Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Aviation security and safety are the highest priorities for aviation for the government. Our arrangements in these areas are under constant review to ensure the regulatory frameworks are responsive to changes in the industry covering security threats and safety needs.

This Aviation Legislation Amendment (2008 Measures No. 1) Bill 2008 contains a number of enhancements to the Aviation Transport Security Act 2004, the Civil Aviation Act 1988 and the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003. The amendments will further strengthen Australia’s aviation security and safety.

There are four significant amendments in this bill.

Firstly, the Aviation Transport Security Act 2004 is amended to enable the secretary of my department to require aviation industry participants to provide aviation security information, if the secretary believes, on reasonable grounds, that a participant has such information.

The secretary is already empowered under the Aviation Transport Security Act to collect security compliance information, which is information that relates to compliance or failure to comply with the act.

The kinds of information that may be requested by the secretary would be prescribed under the regulations and would include, for example, information relating to the screening of passengers and baggage and information relating to the management and control of airport areas and zones.

It is envisaged that this power would be particularly useful for the Office of Transport Security to obtain the necessary information on screening statistics, should the need arise, particularly in assessing whether new security measures are required, or existing measures need to be modified, as threats to aviation security change.

The measure is unlikely to have financial implications for industry.

Secondly, the bill extends the secretary’s delegation powers under the Aviation Transport Security Act 2004 to allow the delegation of their functions and responsibilities under the act to another agency head or an agency with national security responsibilities.

This is a necessary amendment to address the vulnerability of the secretary being unable to delegate certain powers within the act, especially when there is a time critical element to the action. An example might be the use of the power to direct a plane to land at a certain place.

The delegation is limited to a small number of other secretaries whose departments are responsible for national security. Certain conditions are placed on the delegation—in particular, that the other agency head must agree to the secretary’s delegation in order for the delegation to have effect.

Thirdly, the Civil Aviation Act 1988 is to be amended to clarify the position with respect to allowing the copying and disclosure of cockpit voice recorder information for testing and maintenance.

Presently, strict confidentiality requirements are imposed by the act to seek to ensure the continued availability of cockpit voice recorder information in the future for serious accident and incident investigations by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). However, the current confidentiality provisions could be, and often are, interpreted as preventing copying and disclosure for legitimate maintenance and testing purposes.

The proposed amendments would clarify the situation while requiring that certain conditions must be met before the cockpit voice recorder is copied or disclosed such as the person doing so being authorised under the regulations.

The need for these amendments is derived from a recommendation made by the ATSB during the investigation of the fatal accident at Lockhart River in Queensland on 7 May 2005 in which all 15 people on board tragically died.

Fourthly, the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 is to be amended to change the penalties for failing to report transport safety matters in accordance with part 3 of the act.

The act is also amended to allow the executive director of Transport Safety Investigation—who is the executive director of the ATSB—to require further information from the industry in relation to transport safety matters after receiving an initial report.

The ability of the executive director to require additional information is necessary and desirable in order to be able to ensure that the information in the ATSB’s accident and incident database is adequate and correct with respect to each transport safety matter. Importantly, this additional information will assist with future research and analysis of accidents and incidents, including trend analysis and safety issue identification. This is consistent with chapter 8 of annex 13 to the Chicago convention, a safety annex which includes international civil aviation standards and recommended practices agreed by member states of the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

The bill amends the act to introduce more suitable limitation periods for bringing a prosecution and to ensure the penalties are appropriately weighted to the seriousness of the offence. In a number of cases the ATSB has only 12 months to bring a prosecution, which in the majority of circumstances is too short, as it can be several years before the offence is discovered. The more serious offences, attracting a penalty of more than six months imprisonment for failing to report, will have an unlimited period to bring a prosecution, which is consistent with the Crimes Act 1914. For the smaller offences, there will be a limitation period of six years for bringing a prosecution which would allow a suitable time for discovery of the offence and its investigation. I commend this bill to the House.

Debate (on motion by Mr Wood) adjourned.