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria. It follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system and consists of The Queen, represented by the Governor of Victoria; the Legislative Council ; and the Legislative Assembly...

.

The new laws which arose from the Review had both regulatory

Regulation

Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...

and de-regulatory

Deregulation

Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or...

effects in particular areas. The Review was notable for pursing principle based initiatives and for introducing performance based concepts into Victorian transport law often in the form of safety duties of care owed by industry participants to persons using transport services and to other industry participants and suites of new administrative and court based sanctions targeted at non compliance. The project also had some significant impacts on organisational arrangements in the Victorian transport portfolio.

The Review commenced in 2004 and concluded in late 2010. The former Victorian Government Ministers who oversaw the work of the project at times were the Hon Peter Batchelor MP

Peter Batchelor

Peter Batchelor was an Australian politician before retiring at the Victorian State Election on 27 November 2010. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 1990, representing the electorate of Thomastown. He served most recently as Minister for Energy and...

, the Hon Lynne Kosky MP

Lynne Kosky

Lynne Janice Kosky is a former Australian politician and senior minister in the Parliament of Victoria. She represented the electoral district of Altona in the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the Australian Labor Party from 1996 to 2010...

, the Hon Tim Pallas MP

Tim Pallas

Timothy Hugh Pallas is an Australian politician. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 2006, representing the electorate of Tarneit...

and the Hon Martin Pakula MLC

Martin Pakula

Martin Philip Pakula is an Australian politician, and a member of the Victorian Legislative Council. He was Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Public Transport in the Labor Government of Premier John Brumby.-Early life:...

Scope

The work of the Transport Legislation Review was described in the following terms in a 2009 paper released by the Department of Transport

Department of Transport (Victoria, Australia)

The Department of Transport or DOT is the central Government agency responsible for the coordination, integration and regulation of the transport system in the State of Victoria, Australia...

A comprehensive review of Victoria’s transport policy and legislation has been underway since 2004. Its aim has been to modernise transport policy, legislation and regulatory practices, drawing on developments in regulatory theory and approaches in other industry sectors and in other jurisdictions.

More recently, the explanatory memorandum to the Transport Legislation Amendment (Compliance, Enforcement and Regulation) Bill 2010 observed that -

"...major renewal is underway across the transport portfolios through the Government's Transport Legislation Review. This project is ...generating an entire new legislative framework for the State along best practice lines."

Context

The Transport Legislation Review arose out of concerns about the poor state of Victoria's

Victoria (Australia)

transport laws. In particular, much of Victoria's transport legislation was thought to be complex, unnecessarily detailed and largely based on old policy. The Victorian Government was also troubled that areas of the laws failed to reflect regulatory advances in other industries and were not sufficiently informed by overseas reforms.

Pearce and Shepherd observed that it "...was a timely point to commence the review, given it had been 20 years since the State's central transport statute, the Transport Act 1983

Transport Act 1983

The Transport Act 1983 was the main statute establishing government transport organisations and regulating land transport activities in the State of Victoria, Australia for 27 years from mid 1983 to mid 2010...

, was first enacted.... They went on to say that the -

"...Transport Act had become the largest statute in Victoria with over 700 pages of dense and prescriptive provisions in accordance with the prevailing legislative style. A number of other transport related Acts (and amendments to the Transport Act) had also been created to respond to different transport policies of successive governments over time. Most of these were examples of either facilitative or coercive legislative approaches. Importantly, however, there was no overarching framework for transport policy reflected in the State's legislation. In other words, transport legislation did not have aspirational elements. More specifically:

there was no clear vision for the transport system
bodies (such as VicRoads
VicRoads
VicRoads or the Roads Corporation of Victoria is a statutory corporation which is the state road and traffic authority in the state of Victoria, Australia. It is responsible for maintenance and construction of the state arterial road network, as well as driver licensing and vehicle registration. ...

and the Director of Public Transport
Director of Public Transport
The Director of Public Transport is the Government agency responsible for promoting, providing, coordinating and regulating public transport in the State of Victoria, Australia...

) were established with different (and potentially competing) objectives
there was no overarching framework to express broader policy objectives for transport as a whole
the legislation contained minimal reference to social policy objectives and no reference to environmental objectives
linkages with related areas (such as planning and local government) were not clear or not recognised."

