WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest
does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be
consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the
Bill.
CONTENTS
Road Transport Reform (Heavy Vehicles Registration) Bill
1996
Date Introduced: 4 December 1996
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Transport and Regional
Development
Commencement: The Bill does not contain a
commencement date. Under section 5(1A) of the Acts Interpretation
Act 1901 (Cwlth), an Act commences 28 days after Royal Assent has
been given, unless the contrary intention appears in the Act.
The purpose of the Road Transport Reform (Heavy Vehicles
Registration) Bill 1996 (the Bill) is to provide for a scheme for
the registration of heavy vehicles in the ACT and Jervis Bay
Territory that can be adopted nationally. While the Bill contains
substantive provisions, regulations made under the legislation will
provide the administrative details of the scheme and enumerate the
obligations of registration authorities and heavy vehicle
operators.
The National Road Transport Commission (the Commission) is an
independent statutory body established as a result of two
Commonwealth, State and Territory agreements. The first, in 1991,
was the Intergovernmental Agreement on Heavy Vehicles. The second,
in 1992, was the Light Vehicles Agreement.
The Commission's genesis can be traced to the desire for
economic restructuring in Australia as a way of improving long term
competitiveness. The Commission's first Annual Report states:
Road transport typically accounts for 5-10 per cent of the costs
of Australia's primary products and 2-7 per cent of the costs of
manufactures. Future economic prosperity will depend substantially
on our ability to contain and reduce the cost shares of traded
commodities against our competitors.
The variety of regulatory frameworks under which Australia's
road transport industry is required to operate is anathema to the
very idea of competitiveness.(1)
The Commission's functions include developing national policies
and laws on road transport and making recommendations to the
Ministerial Council on Road Transport.(2) The 1991 Agreement on
Heavy Vehicles provided that there would be an agreement between
the Commonwealth and the ACT:
... under which the former, with the consent of the latter, will
seek to enact or make the Commonwealth Act and the Commonwealth
Road Transport Legislation for the Australian Capital Territory
which law will be the model on which the pertinent law of the
Parties to this Agreement, other than the Commonwealth and the
Australian Capital Territory will be based.(3)
What is called the 'new national Road Transport Law' is being
developed in six modules: road transport charges, vehicles and
traffic, dangerous goods, registration, driver licensing, and
compliance and enforcement. So far, the Commonwealth Parliament has
enacted the Road Transport Charges (Australian Capital
Territory) Act 1993(4), the Road Transport Reform
(Vehicles and Traffic) Act 1993(5) and the Road Transport
Reform (Dangerous Goods) Act 1995(6). Regulations have also
been made under those statutes.
A legislative package for a national heavy vehicle registration
scheme was finalised by the Commission in 1995-96 but was later the
subject of further consultation and revision in association with
the States and Territories. According to the Commission's Annual
Report, the object of the legislation was to '... eliminate the
differing registration requirements around Australia which are
confusing and expensive to industry and to ensure that registration
procedures and requirements are uniform or consistent.'(7)
Part 1 - Preliminary
Clause 3 of the Bill contains statements of
purpose and intention. The Bill provides for the registration of
heavy vehicles and related matters in the Australian Capital
Territory and the Jervis Bay Territory. It is intended that the
States and the Northern Territory will then adopt the operative
provisions of the legislation, regulations made under the
legislation, and any amendments to the legislation - thus
accomplishing uniform national laws on heavy vehicle registration.
Clause 3(3) states that the Act and adopted laws
'... are intended to improve road safety and transport efficiency,
and reduce the costs of administering road transport.'
Clause 5 deals with the interpretation of
provisions in the legislation. It provides that, with minor and
administrative qualifications, the Acts Interpretation Act
1901 (Cwlth) governs the interpretation of the
legislation.
Clause 6(1) of the Bill states that the
legislation is taken to be a law made by the ACT Legislative
Assembly under the Australian Capital Territory
(Self-Government) Act 1988 (Cwlth). A similar clause was
inserted into the Road Transport Reform (Vehicles and Traffic)
Act 1993 (Cwlth) by the Transport Legislation Amendment
Act (No.2) 1995 (Cwlth). The purpose of the provision was '...
to ensure that the operation of the Act within the Australian
Capital Territory is regulated by the Australian Capital Territory
administrative procedures.'(8) Clause 6(2) adds
that clause 6(1) does not empower the ACT
Legislative Assembly to amend or repeal the legislation.
Clause 7 provides that the Act will cease to be
in force when the National Road Transport Commission Act
1991 ceases to be in force.
Part 2 - Registration System
Registration Authority
Division 1 of Part 2 provides for the
establishment of a registration authority in the ACT and Jervis Bay
Territory. The functions of the registration authority are set out
in clause 9 and include administering the
registration system established by the regulations, maintaining a
register of heavy vehicles, and collecting registration and permit
charges. Clause 10 enumerates the powers of the
registration authority - including registering or refusing to
register a heavy vehicle, renewing or refusing to renew
registration, making registration subject to conditions, collecting
permit and registration charges, cancelling or suspending
registration and, in some circumstances, setting the gross
combination mass(9) and the gross vehicle mass(10) of motor
vehicles. Clause 11 provides that the registration
authority must not register a heavy vehicle unless satisfied that
the vehicle's garage address is in its jurisdiction.
