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Chapter 1 - Conduct of the inquiry
1.1
The inquiry is into the AusLink (National Land
Transport) Bill 2004 and the AusLink (National Land Transport - Consequential
and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2004. The first is the substantive bill of
interest, and references to ‘the bill’ in this report refer to it.
1.2
The inquiry was referred by the Senate on 9 February 2005 on the recommendation
of the Selection of Bills Committee. The
Selection of Bills Committee noted as issues
for consideration:
1. Questions about the changes to the Commonwealth Government’s
funding responsibility for construction and maintenance of infrastructure on
what was formerly defined as the National Highway Network.
2. The need for a National Infrastructure Advisory Council,
involving stakeholder and expert representation and input into planning.
3. Examine the extension of the criteria for Roads to Recovery
projects to include public transport, cycling, walking infrastructure and
regional airport runways.
1.3
The Committee
advertised the inquiry in The Australian
and invited submissions from State/Territory governments and many peak bodies.
The Committee received 29 submissions (see
Appendix 1) and held two public hearings (see Appendix 2). The Committee
thanks submitters and witnesses for their contribution. Submissions and
transcripts of the Committee’s hearings are available on the Parliament’s
internet site at www.aph.gov.au
The AusLink White Paper
1.4
The bill implements the Government’s June 2004 AusLink
White Paper on Commonwealth land transport infrastructure funding and related
matters. The White Paper is the Government’s response to predicted strong
growth in transport demand, including a predicted doubling of road freight over
the next 20 years. The White Paper ‘sets out $11.8 billion in [Commonwealth]
land transport spending [over five years], including a massive upgrade of
Australia’s east coast road and rail systems.’[1]
1.5
According to the White Paper, AusLink has the following
core components:
- a defined National Network of important road and rail
infrastructure links and their intermodal connections; [2]
- the National Land Transport Plan which outlines the Government’s
approach to improving and integrating the National Network and the investments
it will make;
- a single funding regime, under a new AusLink programme, for
the National Network;
- separately earmarked funding for local and regional transport
improvements;
- new legislative, intergovernmental and institutional
mechanisms.[3]
1.6
Other important new policies in AusLink are:
-
the proposal for ‘shared responsibility’ with
the States for funding the National Network (as opposed to the Commonwealth’s
former full funding of construction and maintenance on the National Highway
System);
- a commitment to ‘corridor strategies’ which will
plan spending in a corridor in an integrated way with a common project approval
regime for road, rail and intermodal projects;
- for the first time, a significant Commonwealth
contribution to upgrading the Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane railway.
1.7
AusLink is not about air or sea transport as such, but
is concerned with intermodal facilities and links to ports and airports. The
White Paper comments:
The Australian Government will closely monitor prospective
trends and developments in air and sea transport. It aims to ensure that
nationally significant infrastructure is planned and developed so that the
efficiency of intermodal linkages continues to be enhanced.[4]
The bill
Funding categories
1.8
The bill defines six categories of funding:
- AusLink National Projects. These relate
to roads, railways or intermodal transfer facilities which are on the National
Land Transport Network which the Minister must declare (sections 5,10) (The
proposed National Land Transport Network is shown in the AusLink White Paper).
- AusLink Transport Development and Innovation
Projects. These relate to planning and research related to development of
the National Land Transport Network (section 30).
- Land transport research entities whose
activities are likely to improve land transport operations (section 46).
- AusLink Strategic Regional Projects.
These relate to roads, railways or intermodal transfer facilities which are not
on the National Land Transport Network. Tests for inclusion include (among
other things) whether the facility is ‘regionally significant’; whether it will
improve safety; whether it will improve access for regional communities to
services and employment (section 55).
- AusLink Black Spot Projects. These relate
to sites, not on the National Land Transport Network, which contribute to
serious motor vehicle crashes involving death or injury (section 71). This
continues the present Black Spot program.
- AusLink Roads to Recovery Program. This
continues the present program under the Roads
to Recovery Act 2000, in which funds are given directly to local councils,
according to a formula, for spending on roads (section 87).
1.9
For each of these categories the bill -
-
empowers the Minister to approve a project/recipient
as falling within the category;
- gives broad criteria to guide the Minister on
whether it is appropriate to approve a project/recipient; and
- empowers the Minister to fund an approved
project/ recipient.
