Page 1059 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 6 May 2014
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and requirements for the contents and accessibility of the national rail safety register to be maintained by the regulator.
The national law applies to railways with a track gauge of more than 600 millimetres, which means that in the ACT the Kingston miniature railway and the Weston Park railway are not covered by these provisions. However, the Australian Railway Historical Society and New South Wales trains will be covered by the national law.
The national law allows jurisdictions to prescribe that the national law does not apply to a railway or a railway of a certain class within that jurisdiction. This means that the ACT government will be able to decide whether or not the national law will apply to light rail, should it be constructed in the ACT.
This bill excludes the regulator from certain ACT laws. Instead the regulator is governed by provisions contained in the national law. The government has indicated that the ACT laws which do not apply to the regulator are the Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act 2004, the Auditor-General Act 1996, the Criminal Code, the Financial Management Act 1996, the Freedom of Information Act 1989, the Government Procurement Act 2001, the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2012, the Public Sector Management Act 1994, and the Territory Records Act 2002.
Provisions relating to drug and alcohol testing are contained in participating jurisdictions’ own legislation. In the ACT the provisions ensure that existing drug and alcohol testing processes that apply under the Road Transport (Alcohol and Drugs) Act 1977 can be applied to testing of rail safety workers by police under the national law.
I note that the minister intends to move some amendments to the bill in response to comments from the scrutiny committee. The first four amendments narrow the powers of police to remove anything from a person taken into custody for breath analysis, oral fluid analysis or blood testing. The final amendment inserts a derivative use immunity provision in relation to answers, information or documents provided or obtained under the national law. The opposition will be supporting these amendments.
In conclusion the opposition is pleased to support this bill which brings the ACT into line with other states and territories in relation to rail safety.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (11.42): I will support the passage of this bill. It implements the local element of a rail safety regulation scheme that has been developed nationally. The process started in 2009 and involved the cooperative work of all states and territories as well as stakeholders. The new system establishes the National Rail Safety Regulator to administer a nationally consistent rail safety law. Both the regulator and the law are hosted by South Australia. The reforms also established the Australian Transport Safety Bureau to operate as a national rail safety investigator.
The rationale of the harmonised laws is to improve safety outcomes in rail and to reduce regulatory burdens and increase efficiency. Before these reforms rail operators,
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