Page 2036 - Week 06 - Thursday, 7 May 2009
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That this bill be agreed to in principle.
This bill, the Road Transport (Mass, Dimensions and Loading) Bill 2009, seeks to implement the national road transport, compliance and enforcement scheme in the ACT. In November 2003, Australian transport and roads ministers approved the national model road transport reform compliance and enforcement bill developed by the then National Road Transport Commission in conjunction with representatives from federal, state and territory road transport agencies, the police, the heavy vehicle transport industry, the Transport Workers Union, occupational health and safety organisations and road user organisations. The bill was developed to provide a model, nationally consistent and best practice legislative scheme to improve compliance with and enforcement of the road transport laws.
The primary objectives of the model legislation, which is concerned with heavy vehicles and heavy combinations with gross vehicle mass greater than 4.5 tonnes, are to improve road safety, to minimise the adverse impacts that heavy vehicle road transport has on road infrastructure, the environment and public amenity and to make a demonstrable positive change in the on-road behaviour of those involved in the road transport industry. The legislation has the potential to bring about a positive cultural change in how the heavy vehicle transport sector operates, including safer loading practices such as reduced instances of overloading and improved contract arrangements between vehicle operators and receivers such as Woolworths. Improved road safety is expected to be a significant outcome benefiting all road users.
A key feature of the national scheme is the chain of responsibility concept where parties who affect heavy vehicle road transport compliance are made accountable for their acts and omissions. These parties include not only the driver and vehicle operator but also off-road entities such as consigners, packers, loaders and receivers.
New evidentiary and mutual recognition provisions are included that will facilitate investigations of large transport companies that operate across jurisdictions and have breached the heavy vehicle road laws. Jurisdictions will enter into agreements to allow investigations that commence in one jurisdiction to continue across border to enable appropriate evidence to be gathered to ensure successful prosecution.
The scheme includes special enforcement responses such as the issuing of formal warnings and improvement notices. It adopts a risk-based categorisation of mass, dimension and load restraint breaches, ranging from minor to substantial to severe breaches, reflecting the potential risk to safety, road infrastructure and the environment.
The scheme provides significant fines for loading breaches and a range of sanctions to enable the courts to impose a punishment that best fits the offence such as commercial benefits penalties, supervisory intervention orders, prohibition orders and compensation orders. These sanctions and higher fines will act to deter those operators who deliberately overload for economic benefit, to the detriment of the honest operator, thereby creating a more level playing field in what is a highly competitive industry. The model scheme also provides the framework for future
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