1.10
The criteria to guide the Minister on whether it is
appropriate to approve a project/recipient are expressed at a high level of
generality. Examples are:
- for National Projects: ‘the extent to which the
project will improve the efficiency, security or safety of transport
operations...’ (section 11(b));
- for Strategic Regional Projects: ‘the extent to
which the project is likely to improve a road, railway or inter-modal facility
that is regionally significant...’ (section 55(b))
1.11
These criteria are not mandatory, and the Minister’s
discretion to approve projects is wide: provisions are in the form ‘the matters
to which the Minister may have regard... include, but are not limited to...’[5]
1.12
Funding may be conditional on there being a funding
agreement between the parties. This would enable the Commonwealth to set
detailed conditions on funding. There are no constraints on the type of conditions
that could be included.
1.13
There are general conditions relating to
accountability: recipients must spend the money on the approved project; must
provide audited financial statement; must provide information on request, etc.
1.14
The bill does not itself appropriate money. This would
be done through annual budget appropriations. Proposed Commonwealth spending is
detailed in the White Paper. The AusLink (National Land Transport -
Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2004 contains an appropriation
to cover the purposes of the AusLink bill for the balance of 2004-05.
1.15
The Australian
Land Transport Development Act 1988, which the AusLink bill will replace,
contains a provision allowing the Minister to fund urban public transport
projects which ‘are likely to result in the reduction of the traffic on, or the
wear and tear affecting any road’ (section 7C). The AusLink bill does not
contain any similar provision.
National
Land Transport Plan and Corridor
Strategies
1.16
The Minister may determine a National Land Transport
Plan which ‘sets priorities for expenditure on the National Land Transport
Network’ (section 4). This connects to project approval in that the matters
which the Minister may have regard to in deciding whether it is appropriate to
approve a project include ‘the National Land Transport Plan’ (section 11(b)).
The bill makes no comment on what sort of things the plan should include.
1.17
The Minister may determine ‘corridor strategies’. A
corridor strategy ‘relates to land transport issues affecting a corridor
between two places ... included in the National Land Transport Network.’ (section
4). This connects to project approval in that the matters which the Minister
may have regard to in deciding whether it is appropriate to approve a project
include ‘any relevant Corridor Strategy’ (section 11(b)). The bill makes no comment
on what sort of things a corridor strategy should include. According to the
White Paper corridor strategies will allow ‘managing the total transport needs
of a corridor by the most efficient means available, rather than a modally
based approach’.[6]
1.18
The White Paper indicates that the Government intends
that the White Paper should be the basis of the first national plan, with a
view to its evolutions in future versions:
Future versions of the plan will be based on priorities identified
in corridor strategies, which will be developed progressively for each of the
major corridors that make up the AusLink National Network.[7]
Comment of Scrutiny of Bills Committee
1.19
The Senate Standing Committee
for the Scrutiny of Bills has a brief to consider all bills as to whether they ‘insufficiently
subject the exercise of legislative power to parliamentary scrutiny’ among
other things.
1.20
The Scrutiny of Bills Committee
was concerned by a number of provisions which exclude the Minister’s
determinations from being subject to disallowance by parliament. These relate
to determining the National Land Transport Network (section 5(4)), and various
provisions about approving projects and approving Commonwealth funding of
projects.
1.21
The Scrutiny of Bills Committee
commented:
One difficulty the Committee
has found in considering this legislation is that, in a number of areas, there
is little provided by way of explanation to justify the exclusion of
instruments from the usual tabling and disallowance regime. As a general rule,
the Committee would expect the explanatory
memorandum accompanying a bill to provide sufficient explanation to enable the Committee
and, indeed, the Parliament to assess the need for such an exclusion.[8]
Scope of the report
1.22
The bill, considered narrowly, is essentially a
machinery provision. It defines the types of projects which the Minister may
fund, and sets accountability conditions (funding recipients must provide
audited financial statements etc.).
1.23
The bill does not itself set budgets, or define the
National Network, or set the methodology of corridor strategies, or define
criteria for project approval at a level of detail useful for prioritising
projects.[9] These are matters for
decision pursuant to government policy. Many relevant policies are in the AusLink
White Paper. Achieving their good intentions will depend greatly on the
detailed implementation.
1.24
Most submissions were mostly concerned about implementation
of the policies at the administrative level, rather than the bill considered
narrowly. Some also dealt with matters outside the self-declared scope of AusLink
(for example, whether the Commonwealth should be involved in developing urban
public transport infrastructure). This report mentions the main issues raised
in the hope that the submissions, and the Committee’s comments, will help the Government’s
deliberation on the policy matters, such as the development of the National
Land Transport Plan.
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