Plan and approach

The approach of the Review was to conduct a complete revision of the State's transport policies and legislation. The project was guided throughout by a target legislative framework diagram which showed the final desired state of transport portfolio legislation in Victoria after the completion of work. The diagram was headed by a overarching portfolio-based statute intended to have long term symbolic and aspirational content, the Transport Integration Act

Transport Integration Act

The Transport Integration Act 2010 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia. The Act is the prime transport statute in Victoria, having replaced major parts of the former Transport Act 1983....

, supported by a range of transport modal and subject-specific statutes. Diagrams showing the current and former legislative structures were also used.

The Review was policy driven and proceeded on a modular basis. This approach "...sought to more clearly delineate between overarching institutional elements and more detailed regulatory, operational, project and service delivery elements. It also sought to explicitly identify linkages within the transport portfolio (road, rail, tram, bus, taxi, hire car, tow trucks) and intefaces with other portolios (local government authorities and planning portfolios)."

New laws generated

The work of the Review concentrated on long, medium and short term measures. Global sector or scheme reviews typically resulted in the creation of suites of new regulatory policy which led in most instances to new Acts of Parliament which repealed existing Acts. These statutes are called principal statutes and typically take two years or more to complete. Smaller or mid range reforms, on the other hand, were pursued through legislation called "amending Acts", or Acts which amend existing principal statutes. Amending Acts commonly take much less time to develop and enact than principal Acts, sometimes only a few months.

Principal statutes

The work of the Transport Legislation Review led to the passage of seven major principal statutes between early 2006 and late 2010. The centrepiece of the Review and now the prime transport statute in Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

was the Transport Integration Act 2010

Transport Integration Act

, which came into effect on 1 July 2010. The Act "....locates the development of a policy framework for integrated and sustainable transport in Victoria within global and international debates regarding sustainable development. This has resulted in the inclusion of a vision, set of objectives and decision making principles for transport in the (transport Integration Act) reflecting an integration and sustainability policy framework."

The majority of the new statutes which emerged from the work of the Review were preceded by extensive policy and stakeholder processes. This typically involved the public release of documents outlining issues in the relevant transport sector and circulation of draft proposals for change. The conduct of industry and public consultation

Public consultation

Public consultation, or simply consultation, is a regulatory process by which the public's input on matters affecting them is sought. Its main goals are in improving the efficiency, transparency and public involvement in large-scale projects or laws and policies...

forums and the receipt of submissions was a feature of this activity.

In addition to the Transport Integration Act

Transport Integration Act

, the six principal statutes generated by the Review were:

the Rail Safety Act 2006
Rail Safety Act
The Rail Safety Act 2006 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia and is the prime statute regulating the safety of rail operations in the State...
the Accident Towing Services Act 2007
Accident Towing Services Act
The Accident Towing Services Act 2007 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia. The Act is the prime statute regulating the vehicle towing industry which provides towing and recovery services for light and heavy road vehicles across Victoria. It is predominately...
the Bus Safety Act 2009
Bus Safety Act
The Bus Safety Act 2009 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia and is the prime statute regulating the safety of bus operations across the State....
the Major Transport Projects Facilitation Act 2009
the Marine Safety Act 2010
the Tourist and Heritage Railways Act 2010
Tourist and Heritage Railways Act
The Tourist and Heritage Railways Act 2010 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia and is the prime statute regulating the activities of tourist and heritage rail operators in the State...

..

Other statutes

A wide range of amending statutes was also generated by the Review. While generally smaller than most new principal statutes, amending Acts nonetheless sometimes dealt with significant "big picture" changes. Amending statutes were often used as a legislative mechanism to pursue discrete, urgent or priority regulatory reforms.

Some of these types of statutes prompted by the work of the Review included -

the Transport Legislation (Amendment) Act 2004
the Transport Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2004
the Transport Legislation (Further Amendment) Act 2005
the Transport Legislation (Further Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2005
the Transport Legislation (Safety Investigations) Act 2006
the Transport Legislation (Further Amendment) Act 2006
the Transport (Taxi-cab Accreditation and Other Amendments) Act 2006
the Transport Legislation Amendment Act 2007
the Transport Legislation Amendment (Driver and Industry Standards) Act 2008
the Transport Legislation Amendment (Hoon Boating and Other Amendments) Act 2009
the Transport Legislation General Amendments Act 2009
the Transport Legislation Miscellaneous Amendments Act 2009
the Transport Legislation Amendment (Compliance, Enforcement and Regulation) Act 2010
the Transport Legislation Amendment (Ports Integration) Act 2010.

