User:Con Belacoski/Marine Safety act

The Marine Safety Act 2010 (the Act or MSA) is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia to regulate the safety of ships, boats and other marine craft and related matters in that State. The statute is predominantly aimed at preventing deaths and injuries arising from vessel operations and establishes a modern "best practice" regulatory framework aimed at maintaining and improving the Victorian marine sector's safety record.

Introduction

The Marine Safety Act contains a range of general safety duties and requirements for permissions to operate which cover both commercial and recreational vessels and the persons who operate them. The Act also contains a range of offences affecting the operation of vessels and provisions relating to enforcement and disciplinary actions. In addition, the Act contains a series of measures relating to management of waterways and the setting of general and localised rules about the operation of water craft in Victorian waters.

The Marine Safety Act largely replaced provisions in the Marine Act 1988, Victoria's previous lead marine statute. The Marine Safety Act did not, however, entirely replace the Marine Act and left in place residual provisions dealing with drug, alcohol and pollution controls. As a result, the Marine Act remains in place but in an abridged form and as a subordiante statute to the Marine Safety Act. The Marine Act was also given a new name - the Marine (Drug, Alcohol and Pollution Control) Act 1988.

The MSA was the final product of the major Transport Legislation Review conducted by the Department of Transport between 2004 and late 2010. The Act received bipartisan support during its development and passage. It was was passed by Parliament in xxx 2010 and commenced on xxxx 2011.

The Marine Safety Act forms part of the transport policy and legislation framework in Victoria headed by the Transport Integration Act. As a result, the application of the Marine Safety Act is subject to the overarching transport system vision, transport system objectives and decision making principles set out in the Transport Integration Act.

The responsible Minister for the Marine Safety Act is the Minister for Ports, the Hon Dr Denis Napthine MLA.

Outline

The stated purpose of the Marine Safety Act Act is "...to provide for safe marine operations in Victoria". The objects of the Act center on the safety of marine operations, management of safety risks, continuous improvement in marine safety management, public confidence in the safety of bus transport, appropriate stakeholder involvement and the existence of a safety culture in the marine operating environment.

The Act also contains a number of overarching policy principles relating to shared responsibility for safety, accountability for managing safety risks, enforcement, transparency, stakeholder involvement and equity of use of Victorian waterways.

The Act establishes a regulatory scheme with the following key elements -

• a number of performance-based safety duties which apply to the broad range of parties who can affect bus safety outcomes
• provision for registration of recreational vessels
• requirements for persons to hold a general marine licence to operate vessels
• certification of commercial vessels and operation
• certificates of competency and local knowledge certificates
• vessel operating requirements
• a broad range of enforcement provisions
• schemes for management of waterways
• controls on the licensing etc of harbour masters
• controls on ships pilots
• provisions relating to administration

The case for a new regulatory scheme

The Marine Safety Act was developed as a response to xxxd the emergence of a greater safety risks and in recognition of the deficiencies of the previous regulatory scheme.

Before the MSA, marine safety in Victoria was regulated by an operator accreditation scheme in the former Public Transport Competition Act 1995 and by miscellaneous prescriptive offences in the Transport (Passenger Vehicles) Regulations 2005. Compared with best practice regimes, the previous scheme was outmoded and inadequate.

Some of the problems with the previous regime were -

• xxx

Parts

The Marine Safety Act is divided into ten chapters -

1. Preliminary
2. Marine Safety Duties
3. Operation of Vessels
4. Enforcement
5. Management of Waters
6. Harbour Masters
7. Pilotage
8. General
9. Savings and Transitional Provisions
10. Amendments to Other Acts

Coverage

The Marine Safety Act regulates the safety compliance small commercial vessels and all recreational vessels operating in Victoria. Large commercial vessels are regulated under Commonwealth jurisdiction under the Navigation Act 1912.

The former Public Transport Competition Act regime focused exclusively on large buses. The BSA extended the definition of 'bus' in line with the Australian Design Rules, which define a bus as a passenger vehicle with 10 or more seating positions including the driver. The definition refers to buses 'as built'. This means that if a vehicle is built as a bus, subsequent modifications, including reducing the number of seats, will not alter its status under the scheme.

Accordingly, a bus built with 10 seats remains a bus even if some of those seats are removed. This ensures that safety regulation is not avoided by making alterations to the vehicle. Some flexibility is provided by allowing for vehicles and services to be opted in or out of the definition.

