Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no more important job for this parliament than making and maintaining laws relating to the safety of Australians. That's why issues to do with national security, terrorism and law enforcement are taken seriously in this parliament and usually dealt with in a bipartisan way. This is as it should be. Labor takes the same constructive approach when it comes to the critical issue of motor vehicle safety standards in this country. Nearly 1.2 million new cars are sold in this country each year. Sadly, thanks to the very conscious policy and actions of this current government, Australia no longer builds cars. We must rely upon imports.

It is critical that this parliament keeps the standards applying to motor vehicle imports up to date and fit for purpose. This legislation is timely. It is 17 years since the Motor Vehicle Standards Act and its regulations were last reviewed. The package before us seeks to bring the regulatory regime forward and make it more streamlined. Indeed, the government argues these reforms will reduce compliance costs for industry by $68 million. The legislation creates an online register which will provide consumers with an easy way to check that vehicles they are considering buying comply with Australian design standards. Labor has some concerns about the fine detail of the bills, based upon stakeholder feedback, but we will support this package. We believe that the stakeholder concerns, which I will address shortly, should be taken into account in the rules and subsequent technical and administrative arrangements provided by these bills.

The road vehicle safety package will replace the old Motor Vehicle Standards Act, which regulates imported vehicles. It includes five piece of legislation: the Road Vehicle Standards Bill 2018, 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. Under existing rules, people demonstrate that a vehicle complies with safety standards using the physical attachment of a compliance plate, but this legislation replaces that system by creating a register of approved vehicles that comply with Australian standards. There'll be two ways for a vehicle to make its way onto this register. The first, known as the type approval pathway, is for new vehicles being imported into this nation for sale. The vast majority of vehicles will enter the list via this route.

The second pathway, known as the concessional pathway, is aimed at a limited range of new and used vehicles which can be granted concessions on a vehicle-by-vehicle basis. This pathway will apply to specialist enthusiast vehicles, classic and vintage vehicles, and vehicles that have a special purpose that could not be fulfilled if they had to comply with Australian standards. This latter category might apply, for example, to emergency vehicles and cranes. The legislation creates a specialist and enthusiasts vehicles register to ensure that motor enthusiasts, seeking to import unusual vehicles, can do so without breaching Australian vehicle standards. That is a sensible way forward.

There are, indeed, motor enthusiasts who do import vehicles. Some, such as Lindsay Fox, have imported a large number of quite unique vehicles into Australia, not for driving but for public display in his museum in Melbourne as part of his contribution to philanthropy. Lindsay Fox is certainly a contributor to the nation, and that is just one of the ways in which he uses his private wealth for public good. Hence, this register will really assist that process in the future.

It establishes Road Vehicle Standard Rules to define vehicles:

… that better capture vehicles that are of a genuine specialist and enthusiast nature through needing to meet one of six criteria:

1. Performance – high-performance vehicles with specifications significantly superior to mainstream vehicles in Australia;

2. Environmental – vehicles that offer environmental performance significantly superior to mainstream vehicles in Australia;

3. Mobility – vehicles manufactured with special features to assist people with a disability;

4. Rarity – vehicles of which only small quantities have been produced;

5. Left-hand drive – vehicles originally manufactured as left-hand-drive, of which right-have – drive versions are not available in any other country; and

6. Campervans and motor homes – vehicles that have been originally manufactured as a campervan or motorhome.

The legislation also includes provisions allowing for the importation of vehicles other than for road use, such as for testing or racing. These vehicles will not be listed on the register. Relevant states and territories will decide whether such vehicles may be driven on the roads within their borders.

The proposed changes will serve the interests of consumers. Consumers will be able to search the online Register of Approved Vehicles using their vehicle identification number to confirm that vehicles they want to buy comply with these rules. The new legislation will also require manufacturers to introduce a secure identification marking requirement for all new vehicles. This provision is designed to provide a deterrent to vehicle theft and rebirthing. This is a sensible move.

The package also gives the minister for transport the ability to issue a recall notice on any road vehicle or road vehicle component, and lays out the framework for voluntary recalls. This is another important measure. When manufacturers discover faults in motor vehicles, it is critical that there is a process by which they can be recalled quickly if they represent a risk to public safety. There have been some major safety recalls in recent years involving major manufacturers. We need a simple system that allows for efficient handling of such issues. Administration of these new standards will be funded by industry participants on a cost-recovery basis. However, these bills do not outline the amounts to be charged. These will be prescribed in accompanying rules and regulations that will be subject to disallowance by this parliament.