Regulations

A range of new regulations was also generated by the Transport Legislation Review. In the majority of cases, the regulations were circulated publicly in draft form accompanied by a regulatory impact statement and made available for comment by the community and affected industries.

Principal regulations

Examples of new principal regulations developed as part of the Review included -

the Transport (Tow Truck) Regulations 2005
the Transport (Ticketing and Conduct Regulations) 2005
the Transport (Conduct) Regulations 2005
the Transport (Taxi-cabs) Regulations 2005
the Transport (Passenger Vehicles) Regulations 2005
the Transport (Ticketing) Regulations 2006
the Marine Infringements Regulations 2005
the Rail Safety Regulations 2006
the Accident Towing Services Regulations 2008
the Marine Regulations 2009
the Transport (Infringements) Regulations 2010
the Road Safety (Driver Instructors) Regulations 2010
the Port Management (Port of Melbourne Safety and Property) Regulations 2010
the Bus Safety Regulations 2010.

Other regulations

Examples of other regulations developed as part of the Review included -

the Transport (Alcohol Measurement) Regulations 2004
the Transport (Infringements)(Tow Truck) Regulations 2005
the Transport (Alcohol Controls) Regulations 2005
the Public Transport Competition (Fees) Regulations 2005
the Transport (Taxi-cab Licences - Trading) Regulations 2005
the Transport (Taxi-cab Licences - Market and Trading) Regulations 2005
the Transport (Taxi-cab Network Service Provider Accreditation - Exemptions) Regulations 2007
the Transport (Taxi-cab Industry Accreditation) Regulations 2007.

Organisational impacts

The work of the Transport Legislation Review also had some significant impacts on governance arrangements in the Victorian Transport portfolio. These effects can be summarised as follows -

the Rail Safety Act 2006
Rail Safety Act
The Rail Safety Act 2006 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia and is the prime statute regulating the safety of rail operations in the State...

and the Transport Legislation (Safety Investigations) Act 2006 developed by the Review created Victoria's first independent safety offices - the Director, Public Transport Safety
Director, Public Transport Safety
The Director, Public Transport Safety was the independent Government agency responsible for rail and bus safety in the State of Victoria, Australia, between 1 August 2006 and 30 June 2010. The position was created as a statutory office by statute in early 2006 and was the State's first...

and the Chief Investigator, Public Transport and Marine Safety Investigations
the Accident Towing Services Act 2007 transferred responsibility for towing industry regulation from the Director of Public Transport
Director of Public Transport
The Director of Public Transport is the Government agency responsible for promoting, providing, coordinating and regulating public transport in the State of Victoria, Australia...

to VicRoads
VicRoads
VicRoads or the Roads Corporation of Victoria is a statutory corporation which is the state road and traffic authority in the state of Victoria, Australia. It is responsible for maintenance and construction of the state arterial road network, as well as driver licensing and vehicle registration. ...
the Transport Integration Act
Transport Integration Act
The Transport Integration Act 2010 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia. The Act is the prime transport statute in Victoria, having replaced major parts of the former Transport Act 1983....

merged the former marine safety regulator - the Director of Marine Safety - into the public transport safety regulator to create a new integrated transport safety regulator for the State (the Director, Transport Safety
Director, Transport Safety
The Director, Transport Safety is the independent Government agency responsible for rail, bus and marine safety in the State of Victoria, Australia. The position was created as a statutory office by the Transport Integration Act 2010...