For example, a vehicle that would otherwise be a bus, but is licensed as a taxi, is excluded so that the operator is not subject to double regulation.

Duties

Chain of responsibility

In order to foster more proactive risk management in the marine sector, Chapter 2 of the MSA imposes performance-based duties of care on all sector participants who are in a position to influence the safety of operations - what is called the 'chain of responsibility'.

Safety duties apply to all marine services, both commercial and non-commercial. The primary duty holder under the Bus Safety Act is the operator of the bus service, as the person who has effective responsibility and control over the whole operation.

Commercial marine parties and workers

Safety duties are also imposed on a range of other people including -

• port management bodies including port authorities such as the Port of Melbourne Corporation and the Port of Hastings Development Authority and channel operators such as the Victorian Regional Channels Authority

• owners of commercial vessels

• designers, manufacturers and suppliers of vessels

• suppliers of marine safety infrastructure operations to port management bodies

• suppliers of vessel operations to owners of commercial vessels

• marine safety workers.

All of these persons can affect marine safety. The persons are generally required by the Act to ensure that, in carrying out their activities, they eliminate risks to health and safety if 'practicable' - or work to reduce those risks 'so far as is reasonably practicable'.

This familiar practicability formula is borrowed from Victoria's Rail Safety Act (and the subsequent national model Rail Safety Bill), the Bus Safety Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004.

Recreational

Safety duties are also contained in the Act for parties in the recreational boating sector. The duties focus on the taking of reasonable care and the avoidance of intentional, wilful and reckless behaviour which can affect safety outcomes. The safety duties apply to -

• the master of a recreational vessel

• a person operating a recreational vessel under the direction of its master.

Passengers

The Marine Safety Act also imposes duties on passengers who are on board any vessel. Again, the duties focus on the taking of reasonable care and the avoidance of intentional, wilful and reckless behaviour which affects safety.

Safety culture

Safety duties of this kind are a key aspect of modern safety regulation and tend to create a shared safety awareness, a proactive approach to safety management and adaptability to new circumstances - in other words, a safety culture.

The framework of safety duties in the Act seeks to give practical effect to the so-called "chain of responsibility" concept in the marine safety sector. The concept seeks to identify the parties who are in a sufficient position of control over risks, in this case to safety, and to allocate responsibility by law accordingly.

Penalties for a breach of safety duties under the Marine Safety Act are potentially high, with maximum penalties reflecting those that can be imposed on duty holders in the rail and bus sectors and in the OHS area. Penalties vary among natural person and body corporate offenders.

The general approach taken in the Marine Safety Act - to encourage a safety culture by imposing safety duties and risk management obligations on persons in a chain of responsibility - is strongly supported by the report on transport safety regulation released in October 2008 by the NSW Efficient Transportation Marketplace Working Group. The report effectively endorsed Victoria's and the nation's safety regime directions and suggested that a similar approach, particularly focusing on performance-based duties, be taken with all transport.

Nature of duties

The typical formulation of a safety duty for a commercial party specifies that persons covered by Chapter 3 of the Act must satisfy in this category is that they must "so far as is reasonably practicable, ensure the safety..." of the relevant marine service or activity..

The formulation of the duty can, however, vary according to the party covered. For example, a marine safety worker is required to take "...reasonable measures to ensure the safety of persons who may be affected by the acts or omissions of the marine safety worker...".

Similarly, duties for the recreational sector are very different to those in the commercial area. The duties there tend to focus on the taking of reasonable care and the avoidance of intentional, wilful and reckless behaviour which affects safety.

Permissioning

Part 4 of the Bus Safety Act contains provision for two permissioning schemes - an accreditation scheme and a registration scheme. These schemes apply according to whether the operator runs a commercial service for profit or a local bus service or a not for profit service such as those typically offered by clubs and associations.

The BSA seeks to strike a balance between the need to ensure that non commercial bus services are operated safely without requiring onerous requirements and therefore threatening the viability of community services, such as buses provided by local councils, clubs or community organisations.

This led to the requirement in the Act for the most risky bus services - commercial services and local services - to be subject to accreditation requires while less risky not for profit services were subject to a lesser registration obligation.

Accreditation

The key party responsible for the direct operation of commercial bus services in Victoria, the bus operator, is not permitted to operate under the Act unless granted accreditation under the BSA by the regulator.

