Belinda Neal (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in the House today to speak in favour of the Trade Practices Amendment (Infrastructure Access) Bill 2009. The bill, which amends the Trade Practices Act 1974, will implement certain commitments made by the Council of Australian Governments to improve arrangements currently existing under the Competition and Infrastructure Reform Agreement. In particular the bill makes changes that will improve regulatory certainty and streamline the administrative procedures under the National Access Regime.

The National Access Regime is a mechanism designed to regulate access by third parties to nationally significant infrastructure projects—such as port facilities and rail lines—which are owned and operated by another commercial entity. The most well-known recent example of disputation over access to such major infrastructure facilities was the ultimately successful attempt by the Fortescue Metals Group to gain access to the Pilbara rail lines owned by BHP Billiton. That dispute between the two companies dragged on in various courts for approximately 22 months. It involved considerable expense and created an atmosphere of great uncertainty for the companies, their shareholders and, most importantly, prospective investors in Australia’s burgeoning resources and export sectors. Nationally significant infrastructure projects are vital to ensuring Australia’s economic growth in the future.

The changes will make access to infrastructure facilities easier for third parties, increase competition and make sure our major facilities are utilised to their fullest potential and used in the most efficient manner. The Rudd Labor government is committed to achieving a seamless national economy. This aim has been one of the driving imperatives that underlie the reform initiatives being rolled out by COAG.

I am pleased to be speaking on this bill today because it highlights the importance that this government places on providing the infrastructure this country needs to successfully navigate its way out of the global economic crisis. For too long Australia has been held back by inadequate infrastructure provision. The existing and future infrastructure projects that will be dealt with by the bill before us today are large in scale and of immense significance to our national economic prospects.

The Rudd Labor government has also made great progress in providing community and regional infrastructure funding that is having positive effects in every town and city around Australia. I know that my own electorate of Robertson, which is based on the Central Coast of New South Wales, there have been decades hamstrung by a lack of infrastructure. Physical and social infrastructure provision has never kept pace with the growth in population in the Central Coast region. Nor has it met the growing expectation of the communities located there for better and improved facilities, such as parks, playgrounds, community buildings, safer streets and more liveable town centres.

After years of neglect under the former Liberal government, I am pleased that the present government is beginning the process of addressing the massive backlog in the provision of these community facilities. The delivery of infrastructure facilities to the people of Robertson has always been and will remain one of my top priorities. I made a number of infrastructure commitments to the people of Robertson before the last election and I am heartened to say that all of them are in the process of delivery as we speak. These projects are supporting significant numbers of jobs for tradespeople, contractors and small businesses across the Central Coast and they are delivering the infrastructure that our region needs for the future: $81 million has been allocated to build the Mardi Dam to Mangrove Creek Dam water pipeline, which is ensuring the Central Coast’s water security into the future; $840 million was invested to fund start-up planning and design works for a dedicated freight rail line between Sydney and Newcastle; $7 million was provided to Gosford City Council to build 400 additional commuter car parking spaces in the Gosford city centre; $900,000 has been invested to construct shared-use community sporting facilities at Erina High School; and, lastly, $680,000 was provided to install CCTV security cameras in three CBDs on the peninsula. These were all election commitments that are improving the quality of life for Central Coast residents and improving their communities.

In addition to these valuable projects, the Rudd Labor government’s Nation Building Economic Stimulus Plan has been great news for infrastructure provision in my electorate. So far the economic stimulus plan has invested more than $110 million directly into the Robertson electorate. More than $81 million of this expenditure has flowed from the Building the Education Revolution program, which is transforming the schools of the Central Coast. The 33 primary schools in Robertson are now receiving new classrooms, libraries and covered outdoor learning areas under the government’s Primary Schools for the 21st Century program. In addition to this, we have received significant injections of funding in new and upgraded social housing, black spot road grants and energy efficient housing. The Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program has so far delivered more than $5 million to the Gosford City Council to upgrade our parks, playgrounds, sporting grounds and community buildings. Under this program, a $3 million peninsula recreation precinct will soon provide world-class sporting and recreation facilities to thousands of local families. These projects are giving a boost to jobs on the Central Coast by building the infrastructure our region needs for tomorrow.

While these projects are not in the same dollar-value league as the Pilbara rail line, they are no less important to the people of Robertson, whose lives are bettered by having them built in their community. We must remember that local infrastructure projects just like these are being rolled out in every school and every community across the nation. That is why I commend this government for its rock-solid commitment to infrastructure delivery, whether the projects are small playgrounds in areas of real need or nationally significant projects. The infrastructure access bill proposes new and fresh arrangements that will make far better use of our privately owned infrastructure. It makes modest but telling changes to the way the National Access Regime operates in a variety of ways—that is, ways that bring clarity and increased efficiency to decisions about who can legitimately gain access to certain facilities. The bill will help facilitate third-party access to nationally significant infrastructure facilities by ensuring that the decision-making processes are faster and more transparent.

There are three pathways for a business to gain access to a service under the National Access Regime. Firstly, access can be gained by a declaration of a service provided by an infrastructure facility. Secondly, it can be achieved through state or territory access regimes that have been certified as effective. Thirdly, it can be secured via access undertakings made by service providers. The regulatory processes associated with access to these infrastructure facilities and services will become more streamlined and more certain for all parties, particularly the owners of the infrastructure and those businesses seeking access to the facilities. The result will be greater competition in markets that depend on facilities that cannot be economically duplicated. For example, it would be a patently inefficient outcome for Australia’s economy to build two rail lines right next to each other so that iron ore exports to China from the Pilbara region of Western Australia could be enhanced and bottlenecks to trade overcome. The Australian government is now facing a huge infrastructure investment challenge. It is imperative that export bottlenecks are reduced and that the nation is provided with sufficient export infrastructure to allow Australia to meet the opportunities arising from the phenomenal and sustained growth of countries such as China. There must be strong incentives for private sector investment in major infrastructure projects that will aid this growth.

