Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank madam chair for her work on this committee. I rise to speak to the tabling of this report, a very important report for our time, for our days, a report on the social issues relating to land based automated vehicles in Australia. I was very pleased to be the deputy chair of this committee; and I had the chance to chair one of the hearings, which was a great experience, down in Melbourne. The chair has already outlined some of the committee's main findings and recommendations. I want to speak to some of the other recommendations because they're important themes for this inquiry. In recommendation 4, the committee recommended that the Commonwealth government further investigate the issue of data rights for consumers, vehicle manufacturers and third parties such as insurers and relevant government agencies. I would like to thank the member for Lyons, who had a particular interest in this area and provided some great thinking for the committee.

The chair has already discussed some of these data and privacy issues. They are incredibly important for us to consider. There is going to be an incredible amount of data produced. A benefit of that is that it could explain to us how and why an accident between two automated vehicles may have occurred. Hopefully, automated vehicles won't crash into each other. But if any vehicles do come into contact with each other, that data will help to ascertain how that may have occurred and will reduce the amount of accidents on our roads overall.

The ownership issue that we've spoken about is important to work through. Recommendation 5 is that the Commonwealth government establish a working party with industry and academic stakeholders to identify those industry needs and to look at support services and a strategy—how we can best exploit emerging opportunities and also how as seamlessly as possible we can move into this new future not only for public transport but for private transport as well.

One of the inquiry's main themes was the impact of automated vehicles on employment, and obviously a lot of drivers out there may be a little bit nervous about what this automated future looks like. It's important that we look at the skill sets that are going to be involved and have a clear understanding of where the jobs may be lost, but there are also opportunities for future jobs. As these new technologies develop in the coming years and decades, we need to be well placed to contribute to the opportunities of those emerging technologies but also clear eyed about those that are going to be affected by the change in employment circumstances.

Recommendation 7 went to the Commonwealth government in association with the state and territory governments and local councils—the three levels of government—considering trials. When it comes to trials in my own electorate, I'm very proud to say that we've been trialling automated vehicles in Darwin for some time. First, we had a trial down at Stokes Hill Wharf in our tourism precinct down at the waterfront. It was a very short distance travelled by a semi-autonomous vehicle. Then it was a longer stretch of road down by the waterfront. This month we are running stage 3 of the automated vehicle trial in Darwin city, where we will have people actually driving down the Esplanade in Darwin. Almost 5,000 people have taken part in those trials so far, and it went to what the chair mentioned before about more opportunities for Australians to be involve in these trials. That will give the general public a bit more of an understanding about the issues involved in this transition but also a little bit more trust in this technology and the transition. I think those experiences are important for the Australian people to get an understanding of how these technologies operate.

We need to remember—and I know the chair does, as I do, as we are from regional areas of Australia—that we need to continually look at how these technologies are going to improve life in regional areas of Australia. I join the chair in thanking all those who contributed to the inquiry, in particular the secretariat. We've had a number of people working on the secretariat. Thank you for your work. I also thank the other members of the committee.

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