The purpose of accreditation is to attest that a person who operates a commercial bus service or a local bus service has demonstrated the competence and capacity to manage the risks to safety associated with their bus operations.

The matters applicants are required to demonstrate under the scheme are that they have, "...and will continue to have, the competence and capacity to operate a commercial bus service or local bus service safely.".

Matters relevant to satisfying that test include whether the applicant has completed an approved training course and any other matters prescribed by regulations or declared by the Safety Director.

Reduced reliance on accreditation

In addition to safety duties, the requirement to be accredited was continued by the BSA for operators of commercial services which use medium to large buses, as well as local councils which use medium to large buses to provide a local service that is available to the general public.

The accreditation scheme under previous legislation was streamlined and strengthened by the Bus Safety Act to focus more clearly on safety. It no longer focuses on business competence, and reduced the regulatory burden by relieving accredited operators of the need to obtain periodic renewal of their accreditation.

New probity standards were also introduced by the BSA, with the inclusion of disqualification offences - essentially past criminal convictions which, depending on their seriousness, may disqualify an applicant from obtaining accreditation thereby excluding the person from operating a bus.

Additional effort required in demonstrating safety competence to the regulator, and the additional regulator vigilance involved in accreditation, are reasonably required for commercial and local services that include medium to large buses - those services that are the most visible are spending the most time on the road, carrying the largest number of passengers and usually serving the general public.

These services intrinsically have a higher safety risk. Therefore it was important that the new accreditation scheme promotes and maintains public confidence in these services.

Significantly, the BSA makes it clear that the concept of 'commercial' includes so-called 'courtesy services' - that is, where the passenger is carried free because they have paid for a service to which the transport is ancillary - with hotel shuttles the most familiar example.

Registration

The Bus Safety Act introduced safety regulation controls on mini buses such as thisToyota Coaster hospital minibus in Hong Kong.

The Bus Safety Act does not require accreditation for operators of non-commercial bus services, or services that rely exclusively on minibuses - buses with 10-12 seats. These services are, however, subject to the same range of safety duties as applies to other bus services.

They are also required by the Act to be registered with the safety regulator, enabling the regulator to take proactive compliance steps or responsive action as necessary. In addition, the specific guidance contained in codes of practice can enhance compliance by operators of these services.

Compliance

The BSA enables the safety director to apply to the bus sector the wide array of enforcement powers and sanctions, consistent with modern safety schemes.

These provisions give the safety director regulatory tools including improvement notices (which require a duty holder to remedy a safety breach) and, in more critical circumstances, prohibition notices (which enable the safety director to prohibit the duty holder from carrying out an unsafe activity until the situation is remedied).

In each case, failure to comply with the notice is an offence. The Rail Safety Act and Road Safety Act 1986 give courts a wide range of sentencing options after a finding of guilt is made in relation to a safety offence. These, too, were made available by the BSA in relation to bus safety offences.

The compliance-related provisions to support the Bus Safety Act were not included in that Act. Instead, they were included in the Transport (Compliance and Miscellaneous) Act 1983 as part of the holistic restructuring of Victorian transport legislation driven by the Transport Legislation Review.

The compliance support scheme centres on provisions which enable the appointment of authorised officers, the conferral of coercive powers and the availability of a range of administrative and court-based sanctions.

The key elements are -

• appointment of transport safety officers
• powers relating to entry to railway premises, inspection, securing sites, use of force and seizure of things
• powers to search, enter and require production of documents and information and to require name and address details
• sanctions and penalties such as improvement notices, prohibition notices and infringement notices
• powers to initiate prosecutions, receive safety undertakings and impose commercial benefits penalty orders, supervisory intervention orders, exclusion orders and adverse publicity orders.

Responsible regulator

Main article: Director, Transport Safety

The responsible regulator for the application and enforcement of the Marine Safety Act, and therefore the regulation of the safety performance of the marine sector in Victoria, is the Director, Transport Safety.

The Director operates under the trading name, Transport Safety Victoria. The office of the Director is established under the Transport Integration Act 2010 and is independent of the Department of Transport and responsible Ministers, except in limited circumstances.

Development

Main article: Transport Legislation Review

Regulatory scheme

The development of the proposal for the Marine Safety Act was managed by the Department of Transport in Victoria as part of its broader Transport Legislation Review project.

The Department released a discussion paper - Improving Marine Safety in Victoria - outlining the broad policy framework for an updated marine safety regulation scheme legislation in xxx 2009.

