Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Cities) Share this | Hansard source

I thank all members for their contributions to this debate on the Road Vehicle Standards Bill 2018 and its four companion bills. The regulation of road vehicles is an important responsibility of the Australian government. In 2017, over 1.2 million vehicles entered the Australian market for the first time, including passenger vehicles; heavy, medium and light commercial vehicles; motorcycles; and trailers. By the end of this year, there will be almost 19 million vehicles registered for use on Australian roads.

What cars and other motor vehicles look like, how they operate and the technology they use is changing very quickly, and the way we regulate vehicles needs to allow for and adapt to this change. We are already seeing these changes in the global market, and increasingly in the Australian market, through the growing presence of electric vehicles, semiautonomous vehicles and even fully autonomous vehicles. The Australian community naturally expects that, in the face of such rapid change, these vehicles will be safe, secure and have greater fuel efficiency, with fewer harmful emissions.

The Road Vehicle Standards Bill 2018 and the four companion bills—the Road Vehicle Standards (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2018, the Road Vehicle Standards Charges (Imposition—General) Bill 2018, the Road Vehicle Standards Charges (Imposition—Customs) Bill 2018 and the Road Vehicle Standards Charges (Imposition—Excise) Bill 2018—will provide a modern framework for regulating road vehicles for the future. These bills deliver that modern and flexible framework, which is vital for ensuring that road vehicles delivered or used in transport in Australia for the first time continue to meet community expectations on such matters as safety, as environmental protection, and other matters, such as anti-theft measures and energy conservation.

The reforms contained in these bills will save industry an estimated $20 million in regulatory costs. The government has applied five key principles in developing this legislative package, which is designed to improve the regulation of road vehicle standards for the benefit of the Australian community. The first principle is flexibility and responsiveness, given how fast the motor vehicle is already changing and how fast it is expected to continue to change. The second principle is clarity, reflecting modern legal drafting standards to strengthen the regulatory framework whilst improving transparency and decision-making. The third principle is the choice of road vehicles for Australians. The fourth principle is the use of modern compliance and enforcement powers to improve safety and emissions outcomes. The fifth principle is the continued harmonisation of Australian standards with international standards and the long-standing policy of Australian governments to reduce the regulatory impost on Australian industry and consumers.

The first major change embodied in these bills is to establish the Register of Approved Vehicles as the record of a vehicle being approved for first supply to the Australian market. For the consumer, the register will be an online, publicly searchable database, a new resource that will provide easily accessible information—the birth certificate, if you will, for a vehicle that a consumer is interested in purchasing. From a regulatory perspective, the register will provide an accurate date stamp for when a vehicle's conformance to our national standards must be declared. This approach will save money for the manufacturer, and thus the consumer, by removing the need for a physical compliance plate. The saving is estimated at around $14 million a year.

Road vehicle safety is the paramount consideration in developing these bills. To advance safety now and in the future, the Road Vehicle Standards Bill has been drafted in a way that allows it to maintain flexibility to cater for emerging and future technologies in safety standards, something that has proved to be a significant challenge under the current regulatory framework. Through the powers contained in the Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014, the bill establishes a comprehensive toolkit to monitor and enforce compliance with vehicle standards.

Additionally, the bill gives the minister responsible for vehicle standards the ability to issue compulsory recalls of all road vehicles. These recall provisions, modelled on those in the Australian Consumer Law, have been welcomed by the motoring and general community. The government has consulted extensively with stakeholders on these bills for the past five years. This consultation has revealed broad support for the bills. While a number of issues have been raised, they are being addressed in the rules that will be made under this legislation or in the technical and administrative details. Small automotive businesses in particular have drawn the government's attention to some instances where there is a genuine need for consumer access to specialist and enthusiast vehicles. The government intends to respond to these instances through amending the proposed rules, the rules to be made under the legislation, so as to allow suitable used vehicles to be imported for the purpose of genuinely converting that vehicle to a campervan or motorhome; the government intends to amend the rules to adjust the power-to-weight performance threshold for specialist and enthusiast vehicles; and the government intends to amend the rules to allow for the continued importation of enthusiast left-hand-drive heavy vehicles. Further, the government has commenced work with the heavy vehicle industry to arrive at expanded circumstances in which a truck can be modified before being provided to the market for specific uses. Similarly, we are refining the arrangements that apply to suspension upgrades for light commercial vehicles. These ongoing detailed improvements are technical in nature and are supported by provisions contained in these bills.

For Australian manufacturers and importers of full-volume vehicles, these bills mean reduced red tape and streamlined certification processes. For Australian motoring enthusiasts, these bills mean an increased range of specialist and enthusiast vehicles will become available, and the costs of regulatory compliance will be reduced. For the Australian community, these bills mean a better regulatory system, capable of responding to the challenges of the future. They also mean improved compliance with safety and environmental standards. Ultimately, what these bills will mean is safer, cleaner and more secure vehicles for Australia.

The Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills has considered this package of bills. The committee recommended that further information be included in the explanatory memoranda to the bills. As such, I present these addenda to the explanatory memoranda to the Clerk. I thank the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills for its consideration of this package of bills, and I commend these bills to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

See this speech in context