EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Select Legislative Instrument 2007 No. 319

 

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Transport and Regional Services

 

National Transport Commission Act 2003

 

National Transport Commission (Model Legislation — Transport of Dangerous Goods by Road or Rail) Regulations 2007

 

 

Section 52 of the National Transport Commission Act 2003 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

 

The provisions of the Act are supported by the Inter-Governmental Agreement on Regulatory and Operational Reform in Road, Rail and Intermodal Transport (IGA), which serves to formalise the cooperative arrangements between the Commonwealth, States and Territories and define the roles and responsibilities of the National Transport Commission, the Australian Transport Council and the jurisdictions. Clause 14 of the IGA requires the Commonwealth to submit model legislation for inclusion in schedules to regulations under the Act. The proposed Regulations would implement this commitment.

 

The purpose of the proposed Regulations is to provide transport of dangerous goods model legislation provisions for nationally consistent implementation in each State and Territory. The Bill is in model form to allow for implementation in each jurisdiction using the most convenient and effective regulatory manner available – for instance, the provisions may be incorporated into the law of a jurisdiction by way of amendment of existing legislation. The model legislation is intended to replace the existing template legislation, whilst the regulatory framework, Regulations and technical Code will be retained.

 

The objects of the proposed Regulations are to:

(a)    provide a single set of regulations for the transportation of dangerous goods by road and rail;

(b)   expand the powers of authorised officers;

(c)    clarify the role and responsibilities of the Competent Authority Panel;

(d)   incorporate updated compliance and enforcement provisions; and

(e)    set out the insurance requirements and increased penalties for not having the required insurance coverage

 

The Transport of Dangerous Goods by Road or Rail Regulations was developed and refined through extensive consultations with experts from industry, government policymakers and members of the Competent Authorities Panel responsible for regulating the transport of dangerous goods. These experts were formed into the Advisory Committee on the Transport of Dangerous Goods in 2002 and a smaller Dangerous Goods Steering Group derived from this larger group has been consulted extensively since 2002 on the development of the model legislation

 

The draft legislative package was circulated for public comment in July 2005 and the consultation period lasted until September 2005. The package was re-circulated for final review by a panel of experts and jurisdictions in September 2006. The package was released along with a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS). The RIS was assessed and approved by the Commonwealth Office of Best Practice Regulation. The Regulations and RIS were circulated to members of TACE and the chief executives of dangerous goods agencies for consideration in November 2006. The legislative package was approved by the Australian Transport Council (ATC) on 28 February 2007.

 

 

Section 7 of the Act provides that the regulations may set out model legislation, being legislation developed by the NTC in accordance with the IGA. Paragraph 7(2)(a) provides that model legislation does not have the force of law. The schedules to the regulations serve only as a repository for nationally agreed reforms, which may then be implemented by jurisdictions.

 

Item 44 of the table to subsection 44(2) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 together with item 7 of Schedule 2 to the Legislative Instruments Regulations 2004 operate to provide that the proposed Regulation would not be subject to disallowance. In addition, item 51 of the table to subsection 54(2) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 together with item 4 of Schedule 3 to the Legislative Instruments Regulations 2004 operate to provide that the proposed Regulation would not be subject to sunsetting.