The paper outlined a series of concerns about the former marine safety regulation framework in Victoria including concerns about safety trends and outcomes and comparisons with schemes in overseas jurisdictions.

Comments on the discussion paper were requested from industry parties and other interested stakeholders. xx comments were received on the paper. Comments received from industry, government and other stakeholders resulted in the refinement of the proposal and changes to its design.

Ultimately, the proposals for a new marine safety regulation scheme was presented to the Victorian Parliament as proposed legislation in xxx 2009.

Parliamentary approval

Introduction

The Marine Safety Act was introduced into the lower house of the Victorian Parliament, the Legislative Assembly, as the Marine Safety Bill, on xxx 2009. The responsible Minister for the proposal was the then Minister for Roads and Ports, the Hon Tim Pallas MP.

The Minister moved the second reading of the Marine Safety Bill on xxx 2009 and set the context for the Bill in his speech in support as follows -

"This Bill introduces a modern regulatory framework for the safety of marine operations in Victorian waters. It responds to the significant changes in safety risks for both commercial and recreational vessels that have occurred since the Marine Act 1988 came into effect more than two decades ago.

The bill is the outcome of a comprehensive review of the Marine Act involving detailed consultation with all interest groups in the shipping and boating sectors across the State. It is the latest major reform to come out of the broad Transport Legislation Review, which has already delivered contemporary new regulatory regimes for rail safety and bus safety.

The bill reflects the contemporary policy framework in Victoria's new principal transport statute, the Transport Integration Act 2010.

It recognises the role of water transport in an integrated and sustainable transport system and advances the new act's objectives for the transport system."

The Minister pointed to the challenges evident in the marine sector -

"The number of vessels on Victorian waters has been increasing each year. Sustained growth in international shipping, interstate and intrastate commercial traffic, and recreational boating activities has created congestion in some areas, and this can be expected to continue into the future. The 14-year drought has shifted recreational traffic away from shrinking and stressed inland waterways to coastal waters and concentrating traffic on those inland waterways that are still useable. Lower water levels on inland waterways have further increased safety risks by exposing snags or bringing them closer to the surface.

At 30 June this year, Victoria had 1421 'domestic' commercial vessels and a further 204 were being constructed or undergoing initial survey. The vast majority of these are restricted to intrastate voyages, while the remaining commercial fishing vessels travel interstate on occasions and are classed as itinerant.

More than 200 000 recreational vessels are registered in Victoria: more than 170 000 powered vessels and approximately 40 000 unpowered vessels. More than 330 000 Victorians have recreational boat operator licences. A new generation of people is getting involved in recreational boating. Their knowledge, experience and attitude to safety often differs from earlier generations. At the same time, the modern vessels and equipment at their disposal are relatively cheaper, more powerful and harder to maintain in the backyard. Hoon behaviour, unfortunately, has become all too common. Hoons are only a small minority, but their antisocial activities have a disproportionate impact on boating safety.

While the number of fatalities on the water remains relatively stable, two clear statistical trends are cause for concern:

   The number and severity of boating related injuries is increasing significantly. 

   Hospitalisations caused by boating accidents went up 100 per cent over the five years from 2002-03 to 2007-08. 

   During the same period, the number of vessel disablements, near misses and other incidents -- precursors for injuries and deaths -- rose by 84 per cent. 

The Minister then provided detail about the process of reviewing the former Marine Act 1988 -

"The review of the Marine Act commenced in late 2008. Key stakeholders were invited to a series of workshops and their input assisted to develop four discussion papers detailing the issues and options for reform. The discussion papers were released for public comment in July 2009, followed by an intensive consultation program. This included a total of 26 information sessions across the state in August-September 2009. More than 800 people attended an information session and 401 written submissions were received from 385 respondents. Summaries of commercial and recreational stakeholder feedback were published in February 2010, and the government's proposed response was outlined to key stakeholder groups at two ministerial briefings in March 2010.

It is hard to think of a more comprehensive consultation program on proposed legislation in Victoria's history. The review concluded, essentially, that a safety revolution is not required. Rather, the changing circumstances on the water, supported by the statistical trends relating to injuries and incidents, make a case for incremental change. The Bill aims to update and modernise marine safety regulation while retaining much of the existing scheme that has stood the test of time.

Alignment with the national reform processes

Australia is moving towards a single national system of regulation in marine safety and other areas of transport.