The Australian government must also ensure that existing infrastructure and, equally importantly, new infrastructure projects that will be necessary for future capacity increases are used efficiently. It is important to note that the infrastructure access bill does not seek to replace commercial negotiations between infrastructure facility owners and access seekers. Instead, it provides enhanced incentives for negotiation between infrastructure owners and those access seekers. The bill sets clearer rules for both parties and for regulators that will enhance access on reasonable terms and conditions, should negotiations between the parties fail. The bill sets time limits on decision-making processes under the National Access Regime, reducing what are sometimes lengthy and costly delays. The National Access Regime has been in place since 1995 and has proved a useful means to regulate access within key infrastructure sectors.

Both infrastructure owners and access seekers have stated that the decision-making processes under the regime are too lengthy and therefore can involve unacceptable costs. Some owners have in fact expressed concern that the regime was causing regulatory risks that may actually hinder investment in essential infrastructure. Since 1995 there have been a number of reviews of the National Access Regime to improve certainty and transparency in the decision-making process, to impose time limits on decisions and to introduce a limited form of merits review for regulatory decisions.

In November 2008, COAG agreed to the National Partnership Agreement to Deliver a Seamless National Economy, which reaffirmed COAG’s commitment to complete outstanding reforms under the Competition and Infrastructure Reform Agreement. This bill before us today implements the Australian government’s commitments under that agreement. One of the fundamental adjustments the bill makes to the National Access Regime is the introduction of binding time limits. These replace the target time limits introduced in 2006. Regulators under the regime—which include the National Competition Council, the ACCC and the Australian Competition Tribunal—must make decisions about infrastructure access within a statutory time period of six months. For relevant ministers the statutory period is set at 60 days. The existing merits review arrangements sometimes meant that parties to an access agreement review could bring up additional information that had not been provided to the original decision maker in their deliberations. The bill provides that where merits review of decisions is available, the Australian Competition Tribunal may only have regard to the information taken into account by the original decision maker.

For new infrastructure the bill provides for an up-front decision about whether a service to be provided by a proposed infrastructure facility is eligible or ineligible to be deemed a declared service. Once a minister decides that a service is ineligible, it cannot be declared for at least 20 years, or longer if the minister so determines. To improve regulatory certainty, the bill will enable a service provider to submit an access undertaking to the ACCC which includes one or more terms known as fixed principles. These fixed principles will apply for a certain period beyond the expiry date of the undertaking. When important variations are fixed, investors and access seekers have greater certainty regarding the terms and conditions of access to the service under future access arrangements. For example, a fixed principle could apply to the calculation of a regulatory asset base so that the value of the asset base is set for future undertakings. This would allow access providers and seekers to extrapolate access prices under future access arrangements and have more certainty in their investment planning.

A fixed principle could also be an obligation, such as the standard at which the service is to be provided. It could also be a process, such as a procedure that the service provider will follow before undertaking new investment in the relevant facility. Once accepted by the ACCC, the fixed principle must be included in any subsequent undertaking covering that particular service for as long as the fixed principle is in operation. Under current arrangements, there are only limited means by which the ACCC can accept variations or amendments to access undertakings entered into by the various parties. For example, for a revised undertaking to be accepted, it first has to be withdrawn completely and then resubmitted for consideration. This has caused delays and increased costs and may have led to the perception that an infrastructure provider which had voluntarily agreed to grant third-party access had acted improperly. Under the bill, the ACCC now has enhanced ability to accept amendments and variations to undertakings.

The bill also streamlines the declaration test. This means that a minister or the National Competition Council will no longer need to be satisfied as to health and safety matters when considering applications. Clearly, these matters are dealt with adequately via other legislation. Also, the minister or the National Competition Council must take heed only of state or territory access regimes that have been certified as effective national access regimes, thus allowing easier and faster decisions to be made. Under the Competition and Infrastructure Reform Agreement it is expected that state and territory access agreements are to be certified by the end of 2010.

The bill improves the efficacy of the National Competition Council’s decision-making process by providing it with the ability to make decisions without having to hold meetings. Decisions can now be effected by the simpler and quicker method of circulating a document for signature. Decision-making processes by the Australian Competition Tribunal will also be improved by the bill. Currently, any decision to declare a service is automatically stayed by an appeal to the tribunal. This provides a strong incentive for service providers to initiate appeals and then delay their completion. Under the new arrangements, the tribunal will be empowered to determine whether a stay is appropriate. This provision removes the cumbersome and time-consuming automatic stay mechanism that currently applies. This will speed up the resolution of access disputes, as preliminary matters may be settled in advance of the tribunal making a decision under the review. The bill also gives the tribunal powers to award costs in reviews of declaration decisions. This will also reduce incentives for delaying tactics, frivolous review applications and other inappropriate actions.

In conclusion, it may be said that these changes to the National Access Regime are modest in nature, but they serve a larger purpose that is vital to the nation’s economic future. These measures will bring significant improvements to the infrastructure access arrangements that are currently in place in Australia. The incentives for parties to negotiate clear, appropriate and cooperative agreements will benefit all concerned. There will be speedier and more certain arrangements, the roles of the various regulators are now more clearly defined and their decisions will be more easily arrived at. The amendments contained in the infrastructure access bill demonstrate the Rudd Labor government’s commitment to fostering a seamless national economy. In combination with the massive program of local, regional and community infrastructure provision under the Nation Building Economic Stimulus Plan, Australia is undergoing an historic reshaping of its national economy and a transformation of its communities. I commend the bill to the House.

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