THE House Infrastructure, Transport and Cities Committee inquiry into automated mass transit is holding hearings this week in Melbourne and Sydney as part of its inquiry into automated mass transit.

The Committee will hear from a range of witnesses from government, academia and industry on the way forward to a cleaner, greener, safer, more efficient transport system using automation and new energy sources.

Committee chair John Alexander said the Committee is keen to learn about the potential for automation and new energy sources to improve economic, social and environmental outcomes.

"The integration of different transport modes into a single seamless transport system should be the goal of governments and industry, and we need to fully investigate the role that automation can have in facilitating this," Mr Alexander said.

"We have the technology. We need the policies and plans to effectively implement automated transport and new generation fuels. Cooperation across jurisdictions and coordination between government and industry is essential."

In its submission, Infrastructure Victoria highlighted the potential benefits of automation, noting that on-demand public transport and mobility as a service (MaaS) "could make significant improvements to how we travel" and, alongside integrated planning and payment for multi-modal trips, could "supplement existing public transport services and pave the way for introducing on-demand automated vehicles".

They "recommended incorporating on-demand and Maas into the public transport mix in preparation for automation".

Leading infrastructure provider, Transurban, emphasised the need for policy coordination, stating that "it will be critical for new policies and regulations to be consistent across states and territories, and structured in such a way as to encourage innovation while ensuring public safety".

Melbourne public hearing details: 8.30am – 4pm, Wednesday, 27 February 2019, Room G6, Parliamentary Annex, 55 St Andrews Place, Melbourne

8.30am: National Transport Commission

9.10am: Infrastructure Victoria

9.50am: Transurban

10.50am: Monash University & Monash University Accident Research Centre

11.30am: Centre for Disaster Management – University of Melbourne

12.10pm: La Trobe University

12.50pm: Break

1.50pm: Arup

2.30pm: Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering

3.10pm: Transdev Australasia

4.00pm: Close

Sydney public hearing details: 9.30am – 4.10pm, Thursday, 28 February 2019, Meeting Room 1, Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices, Level 21, 1 Bligh St, Sydney

9.30am: Hyperloop Transportation Technologies

10.10am: Standards Australia

11.10am: iMOVE

11.50am: Uber

12.30pm: Break

1.30pm: Planning Institute of Australia

2.10pm: Rail Tram and Bus Union

2.50pm: Committee for Sydney

3.30pm: AECOM

4.10pm: Close

The hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live

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LABOR's 'Tradie Pay Guarantee' policy announced today is a positive step in highlighting the important contribution building and construction makes to the community and economy, but caution must be taken to avoid adopting overly simple solutions to complex problems, according to Master Builders Australia.

Denita Wawn, CEO of Master Builders Australia said, “The need to ensure small and family businesses and subcontractors are paid in full and on-time is crucial. The few who deliberately do the wrong thing make it harder for the overwhelming majority who do the right and comply with the law.

“Builders and subcontractors will welcome the increased focus of both major parties on improving the standard of commercial conduct within industry, particularly the need to reduce differences between current Security of Payment regimes maintained by the States and Territories. Existing laws adopt different rules and take different approaches to what is essentially the same problem making it harder for all building industry participants to understand the law and increase compliance costs,” she said. 

“Caution should be shown in terms of using project bank accounts and trusts for construction projects performing Commonwealth building work. There has yet to be a reliable local assessment of whether such arrangements will represent a meaningful solution to a complex problem and run the risk of having significant adverse outcomes for small business and subcontractors,” Ms Wawn said. 

“Industry will also be keen to ensure that Labor’s policy does not duplicate or add to the vast array of existing and proposed reporting obligations that already apply to building and construction, such as the Taxable Payments Annual Report or the proposed Payment Times Reporting Framework. 

“All political parties must ensure they focus on adopting solutions that are evidence-based, effective and lasting while also ensuring that compliance with existing laws is being appropriately enforced – a key reason that underpinned building industry support for Labor’s Director Identifier Number (DIN) policy as now adopted by Government,” Ms Wawn said. 

“Improving the standard of commercial conduct in the building and construction industry is a key issue. Master Builders urges all political parties to ensure they commit to working with industry to ensure outcomes are effective and lasting, while resisting simple solutions to complex problems,” Ms Wawn said.

www.masterbuilders.com.au

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THE FEDERAL Government's 10-year, $3.5 billion Roads of Strategic Importance (ROSI) initiative is aiming to deliver game-changing works to drive productivity and efficiency gains across Australia's key freight routes, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Michael McCormack.

 “The Roads of Strategic Importance initiative will deliver rolling packages of upgrades, which will improve the standard of priority corridors over a 10-year period,” Mr McCormack said.

“By targeting our investment on priority road corridors used by agricultural, mining and other industries, we will ensure upgrades delivered through the Roads of Strategic Importance initiative will provide more reliable infrastructure to improve connections across the supply chain and access to ports, airports and transport hubs.

“We have already allocated $400 million for the Bass Highway and other priorities in Tasmania, $100 million to improve access from regional NSW to the Australian Capital Territory via the Barton Highway and $220 million for the Bindoon Bypass in Western Australia,” he said.

“The government will be looking for other strategic corridors so our investments can support regional economic growth, support the expansion of local industries including the visitor economy, while also improving safety on these key roads.”

The $3.5 billion ROSI initiative is an important component of the Liberal and Nationals Government's $75 billion infrastructure investment pipeline, announced in this year's Federal Budget.

Assistant Minister for Roads and Transport Scott Buchholz said as part of the Australian Government’s commitment to developing northern Australia, $1.5 billion has been earmarked for projects in the north.

“This investment of $1.5 billion for projects in the north acknowledges the importance of this region to Australia's economy and building on the benefits already being delivered through the Australian Government's Northern Australia Roads Program and Northern Australia Beef Roads Program,” Mr Buchholz said.

“I look forward to meeting with local organisations across the north in coming weeks as part of a wide consultation process.”

http://investment.infrastructure.gov.au/key_projects/initiatives/roads_strategic_importance.aspx

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THE Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Kate Carnell welcomed the announcement today that Labor, if elected, will establish an independent compensation scheme for victims of financial institutions outside the timelines allowed under current Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) guidelines.

“This new entity will be able to give compensation up to $2 million for consumers and small businesses who suffered financial and non-financial loss,” Ms Carnell said.

“The new entity will be able to take cases dating back to 1 January 2008. People wishing to have their case reviewed will have two years to submit the claim.

“We have seen so many small and family business operators affected by the extremely poor behaviour of the big banks and other financial institutions and the Royal Commission simply didn’t address this.

“The missing element of this scheme is that small businesses with loans over $5 million still have no avenue to have their cases reviewed.

“We will continue to advocate for bank victims who fall into this category and will push for justice. This will give those businesses that have never had an opportunity to have their case heard have access to justice.”

www.asbfeo.gov.au

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