The Council of Australian Governments transport reform agenda aims to centralise the regulation of commercial vessels under commonwealth administration.

As part of this important work, the Commonwealth Navigation Act 1912 -- described in a previous review as 'archaic' -- is being examined with a view to a major rewrite.

The national reform effort over the next few years should lead to a modern and coherent national marine safety framework.

Victoria is fully committed to playing its part in improving marine safety outcomes across the country and is working actively with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, the commonwealth and other jurisdictions to progress the national reforms.

Victoria's reform work dovetails neatly with these developments and supports the increasing regulatory harmonisation in the marine sector. The Marine Safety Bill adopts current national settings in a number of areas.

As with other Victorian transport legislation in recent years, it is also expected that the Marine Safety Bill and its underlying policy will influence and inform the national reform process.

Reforms already implemented

The Marine Act review consultation program identified two legislative amendments that warranted immediate action and the government moved quickly to bring them into effect in December 2009 ahead of the summer boating season.

The first reform was to introduce Australia's first hoon boating laws -- modelled on the successful hoon driving laws.

The hoon boating scheme, which is now remade in this bill, provides new powers and tougher sanctions to assist water police and waterway managers in dealing with the growing incidence of dangerous antisocial behaviour on the water.

Under the staged introduction of the scheme, police are empowered to place an embargo notice on a vessel which has been operated in a dangerous manner, banning it from being on the water for up to 48 hours. Police can also order a person involved in operating a vessel dangerously off the water for up to 24 hours.

Powers to seize vessels, impound vessels and seek forfeiture of vessels are also provided in the legislation.

It is planned that these additional powers will come into effect from 1 September 2011.

The second reform was to increase the range of criminal sanctions available where operation of a marine vessel causes death or serious injury.

The Crimes Act was amended to extend the road offences of culpable driving causing death and dangerous driving causing death or serious injury to the recreational boating sector.

This closed a significant gap in the hierarchy of sanctions available. Previously there had been no option between the Marine Act offence of dangerous operation of a vessel (maximum penalty 2 years jail) and the Crimes Act offence of manslaughter (maximum penalty 20 years jail).

The new crime of culpable operation of a vessel causing death carries a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment, with a maximum of 10 years for dangerous operation of a vessel causing death and a maximum of 5 years for dangerous operation of a vessel causing serious injury.

The Minister then outlined the key reforms contained in the Marine Safety Bill -

"The bill aims to provide a contemporary framework for marine safety regulation that is consistent with key features of earlier safety reforms under the government's comprehensive transport legislation review -- in particular, the Rail Safety Act 2006 and the Bus Safety Act 2009. The bill also works in concert with the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004.

The more significant changes from the existing marine safety scheme include the following:

The bill includes objectives and sets out marine safety principles. The principles provide clarity and transparency about how the safety director and the government can be expected to act when regulating the sector.

Safety duties are included in the Bill. These generally mirror the existing duties under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and therefore do not create major new obligations. Importantly, however, their inclusion in the Bill enables the marine safety regulator (the safety director) to monitor and enforce compliance. This change will establish a clear, effective and efficient working relationship between the safety director and WorkSafe. It also provides consistency between safety statutes.

For the commercial marine sector, the legislation creates a clear 'chain of responsibility' involving all parties who have a role in ensuring safety.

For the recreational marine sector, the bill provides that all persons who take part in boating activities -- not just the master of the vessel -- have a duty to take reasonable care.

Owners of commercial vessels are required to have a safety management plan certified by the safety director, in line with the nationally agreed reform (part E of the National Standard for Commercial Vessels).

The Bill provides for new licence endorsement requirements to be introduced in regulations. Under this provision, the operators of certain types of vessels (for example, large vessels carrying more than 12 passengers) or vessels undertaking certain types of activity (for example, high-speed water sports) may be required to demonstrate that they possess the necessary knowledge and skills to operate those vessels or undertake those activities safely. They would have to obtain the relevant licence endorsement in the same way that a motorist has to obtain a licence endorsement to drive a heavy articulated vehicle or a motorcycle.

The Bill provides for a new system of seaworthiness checks to be introduced in regulations. The recent recommendations of the coroner -- in relation to the double fatality when a recently purchased boat exploded after being refuelled at pier 35 -- will be taken into account when these regulations are made.

The Bill introduces owner onus for speed and zone offences.

