Standing Committee on Communications, Transport and Microeconomic Reform
Tracking Australia
Recommendations
Chapter 2 Effective and efficient use of rail
Recommendation 1
The committee recommends that the Commonwealth assume the leadership
role and consult widely in developing an integrated national transport
strategic plan to be published by 1 July 1999. (paragragh 2.46)
Recommendation 2
The committee recommends that the Commonwealth, in consultation
with States and Territories, enhance the role of rail in the national
transport network by:
- declaring a national track for interstate rail services on the standard
gauge network from Brisbane to Perth
- addressing chronic deficiencies in the interstate national track
- adopting agreed national standards for the condition of the national
track. (paragraph 2.67)
Recommendation 3
The committee recommends that the Commonwealth takes
a strategic approach to provide consistency in rail safety standards and
practices for the national track. (paragraph 2.88)
Recommendation 4
The committee recommends that the Commonwealth provides
a specific one-off grant to standardise signalling, radio and telecommunications,
and safety operations for the national track. (paragraph 2.89)
Recommendation 5
The committee recommends that the Commonwealth in conjunction
with the States/Territories and appropriate parties, develop and accredit
national qualifications based on consistent curricula and accredited training
courses available to all rail employees from approved educational centres.
(paragraph 2.90)
Recommendation 6
The committee recommends that the Commonwealth establish
for the national track:
a rail safety authority
a rail incident investigation unit
to report directly to the appropriate Commonwealth Minister.
(paragraph 2.96)
Recommendation 7
The committee recommends that the Commonwealth, in consultation
with the States/Territories and appropriate parties, immediately develop
a national regulatory framework that promotes operational consistency
in:
accreditation practices
operating procedures and standards
across the national track system and associated jurisdictions
to ensure effectiveness and efficiency. (paragraph 2.116)
Chapter 4 Improved access and utilisation
Recommendation 8
The committee recommends that the Commonwealth amend
Part IIIA of the Trade Practices Act 1974 to provide that,
where the designated Minister does not publish a decision on a declaration
recommendation referred to him or her by the National Competition Council
within sixty days of receiving the recommendation:
- the designated Minister should be taken to have declared the service
(rather than the deemed decision to be in the negative), and
- the expiry date of the declaration will be that as recommended by
the National Competition Council. (paragraph 4.65)
Recommendation 9
The committee recommends that the Australian Transport
Council review public liability insurance to ensure more appropriate coverage
which reflects the level of risk and responsibility of the owners and
operators of public rail infrastructure. (paragraph 4.147)
Recommendation 10
The committee recommends that the Commonwealth ensures
the Australian Rail Track Corporation adopts an access regime providing
for transparent and accountable pricing. Such a regime should include:
- access pricing based on a two part tariff, comprising a flagfall and
a variable component which allocates costs on a user pays basis; and
- posted access pricing by track segment. (paragraph 4.188)
Recommendation 11
The committee recommends that the Commonwealth ensures
that the Australian Rail Track Corporation secures control and management
of the national track, including those sections of the interstate network
currently controlled by State authorities. (paragraph 4.189)
Chapter 5 Effective investment and ownership
arrangements
Recommendation 12
The committee recommends that the Commonwealth develops a more consistent,
equitable approach to transport infrastructure charges to ensure competitive
neutrality between modes. (paragraph 5.81)
Recommendation 13
The committee recommends that the Commonwealth establish a National
Land Transport Commission to provide:
- advice to the Government on a national transport plan; and
- recommendations to the Government on the allocation of funds for rail
and road projects on the strict basis of highest benefit cost ratios,
which address all relevant externalities, such as accidents, congestion,
pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and noise.
Further, the Commonwealth give higher priority to land
transport infrastructure investment within total budget outlays than is
currently the case. (paragraph 5.132)
Recommendation 14
The committee recommends that the Commonwealth:
- undertake responsibility for investment in the declared national track;
- allocate, in addition to the $250 million committed to the Australian
Rail Track Corporation in 1997–98, a further $750 million
over three years for investment in the national track to be expended
according to priorities developed by the Commonwealth and States/Territories;
and
- allocate, on an agreed basis, an additional $2 billion over ten
years from 2001 for investment in rail infrastructure of national strategic
importance, to be directed primarily to the national track, and with
provision for designated tracks of national importance (TONIs). (paragraph
5.167)
Recommendation 15
The committee recommends that the Commonwealth, in consultation
with the States/Territories and relevant parties, develop a rolling maintenance
program, to be funded by the Commonwealth, for the declared national track
to agreed national standards. (paragraph 5.168)
Chapter 6 International best
practice
Recommendation 16
The committee recommends that the transport committee
in the next parliament should review:
- responses by government and industry to the recommendations in this
report
- progress in rail performance by government and industry since the
Bureau of Industry Economics' reports of 1992–95.
(paragraph 6.45)
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