Rail Reform with the NTC
Stuart Hicks
Chairman, National Road Transport Commission
Chairman-elect, National Transport Commission
Two Questions
• What the National Transport
Commission is
• What we plan to do (with your help)
Question One - the NTC
The NRTC Review
• NTC created following NRTC review
– Reforms worth at least $400 million
– Road freight productivity
– Expanded into rail and intermodal arenas
NTC Legislation & Agreement
• September 2003
• Jointly owned by nine Australian
governments
• Seamless transition January 2004
• Doing it
NTC’s Influence
•
•
•
•
•
Controls only its own processes
Is not a transport regulator
“Broker” role
NTC Vision
Doesn’t tell governments what to do
A secret weapon
• Robust Process
Key Characteristics of the
Process
•
•
•
•
•
Prioritised, agreed, achievable timetable
Highly consultative
Rigorous analysis
Regulatory Impact Statements (RIS)
Decision-making mechanism for action
Modus Operandi
• Approach
• Small full-time team
• Six Commissioners
Question Two
NTC’s approach to Rail
• Lead transport regulatory reform
• Focus on safety and efficiency
outcomes
• Pragmatic approach
An eye for the detail ...
Regulatory Reform
• The challenges of a
federal system
• A misapprehension
A view of the NTC
• A government body
• With a predilection towards
regulation…
NTC’s Remit
“Develop, monitor, maintain uniform
and nationally consistent regulatory
and operational reforms…”
NTC Act 2003
“Rail Regulatory Reform”
• Does not mean more regulation
• Progressive reform must look at:
– alternatives to regulatory regime
– reducing amount of regulations
– improving regulations
– making regulations nationally consistent
Regulatory Reform Drivers
• Three key preoccupations ...
1. Minimising ‘dotted line’
problems
• Removing anomalies and inefficiencies
– National consistency for driver only
operations
• Opportunities for Mutual Jurisdictional
Recognition
2. Prioritisation
• Not solving everything overnight
• Runs on the board
• Establishing a way to move forward
together
• Not change for its own sake
• Ensuring regulations are fit for purpose
3. Defining the
Co-Regulatory Framework
•
•
•
•
Who is responsible for what?
How?
What constitutes success?
Understanding government processes
Long and Short-term Utopia and Reality
•
•
•
•
Framework for co-regulation
Turn this into a set of guidelines
Make sure it’s practical
Process can be as important as the
content
Marching under
banners
NTC Work Program for Rail
• Outcomes from the program that will
benefit industry include:
– Defined co-regulatory framework
– Fitness for duty guidelines
– Robust processes for mutual recognition
– Recommended approach for “one stop
shop”
Concluding Comments
The Rail Industry
•
•
•
•
A tough business
Differing agendas
Find space for us please
Nothing simple?
The NTC and the ARA
• We welcome the new ARA
• We hope it will be more than a “lobby”
group
• We have agreed working arrangements
• We need to be open to all views
• We will focus on priority issues
www.ntc.gov.au