Various industry groups have expressed concern over elements of the package. For example, the legislation allows some vehicles to be imported through a revised Registered Automotive Workshop Scheme which allows for the import of used specialist and enthusiast vehicles. It also creates a new, low-volume scheme which applies to new vehicles where fewer than 100 vehicles are to be imported. The Australian Automobile Aftermarket Association raised concerns about the inclusion of the NLVS under the so-called RAWS scheme. The AAAA argued that, under the existing system, vehicles imported under the new low-volume scheme do not need to be individually inspected. Its concern is that, under the new system, low-volume imports will have to be individually inspected and that this will add cost to the industry. The Registered Automotive Workshop Scheme Association suggested the new arrangements would therefore disadvantage small workshops and benefit big manufacturers. Concerns were also expressed regarding the effect of these legislation on companies that import vehicles from overseas and then convert them into campervans or motorhomes. Specifically, this legislation closes a loophole in the existing system that allowed some registered automotive workshops to import thousands of cars which they did not convert but simply on-sold at a profit. This legislation's closure of that loophole has created concerns about the prospects of companies that do legitimately convert vehicles into campervans and motorhomes. Having considered these concerns, Labor has formed the view that the legislation as it stands serves the public interest, on balance. However, we do take these industry concerns seriously and we undertake to monitor the operation of the legislation and the operations of accompanying rules and subsequent technical and administrative arrangements, and if any adjustment is required then Labor will support that.

In conclusion, can I say that the administration of vehicle standards is a complex task. We do need a system that is simple but also allows people who want to import unusual and specialist vehicles an opportunity to do so. This legislation seeks to find that balance, and it also includes some important improvements in the cause of public safety and security, and I commend the package of legislation to the House.

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise to speak this morning on the Road Vehicle Standards Bill 2018 and related bills. I'm a bit disappointed, having come in specially to listen to the member for Grayndler, because I thought that this bill was a wonderful opportunity for those in the Labor Party to set out how they were going to get a 45 per cent reduction in the CO2 equivalent emissions from the transport sector—because that is their policy. They say the targets that we have, from Paris, of reducing CO2 emissions by 26 to 28 per cent from 2005, are not enough. The Labor Party's policy is to up those—to target a 45 per cent reduction. If they are going to have that policy, they need to come into this chamber and set out, in chapter and verse, not only what they plan for the electricity sector—and we know the plan is to copy the failed experiment of South Australia—but also exactly what their plans are to reduce the CO2 emissions in the transport sector by 45 per cent. How are they going do that? Are they going to put a new tax on petrol? Are they going to ban a whole lot of types of motor vehicles from being imported into this country? Are they going to try and take cars off people? Are they going to increase road tolls? Those in the Labor Party need to explain to the Australian public how they are going to achieve a 45 per cent reduction in the transport sector.

So often the debate about reduction in emissions of CO2 is around the electricity sector. We talk about a renewable energy target, but it is effectively a renewable electricity target. The electricity sector makes up only about a third of our CO2 emissions; our transport sector makes up about 15 per cent. So, yes, the transport sector is not as big as the electricity sector; it's about half. But there has been no debate whatsoever in this House, when it comes to the road vehicle standards which this bill relates to, on what the Labor Party are going to do to make those emissions reductions. Here we had a perfect opportunity, and yet we had nothing at all from the shadow minister. I would hope that, before the next election is called, the members of the Labor Party will set out in exact detail what their plans are for the transport sector and for motor vehicles, and how they plan to get that 45 per cent reduction in emissions. Otherwise, they are simply running a con on Australian consumers.

Last year, 2017, 1.2 million vehicles entered the Australian market—passenger vehicles; heavy, medium and light commercial vehicles; motorcycles; trailers. Most of those complied with Australian design rules. When we ask ourselves why government needs to regulate in this space and why we can't just leave it to the market, we have to be able to answer that question very clearly. The reason is: for a market to work, consumers need information. When it comes to buying a road vehicle, there are many features that you need to know when you are making that purchase decision that are not transparent or that you can't see. That is why we need to set road designs for vehicles.

There were also some interesting figures that I noted from the minister's speech. He noted that, when the Motor Vehicle Standards Amendment Act 1989 was first introduced—it was last reviewed 17 years ago—there were 9.4 million vehicles registered on the road and we had 2,500 Australians killed in road accidents. Yes, we've been very successful in getting that down. Even now, we've got almost double the number of vehicles on the roads—almost 19 million—compared to only a little over nine million in 1989. We've been able to bring that road toll down from 2,500 to 1,300—1,300 Australians died on our roads last year. If we put that in any other context, we would need to do more. We need to make sure that the policies of this government are to do everything that we possibly can, to get every dollar that we humanly can into improving the quality of our roads, and to ensure that our design standards give us the safest cars. When it comes to a clash over whether we should go down some track of trying to achieve a 45 per cent reduction in our CO2 emissions from motor vehicles or whether we should try to make our motor vehicles and our roads safer, when we have over a thousand Australians that die every year on our roads, that is a no-brainer. It's not only the road deaths that we have. Road trauma is estimated to cost our community $27 billion per annum, yet the terrible human impact is something you cannot put an economic number or a dollar value on. So I would hope that, when we sit down and debate what we are going to do in the space of road transportation, we give absolute first priority to making our roads safer, to upgrading them and to making vehicles safer first. That should be the priority of this government.

With that, I commend the minister for his good work on this bill. It makes some important changes which are needed, as we have seen substantial improvements and upgrades in technology, and we need to all work together in this House to make our roads and to make our vehicles safer. I commend this bill to the House.

Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a pleasure to be speaking on the Road Vehicle Standards Bill 2018 and related bills. I've got to say I thought this bill was going to be non-controversial, and then I walked in on the member for Hughes's contribution. He always finds the capacity to introduce one of his wars into whatever legislation is before the parliament.

Let's talk about vehicles. The bill before the House is about road vehicle standards and updating our system of national regulation. Of course, a whole bunch of this regulation occurs at the state level. The Commonwealth does have a key area of responsibility as well. In response to some of the comments made by the member for Hughes, we have one of the most open vehicle markets in the world. You can buy more brands of automobile in Australia than in just about any other advanced country in the world. In fact, it was one of the things that many of the automotive manufacturers who have now left the country and closed down their operations under this mob here used to complain about: our market is so open that it is difficult, in such a small market, for them to compete with imported vehicles, because you're able to buy just about every brand that is available in any other advanced country around the world.

This package of bills—there are five of them—is designed to replace the Motor Vehicle Standards Act 1989. It regulates the importation of vehicles into Australia. It's been about 17 years since the legislation was last reviewed. The intent of this regulation is to put in place a more modern and updated framework to ensure that all of our road vehicles and certain road vehicle components provided in Australia meet our safety, antitheft and environmental standards. I think that's something that all Australians would think is a good thing. Nobody wants to buy a lemon. Everyone wants to ensure that there is the minimum legislation necessary that is going to ensure that you have a vehicle that is safe, that is hard to break into and steal, that is easy to trace if it is stolen, and that meets modern environmental standards.

The bills are necessary because a lot of advances have occurred in car manufacturing and technologies over the last two decades. There is also a whole range of new vehicles being imported into the country that weren't even heard of two decades ago—specialty vehicles such as environmental vehicles, mobility vehicles, campervans, cars that are manufactured in only left-hand drive and other sorts of vehicles. In my own electorate there are several car enthusiast groups. Many of them are importing rare vehicles and vintage vehicles from around the world. In fact, one of the best-kept secrets is the best automobile museum in the country—the Motorlife Museum located in West Dapto in my electorate. I encourage all members of this place to take an hour's drive south of Sydney and head to West Dapto and enjoy the Motorlife Museum. It's got some great collections. The Brabham family were very kind in donating a whole bunch of the bequeathed vehicles they had to the Motorlife Museum. In that museum you can find, and can climb all over, some of the first cars that were ever built and distributed in this country.

I turn back to the bills before the House. The existing regime has become cumbersome for businesses and consumers alike. It's why there's bipartisan support for these bills. We understand that it makes good sense for us to update it. It has been adding to the compliance costs for the importers, the wholesalers and the distributors, and, of course, those costs are passed on to consumers. It is estimated that these costs total about $68 million a year. When these bills pass through the House, as I'm certain they will, and through the other place, we'll have a more flexible regulatory regime.

The new road vehicle standards that are part of the legislation replace the physical compliance plates as the marker of the vehicle's suitability for supply in Australia with online publicly searchable databases—the Register of Approved Vehicles and the Specialist and Enthusiast Vehicles Register. The legislative package includes three bills that deal with the funding of the new scheme. It's paid for on a cost-recovery basis by the final importer or the consumer, if the cost is passed on. The actual charges themselves aren't part of the legislation, but they will be in a disallowable instrument and tabled in the other place.

The bills also strengthen the regulatory compliance and enforcement regimes. They introduce a new range of enforcement arrangements, including infringement notices, enforceable undertakings and criminal sanctions. They will aid Australia's road safety regime by giving the minister the power to issue a notice for compulsory recalls of road vehicles and road vehicle components where necessary. We have seen this week alone the existing recall on components—passenger and driver airbags have had to be recalled—so this is something which is of keen interest to consumers in my electorate and I understand right throughout the country.

Given the bills deal with legislation around the sale, importation and regulation of motor vehicles in this country, this is an important opportunity for us to talk about a policy that should be the subject of the legislation that is before the House today. We would invite the government to take up this policy, because it's good policy which will save consumers. It's about the way that service contracts and service arrangements exist at the moment. The modern car is incredibly sophisticated, with a lot of computerised components, and the datasets that are required for maintenance and repair on these vehicles have not been shared with all of the independent mechanics who would otherwise have the skills and ability to maintain those vehicles. Labor's policy, which will require car manufacturers to share the technical information with independent mechanics on a commercially fair and reasonable term, will overcome this issue. If we were to have legislation before the House which dealt with motor vehicle safety and standards, it should deal with these sorts of issues as well. A fully rounded package which is dealing with road vehicle standards should also enable us to deal with these sorts of issues. It will save money for the consumer. And, of course, that is one of the stated aims of this bill—to save money for consumers.

So, with those points, we simply say that the legislation is a lot more bipartisan than the member for Hughes led the House to believe. We think it's common sense. It enjoys the support of the House. If the government were to get on board with Labor's announcements to ensure that the datasets and the technical information which are attached to the vehicles being regulated by this legislation, consumers would save even more money than they would under the legislation which we are currently debating. With these comments, I commend the legislation to the House.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Cities) Share this | Link to 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.