Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Maritime Safety (Domestic Commercial Vessel) National Law Amendment Bill 2013 amends a drafting error which prevents the effective operation of the national law for maritime safety and, as such, will be supported by the coalition. We supported the original bill and so we naturally will support correcting the errors that were included in the original draft.

The original bill appointed AMSA as the national regulator for maritime safety and gave them various powers and responsibilities in relation to maritime safety. It is expected that, by March this year, the national system will be fully operational and that we will have consistent laws with respect to safety in domestic shipping. The national law establishes a system of vessel identification and the issue of certificates in relation to vessel identification, vessel survey, the commercial operation of vessels and seafarer competencies.

As I have mentioned previously, currently there are eight different marine safety regulators in Australia, each implementing their own rules and regulations. The bill will mean that Australia will have one national maritime safety law, replacing 50 separate pieces of legislation across the nation. The national maritime safety laws will mean that companies that operate nationally will not have to comply with multiple safety regulatory regimes. Designers and builders will have to comply with one certification system rather than applying for re-certification in each jurisdiction. This will stop jurisdiction shopping and will remove conflicting and contradictory vessel survey requirements, which add to the compliance costs of many businesses in the industry. The coalition supports the concept of a national law and, as such, supported the legislation enabling AMSA to take on the role of national regulator in August last year.

The bill amends two sections of the act to replace the term 'Commonwealth' with the term 'National Regulator' to reflect the original policy intention, as agreed by the state and the Northern Territory governments through the Council of Australian Governments process and the Standing Council of Transport and Infrastructure Ministers. As the law presently stands, the Commonwealth rather than AMSA would be required to receive revenue from infringement notices issued under section 138 and section 162 of the act. However, the Commonwealth has no power to reimburse the amount collected to the states and the Northern Territory, as was agreed to at COAG. So this bill simply corrects the drafting error to ensure that the national law can operate as intended and, as such, it will be supported by the coalition.

Whilst I do not like the concept of reliance on fines to fund the core business of governments, I am conscious that in reality this revenue stream is significant for many of the jurisdictions, allowing for a broad range of maritime safety activities undertaken by the maritime regulators.

The legal and operational effect of the drafting error means that the Commonwealth rather than AMSA will be required to receive the revenue from the infringement notices. However, as I said earlier, the Commonwealth has no power to reimburse the amounts to the jurisdiction because the national law does not contain an appropriations power. I am advised that only this amendment to the national law will achieve the original policy intention and ensure that there is no unintended impact on revenues collected by the various jurisdictions.

Kirsten Livermore (Capricornia, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister has not been able to join us in the chamber, so I will put the question immediately. The question is that this bill be now read a second time.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Ordered that this bill be reported to the House without amendment.