Heavy Vehicle National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016

Introduced: 13/9/2016By: Hon S Hinchliffe MPStatus: Withdrawn

Work & Employment Transport & Roads Business & Economy

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Plain English Summary

This is an omnibus bill covering multiple policy areas.

Overview

This bill proposed two big changes: overhauling heavy vehicle safety law to make every party in the transport chain share a 'primary duty of care' with tough new penalties; and setting up the legal framework for $100 million in financial assistance to taxi and limousine licence holders after Queensland deregulated personalised transport. The bill was withdrawn and did not become law in this form — similar heavy vehicle reforms were passed in 2018.

Who it affects

Truck drivers, transport operators, consignors, packers, loaders and company executives would have faced new safety duties and penalties up to $3 million for corporations. Taxi and limousine licence holders would have gained access to transitional assistance payments and hardship grants.

Heavy vehicle safety reform

Replaces dozens of narrow offences with a single 'primary duty' to ensure the safety of transport activities so far as reasonably practicable, mirroring national work health and safety laws. Adds three categories of offences with escalating penalties based on the level of risk and recklessness involved.

Category 1 offence (reckless conduct exposing someone to death or serious injury) carries up to $300,000 or 5 years jail for individuals, and $3 million for corporations
Category 2 and 3 offences apply progressively smaller penalties for breaches without the reckless element
Executives must exercise due diligence — knowing the business, its risks, and ensuring resources and processes are in place to prevent harm
Prosecution now has to prove all elements of an offence, removing the previous reverse onus of proof for executives
New information-gathering power lets authorised officers require information from anyone, with self-incrimination immunity and legal privilege protected

Maintenance and minor amendments

A series of technical fixes to improve how the Regulator operates and how roadside enforcement works. Introduces self-clearing defect notices for vehicles with minor faults that don't pose a safety risk.

Self-clearing defect notices (no inspection needed to clear) for minor defects or obscured number plates, with 28 days to fix the issue
New $3,000 offences for failing to display or maintain heavy vehicle accreditation labels
Regulator can make minor changes to mass or dimension authority notices without road manager consent
Regulator fees automatically increase on 1 July each year in line with inflation
Notices no longer have to be published in a national newspaper — Commonwealth Gazette and website are enough

Taxi and limousine industry assistance

Creates a legislative base for a regulation-made scheme distributing the $100 million Industry Adjustment Assistance Package, following deregulation of personalised transport (Uber etc.).

Scheme can pay $20,000 per taxi service licence (capped at 2 licences per holder) and $10,000 per limousine service licence
Includes a $26.7 million hardship fund, $3.7 million business advisory support, $4.3 million fee waivers, and $5.6 million for wheelchair accessible services
Regulation may set eligibility criteria, application processes, review rights and repayment rules
Section 155A and any regulation under it expires two years after commencement

How this affects you

Work & Employment

•Company executives can be personally prosecuted for failing to exercise due diligence on transport safety, even if the company itself isn't convictedClause 10 (new s 26D)An executive of a legal entity with a primary duty must exercise due diligence to ensure the entity complies with the duty; conviction is possible even if the entity has not been proceeded against.
•Workers in the transport chain — including schedulers, packers and loaders — share a positive duty to ensure safety so far as reasonably practicableClause 10 (new s 26C)Each party in the chain of responsibility for a heavy vehicle must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of the party's transport activities relating to the vehicle.
•Reckless conduct that exposes someone to death or serious injury carries up to 5 years jail or $300,000 for individuals, and $3 million for corporationsClause 10 (new s 26F)Category 1 offence: if an individual commits the offence—$300,000 or 5 years imprisonment or both; if a corporation commits the offence—$3,000,000.
•It becomes a $10,000 offence to ask or contract a driver to do something that would cause them to speed or drive fatiguedClause 10 (new s 26E)A person must not ask, direct or require a driver or chain-of-responsibility party to do something that would cause the driver to exceed a speed limit or drive while impaired by fatigue.

Transport & Roads

•A minor vehicle fault or an obscured number plate can be fixed under a 'self-clearing' defect notice without having to present the truck for re-inspectionClause 134 (new s 531A-B)Self-clearing defect notices will be an additional type of defect notice that may be issued if the use of the defective heavy vehicle on a road does not pose a safety risk or the vehicle's number plate is illegible.
•Heavy vehicle operators must display a readable accreditation label on the vehicle, with a $3,000 penalty for non-complianceClause 133The operator must attach the accreditation label for a relevant vehicle to the vehicle in a way that the label is readable from outside the vehicle; maximum penalty $3,000.
•Police and Regulator officers can require anyone with relevant knowledge to provide information about possible safety duty breaches, protected from self-incriminationClause 91 (new s 570A)Authorised officers may require written or oral information from a person in relation to a possible contravention of the primary duty; information given cannot be used against the individual in other proceedings.
•Regulators can accept a written undertaking from an offender to take safety steps instead of prosecuting — except for the most serious (Category 1) offencesClause 96 (new Part 10.1A)The Regulator or an authorised officer may accept an undertaking made by the person in relation to the contravention or alleged contravention, other than a section 26F contravention.

Business & Economy

•Taxi and limousine licence holders would have been able to apply for transitional payments — $20,000 per taxi licence (max 2) and $10,000 per limousine licence — from a $100 million packageClause 141 (new s 155A)A regulation may provide for a scheme for the payment of financial assistance to certain persons who have held or hold a taxi service licence or a limousine service licence.
•A $26.7 million hardship fund, business advisory support and fee waivers would have been available to help the industry adjust to ride-share deregulationThe Industry Adjustment Assistance Package includes transitional assistance payments ($60 million), a hardship fund ($26.7 million), business advisory support ($3.7 million), fee waivers ($4.3 million) and incentive payments for wheelchair accessible services ($5.6 million).
•Transport businesses would face heavier compliance costs for safety failures but simpler, less duplicated duties overallChapter 2These changes will address issues with the HVNL that create complexity and unnecessary compliance costs for industry, and adopt a hierarchy of penalties based on risk categorisation.
•Regulator fees would rise automatically on 1 July each year with inflation, rather than requiring individual Ministerial decisionsClause 137 (new s 740A)At the start of 1 July of each year, the amount of the fee is increased in accordance with the method prescribed by the national regulations.

Bill Journey

Introduced13 Sept 2016

First Reading

Committee

Committee Report1 Nov 2016

Committee report tabled

Sectors Affected

Public Administration Public Transport Road Transport Transport Infrastructure

Classified using AGIFT/ANZSIC Australian government standards

Heavy Vehicle National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016

Plain English Summary

Overview

Who it affects

Heavy vehicle safety reform

Maintenance and minor amendments

Taxi and limousine industry assistance

Bill Journey

Referenced Entities

Legislation

Organisations

Programs & Schemes

Roles & Offices

Sectors Affected

Source Documents