)
a number of proposals increased the powers of the Director of Public Transport
Director of Public Transport
The Director of Public Transport is the Government agency responsible for promoting, providing, coordinating and regulating public transport in the State of Victoria, Australia...

variously over taxi and bus regulation
the Major Transport Projects Facilitation Act 2009 changed planning approvals procedures for major transport projects thereby having a significant impact on State planning agencies
the Transport Integration Act
Transport Integration Act
The Transport Integration Act 2010 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia. The Act is the prime transport statute in Victoria, having replaced major parts of the former Transport Act 1983....

re-established the various agencies and offices that comprise the Victorian Transport portfolio and gave each agency a new statutory charter and in some cases, revised powers
the Transport Integration Act
Transport Integration Act
The Transport Integration Act 2010 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia. The Act is the prime transport statute in Victoria, having replaced major parts of the former Transport Act 1983....

extended transport regulation coverage in a major way across the planning and local government agencies for the first time
the Transport Integration Act
Transport Integration Act
The Transport Integration Act 2010 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia. The Act is the prime transport statute in Victoria, having replaced major parts of the former Transport Act 1983....

brought land based and water-based transport together for the first time under a single statutory framework in Victoria.

Incomplete or pending reviews

The work of the Transport Legislation Review concluded in late 2010. Major areas which had been signalled for reform in coming years as part of project included policy reviews and proposed new statutes in the following areas -

Taxi and Hire Car regulation
Walking and Cycling
Road Safety
Port Management
the compliance, enforcement and other matters covered by the Transport (Compliance and Miscellaneous) Act 1983
Transport (Compliance and Miscellaneous) Act 1983
The 'Transport Act 1983' is a prime statute regulating transport activities in the State of Victoria, Australia...

.

Taxi industry reform has been taken up as a major issue by the Victorian Government since the Transport Legislation Review concluded. The Government established a Taxi Industry Inquiry

Taxi Industry Inquiry

The Taxi Industry Inquiry is an inquiry being conducted in the State of Victoria, Australia by the Taxi Services Commission into the taxi industry and taxi services in that State. The Inquiry is headed by Professor Allan Fels, the former head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission...

in May 2011 to be conducted by a newly established agency, the Taxi Services Commission

Taxi Services Commission

The Taxi Services Commission is the independent Government agency responsible for conducting a major inquiry, the Taxi Industry Inquiry, into taxi and other small commercial passenger vehicle services in the State of Victoria, Australia...

. The Inquiry is expected to recommend major changes to policy and legislation affecting the taxi and small commercial passenger vehicles sector.

Support and criticism

The Transport Legislation Review project and its policy and legislative projects were generally well supported during the term of the project. Most Acts and regulations generated by the project were passed or made with broad support and with little or no opposition from affected parties. In the six years of the project, no Act or regulation failed to be passed by the Victorian Parliament even when the Government of the day did not control numbers in the upper house of the Parliament. The overwhelming majority of Act products, for example, were passed by the Victorian Parliament with all party support.

While the Transport Legislation Review project itself was not generally the subject of public criticism, some individual policy and legislative proposals arising from the Review were criticised. For example, the Rail Safety Act 2006

Rail Safety Act

The Rail Safety Act 2006 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia and is the prime statute regulating the safety of rail operations in the State...

was opposed on a reasoned basis in the Victorian Parliament by Liberal and National party members of Parliament. However, the Bill was ultimately passed as the then Government held a majority in both houses of Parliament. Several policy proposals circulated by the Department of Transport

Department of Transport (Victoria, Australia)

The Department of Transport or DOT is the central Government agency responsible for the coordination, integration and regulation of the transport system in the State of Victoria, Australia...

in 2009 during a review of the Marine Act 1988 were abandoned and not considered for inclusion in the subsequent Marine Safety Act 2010 due to widespread opposition to the measures.

The Bill proposal for the Transport Integration Act

Transport Integration Act

was also the subject of criticism by Liberal and National party members during its passage through Parliament but was not opposed in voting. Finally, a proposal to add port authorities to the organisational framework contained in the Transport Integration Act

Transport Integration Act

was opposed and eventually defeated in the Legislative Council

Legislative Council

A Legislative Council is the name given to the legislatures, or one of the chambers of the legislature of many nations and colonies.A Member of the Legislative Council is commonly referred to as an MLC.- Unicameral legislatures :...

by the Liberal, National and Green parties. However, the Bill was subsequently passed by the Victorian Parliament following the institution of a dispute resolution process.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Scope

Context

Plan and approach

New laws generated

Principal statutes

Other statutes

Regulations

Principal regulations

Other regulations

Organisational impacts

Incomplete or pending reviews

Support and criticism

See also

External links