Owner onus applies on the roads and the case for applying it in the marine context is even stronger due to the greater practical difficulties faced by marine enforcement agencies in chasing and apprehending offenders.

The Safety Director's powers to suspend or cancel licences and certificates are set out in the Bill. In the past these triggers and procedures have been specified in the regulations. The provisions in the Bill will provide improved consistency and transparency.

The Bill provides greater capacity to set up exclusion zones and establish temporary traffic management arrangements for events (e.g., -- Moomba water sports on the Yarra). These provisions are designed to reduce risks when works are being undertaken and mitigate the consequences of an emergency.

The bill introduces a new power to test for drug and alcohol impairment when a vessel is at anchor. This aims to ensure that at least one licensed person is fit to operate a boat safely and legally in circumstances such as deteriorating weather conditions or a medical emergency.

Introducing requirements such as new licence endorsements and seaworthiness checks in the regulations, rather than incorporating them in the primary legislation, provides the flexibility to respond to marine safety issues as they arise and ensures that each new proposal will be scrutinised in a regulatory impact statement and subject to a public consultation process."

Consistent with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the duty owed by employer groups is to ensure safety, so far as is reasonably practicable, whereas the duty owed by marine safety workers is to take reasonable care by, for example, cooperating with their employer to effectively implement safe systems of work.

The duty to take reasonable care is applied to the full range of parties involved in the operation of recreational vessels: the master, other persons facilitating or controlling the movement of the vessel, and passengers.

In addition, there are a number of more material changes to:

   the Transport Compliance and Miscellaneous Act (to continue the centralisation of the general entry, search, seizure and investigation powers of transport safety officers), and 

   the Transport Integration Act (to amend relevant definitions and the objects of the safety director so that the safety director's objects are consistent with those of the new legislation). 

The remaining parts of the Marine Act 1988 are to be incorporated in a renamed statute entitled the Marine (Drug, Alcohol and Pollution Control) Act 1988.

The Minister concluded by observing that -

"This Bill demonstrates the benefits of undertaking comprehensive periodic review of safety regulation so that legislation can be updated to take account of changed circumstances. This approach is continuing through the wider transport legislation review, which will now focus on a full review of the Road Safety Act and further reform of taxi legislation.

This Bill also demonstrates the benefits of close consultation with key stakeholders and the community as part of an effective review process. The outcome is a modern regulatory scheme that responds to the contemporary challenges for maintaining and improving safety on Victorian waters.

I commend the bill to the House."

Debate

The Bill which became the Marine Safety Act was considered by the Victorian Parliament between xxx 2009 and xxx 2009.

The Marine Safety Bill was supported by opposition members and was the subject of minimal negative comment during its passage. The then Opposition shadow Ports Minister, Terry Mulder MP, commented that -

"I know the Bill focuses very much on safety, but certainly the experience that I have had over the years working with businesses - putting in place accredited systems and business management systems - is that really at the end of the day you should make money. A business should function a hell of a lot better if it has an accreditation scheme in place.

As to this issue dealing with safety, it may well be that a company's buses are maintained at a higher level and that it does not then suffer the risk of breakdown, maintenance failures and a loss of reputation because of the failure of its equipment.

I believe accreditation has a great place in a lot of businesses and a lot of operations, providing it does one of two things: one, today you look at the safety regime, because a safety regime is very important; and two, you have to make sure you get a financial benefit out of it, because when you get a business that is being screwed or under enormous financial pressure, it tends to start to drift away from putting money into areas where it should, such as safety.

What I would say to Bus Association Victoria members is, firstly, embrace the issue of safety, and secondly, make sure your accreditation schemes provide you with the opportunity to enhance your business, improve your bottom line and become a better operation as a result of it.

As I say, the opposition will not oppose the Bill before the House. I have raised a couple of concerns that we have in relation to the Bill and trust that the Minister will pick those up."

The then Parliamentary Secretary for Public Transport, Rob Hudson MP, observed that -

"This Bill is really all about improving the safety of bus operations in Victoria.

I think we need to recognise that there is already a high level of bus safety and bus safety standards that apply to buses in Victoria, and this Bill enhances those and takes them to a new level.

Buses are playing an increasingly important role in our public transport system. For the 2008 calendar year there were nearly 98 million passengers on our buses, which is an increase of 12.9 per cent. They are experiencing the highest growth in patronage since 1949-50. We have a huge increase in bus use at the moment. With the increasing role that buses are playing in the transport network, it is important for us to ensure that we have included all buses that are out there providing commercial bus services.

