ALC

Making the Right Investments in Freight Rail

Australian Logistics Council CEO Kirk Coningham OAM discusses the upcoming Federal Budget.

THE FEDERAL BUDGET ON 2 April will be the last prior to the expected release of the National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy. Our industry has invested heavily in time and effort to help government build a national strategy that delivers. We are hoping this effort is reflected in the budgetary support that will be essential in transforming the strategy into action.

Accordingly, ALC’s pre-Budget submission to the Federal Government put forward specific recommendations to invest in critical infrastructure and to pursue regulatory reform initiatives that will enhance the performance of our supply chains – including recommendations that have a direct bearing on the freight rail sector. The first of these relates to the development of a too-long awaited National Rail Plan.

Back in 2015, a Draft Freight Rail Policy Objectives Discussion Paper was published by the Federal Government. The Paper contained a recommendation that any national reform work focussed on freight rail prioritise: • Harmonisation of all aspects of rail safety laws between states; and • That where economic benefits exist, moving towards a single set of laws across jurisdictions governing environmental regulation, workplace health and safety, workers’ compensation and drug and alcohol testing. The need for such reform has not diminished in the four years that have since elapsed – but there was little in the way of progress until the second half of 2018, when the Federal Government confirmed it would be developing a National Rail Plan.

ALC’s pre-Budget submission calls for the Federal Government to allocate

funding that will support a review of regulations in the key areas outlined above, to help ensure the National Rail Plan now being developed can finally deliver a consistent national regulatory framework for the freight rail sector.

ALC’s submission also calls for another reform intended to enhance productivity in the freight rail sector.

The Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR) was established in 2012 to encourage, enforce and promote national rail safety. ALC supported the creation of ONRSR, just as it supported the establishment of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) in the road space around the same time.

However, there is an important difference between the current activities of ONRSR and the NHVR.

The NHVR’s mandate also allows it to play a role in monitoring and enhancing productivity in the heavy vehicle sector. ONRSR, while playing an important role in national rail safety, does not currently have a formal role when it comes to the productivity and efficiency of railoperations. ALC believes ONRSR could make an even more valuable contribution if its remit was expanded to incorporate a focus on productivity. Consequently, we have called upon the Federal Government to provide funding in the Budget to undertake a review of ONRSR’s responsibilities, with the intention of also providing ONRSR with a productivitymandate. Together with infrastructure investments such as Inland Rail and duplication of the freight rail line at Port Botany, these regulatory reforms will help drive greater safety and efficiency in the freight rail sector – and allow rail to properly share in the growing nationalfreight task.

ABOVE: New Australian Logistics Council CEO Kirk Coningham. ALC