Regulations
Division 2 of Part 2 enables the making of
regulations. The overall purposes of the regulations are set out in
clause 17(1). These are to provide a system for
registering heavy vehicles that use roads or road related
areas(11), authorising that use, and enabling heavy vehicles and
the persons responsible for them to be identified.
Among other things, the regulations may set registration
periods, provide for the calculation of registration charges,
provide for the issue of infringement notices for offences
committed against the regulations, and provide for the recognition
by a registration authority of things done under the corresponding
law of another jurisdiction (clause 17(2)).
Clause 18 provides that specific heavy vehicles
or heavy vehicles of a specified class may be exempted from the
regulations.
There is also provision for a system of review of the decisions
of registration authorities under the regulations (clause
19).
Part 3 - Offences, penalties and evidence
Part 3 of the Bill deals with offences,
penalties and evidence. Offences created by the Bill include using
an unregistered heavy vehicle on a road or road related area
(clause 20), attempting to register or registering
a heavy vehicle by false statements (clause 21),
and using a heavy vehicle contrary to conditions or prohibitions in
a defect notice (clause 22). Some of these
offences - for example, offences set out in clauses 20 and
22 - do not appear to be offences requiring intention or
recklessness. Whether they are offences of strict(12) or absolute
liability will depend on judicial determination - although the
level of penalties suggests that strict rather than absolute
liability is involved.
Clause 23 sets out the obligations of the
registered operator of a heavy vehicle. The registered operator is
defined in clause 2 of the Bill as 'the person
recorded on the register as the person responsible for the
vehicle.' The obligations of the registered operator include
complying with applicable third party insurance and stamp duty
legislation, and complying with the requirements of regulations
made under the Act.
Clause 24 sets penalties for offences against
the Act. These vary according to whether the offender is an
individual or a corporation and whether the offence is a first or
subsequent offence. In the case of a first offence for an
individual the maximum penalty is $2,500 and, in the case of a
first offence for a corporation the maximum penalty is $12,500.
Clause 24(2) and (3) enable offences and
penalties for breaches of the regulations to be created by
regulations made under the legislation. Clause
24(3) provides that the maximum penalty for an offence
against the regulations is $2,000 for an individual and $10,000 for
a corporation.
Part 4 - General
Clauses 26 and 27 enable the responsible
Minister to suspend or vary regulations and to include or exclude
specified areas and roads from the application of the Act or
regulations. Where the Minister orders the suspension or variation
of regulations, the order must be consistent with provisions
relating to such orders contained in the intergovernmental
agreements scheduled to the National Road Transport Commission
Act 1991 (Cwlth).
Clause 28 enables the police or the
registration authority to inspect heavy vehicles in certain
circumstances, and to issue defect notices, impose conditions on
the use of the vehicle or prohibit the use of the vehicle.
Clause 28(4) enables the police or a member of the
registration authority to seize documents, plates and devices in or
on the vehicle if they suspect on reasonable grounds that the
documents, plates or devices are being used in committing an
offence against the Act or regulations.
- National Road Transport Commission (NRTC), Annual Report 1992,
p.2.
- National Road Transport Commission, Annual Report 1996. The
Ministerial Council for Road Transport consists of Commonwealth,
State and Territory Transport and Road Ministers.
- National Road Transport Commission Act 1991 (Cwlth), Schedule,
Recital G(a).
- The purpose of the Road Transport Charges (Australian Capital
Territory) Act 1993 was to provide for annual registration charges
for vehicles over 4.5 tonnes and permit charges for vehicles over
125 tonnes.
- The purpose of the Road Transport Reform (Vehicles and Traffic)
Act 1993 was to enable regulations to be made dealing with vehicle
standards, driving hours, road rules, mass and loading, and
oversize and overmass vehicles and combinations.
- The purpose of the Road Transport Reform (Dangerous Goods) 1995
was to regulate the transportation of dangerous goods by road.
- NRTC, Annual Report 1996, p.9.
- Transport Legislation Amendment Bill (No.2) 1995, Explanatory
Memorandum, p.42.
- Gross combination mass (GCM) is defined in clause 2 of the Bill
and is the 'greatest possible sum of the maximum loaded mass of the
motor vehicle and of any vehicles that may lawfully be towed by it
at one time.'
- Gross vehicle mass (GVM) is defined in clause 2 of the Bill and
is 'the maximum loaded mass of the vehicle.'
- The expression 'road related area' is defined in clause 2 of
the Bill. The definition includes areas such as an area dividing a
road, footpaths or nature strips adjacent to a road, public areas
used by cyclists, animals, drivers, riders or for parking motor
vehicles.
- An offence of strict liability allows for a defence of honest
and reasonable mistake. An offence of absolute liability does
not.
Jennifer Norberry
31 January 1997
Bills Digest Service
Information and Research Services
This Digest does not have any official legal status. Other
sources should be consulted to determine whether the Bill has been
enacted and, if so, whether the subsequent Act reflects further
amendments.
IRS staff are available to discuss the paper's contents
with Senators and Members and their staff but not with members of
the public.
ISSN 1323-9031
Commonwealth of Australia 1996
Except to the extent of the uses permitted under the
Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including
information storage and retrieval systems, without the prior
written consent of the Parliamentary Library, other than by Members
of the Australian Parliament in the course of their official
duties.
Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library,
1997.
This page was prepared by the Parliamentary Library,
Commonwealth of Australia
Last updated: 21 March 1997
Back to top