The problem with the current regime is that it is prescriptive, it is limited in its scope and it is unclear. It focuses only on the operator of the bus service.

This legislation extends that to all the players in the bus sector. The part of the industry that has been regulated to date, the part that has been accredited really in many respects, is going to face a reduced regulatory burden as a result of this Bill because those companies will not be required, as they are now, to renew their accreditation every three years. Instead what they will find is their accreditation will be ongoing and will be subject to audit.

The real impact of the Bill is going to be felt mainly in the case of minibuses, which are currently completely unregulated - they are, typically, buses with 10 to 12 seats.

There are about 5500 of those buses out there, and they are going to be brought within the scope of bus safety regulation for the first time. That represents about 40 per cent of all the buses that are out there in the bus sector, so I think that is where this Bill is going to have the biggest impact, bringing those buses into the bus safety regime. They are going to do that principally, depending on whether they are a commercial bus or not, through the registration scheme."

In reply, the Minister indicated that -

"The Bill provides a new best practice safety regulation regime for Victoria's growing bus industry. ...

The introduction of this Bill is very timely because it coincides with the largest expansion of the bus network in decades and significant patronage growth on both metropolitan and regional buses.

In short, this Bill will do for the bus sector what the groundbreaking Rail Safety Act did for the rail sector - it will maintain Victoria's position as the national leader in transport policy and legislative reform."

Passage, assent and commencement

Legislative Council debate

A Ventura-operated SmartBus with the new orange and silver livery.

The Bus Safety Bill was passed by the Legislative Assembly on 12 March 2009. The Bill was introduced into the Legislative Council on the same day and second reading was moved immediately. Debate took place in the upper house in late March 2009.

The lead speaker in the upper house debate, David Koch MLC, observed that -

"This is not a large Bill, but it is a common-sense Bill that obviously will see greater safety afforded to our public users, especially smaller volunteer groups, church groups, our elderly, our young and what have you.

This is a transport opportunity we should be supporting. We acknowledge a possible shortcoming in relation to accreditation; that is a concern of ours, and I am sure that as time goes on it will be picked up.

In many ways the Bill mirrors the Rail Safety Act. It is important to have stand-alone Bills in our transport industry, especially given the accidents that occur. We want to have powers to investigate those on an individual basis, not only on a total transport sector basis.

It is important we have the opportunity to recognise and investigate accidents on the grounds of the individual transport mode, be it rail, bus, tramway or whatever. This Bill opens up that opportunity in terms of buses and those who choose to use buses as a mode of transport.

In closing, like Bus Association Victoria we think accreditation across the board may protect users to a greater extent in terms of driver competency, although I am not saying for a second that our volunteer drivers are not competent bus drivers. But further thought should be given at a later date to offering the opportunity for volunteer drivers to become accredited so all parts of the bus industry travel forward as one. I do not think there is one volunteer driver who would not qualify for accreditation, and it is possible that many would wish to be involved in that process.

In closing, we will be supporting the Bill; we will not be opposing the Bill. As I said, this is a good common-sense Bill, and I hope the house supports it as presented.

Lead speaker for the Greens, Colleen Hartland MLC, commented that -

"As has already been stated, the Bus Safety Bill is a sensible and long-overdue piece of legislation. The Bill promotes safety and introduces reasonable and achievable practices and procedures into the bus industry.

It contains a wide range of new provisions, overhauls the accreditation system and addresses problems in the existing system. All those things are good."

The Marine Safety Bill was passed by the Legislative Council on xxx 2010.

Assent and commencement

The Marine Safety Bill received the Royal Assent on xxx 2010 to become the Marine Safety Act 2010. The Act was ultimately permitted to commence on its default commencement date of 31 December 2010.

The Marine Safety Regulations 2010 which were required to support the operation of the Act also operated from the same date thereby formally commencing Victoria's new bus safety regulation scheme.

Changes to the Act

The Act has been subject to minor changes since it was passed in 2010.

See also

• Transport Integration Act
• Department of Transport
• Director, Transport Safety
• Chief Investigator, Transport Safety
• Transport Legislation Review
• Safety
• Transport (Compliance and Miscellaneous) Act 1983

External links

• Department of Transport
• [http://www.ptsv.vic.gov.au/web26/home.nsf Transport Safety Victoria