Ms CLANCY (Elder) (16:57): I rise to speak in support of the Rail Safety National Law (South Australia) (Fees) Amendment Bill 2023. Before I get into it, I would like to acknowledge the contribution of the member from the other side of the house, in which he claimed that having to join the AWU was outrageous, and in the same sentence said, 'But I was getting paid really well.' Can I just have it noted that the reason you were paid well was the union movement. Just as South Australia was a leader in giving women the right to vote—

Mr Pederick interjecting:

Ms CLANCY: I just thought you would be excited that I was listening to you, member for Hammond.

Mr Pederick: I am pleased.

Ms CLANCY: Yes, someone has to. Just as South Australia was a leader in giving women the right to vote and run for parliament, and South Australia has been a leader in renewable energy, our state is also the lead legislator for the Rail Safety National Law. The bill before us today implements the 2011 Council of Australian Governments' (COAG) agreement that the national regulators for rail, maritime and heavy vehicles would progress towards full cost recovery from industry operators. COAG set the following principles to guide the development of the cost-recovery model:

• the model be transparent;

• fees should be based on a national model;

• fees should be reflective of and proportionate to rail transport operator risk classification;

• fees should be aligned with the regulator's regulatory effort—the regulator is the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR);

• cross-subsidisation should be avoided. However, cross-subsidisation, if used, must be transparent; and

• the model should be simple to administer.

What this bill does is make amendments to the Rail Safety National Law that are required to support the implementation of the new cost-recovery model and associated changes.

While much of the detail of the new model can be implemented by amending the Rail Safety National Law National Regulations 2012, the Rail Safety National Law needs to be amended to:

• remove the requirement for accredited and registered persons to pay a fee when applying to vary their accreditation or registration;

• exempt tourist and heritage operators from the requirement to pay an annual accreditation or registration fee;

• require the National Rail Safety Regulator to ensure that tourist and heritage operators are recorded in the National Rail Safety Register; and

• allow the national regulations to prescribe a method by which accreditation fees, registration fees and exemption fees may be increased each year and to require the regulator to publish these fees.

We are hoping this bill is passed in both houses, to come into operation on 1 July this year. The regulator has engaged with industry on the cost-recovery model, so industry is already aware of this targeted commencement date. It is important to note that this engagement by the regulator has been comprehensive. The consultation process was one of significant engagement with industry since 2018 via a reference group, workshops and meetings with individual operators as well as governments. This included:

• a review of cost-recovery models in other industries and rail internationally to identify any learnings for a model based on a risk and regulatory effort;

• development of a risk profiling tool for use in cost recovery;

• collection of regulatory effort data for use in cost recovery;

• fee modelling; and

• consideration of policy issues associated with any change to the regulator's cost-recovery model.

A number of key policy issues were identified as the project progressed, including current areas of cross-subsidisation, the treatment of the tourist and heritage sector and less complex rail operations.

The Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator conducted four formal stakeholder consultation phases. Stage 1, which occurred between September and October 2020, consisted of chief executive briefings. Stage 2, which occurred between November and December 2020, consisted—I am sorry, the member for Badcoe is making me laugh.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Ms Stinson): I am sorry, member for Elder. I am making you laugh.

Ms CLANCY: Rail safety is not a laughing matter. Stage 2 consisted of risk profiling workshops and information sessions. Stage 3 occurred in December 2020, when the regulator released its cost-recovery consultation paper—I am sorry, member for Hammond.

Mr Pederick: You don't have to apologise to me.

Ms CLANCY: Who knew that all these stages of consultation were so hilarious? Stage 4, which occurred from June 2021 to 2022, consisted of one-on-one meetings with larger commercial operators and group sessions for smaller and less complex operators on the financial impacts of the model. In addition, drafting instructions were circulated to industry representatives for consultation from 8 to 17 June 2022. Draft legislation was also circulated to industry and union representatives, member for Hammond, for consultation from 7 to 21 September 2022.

In addition to industry consultation, the regulator met with commonwealth, state and territory government representatives during 2018, 2019 and 2021 to socialise the cost-recovery model, update governments on its progress, and discuss funding of the tourist and heritage sector. As is evident through this extensive consultation process, industry representatives have been an integral part of the model's development—as they should be.

The regulator reported that discussions with operators on the financial impacts of the new model during 2021 and 2022 were extremely constructive, and even though many commercial operators will be paying higher fees they understood and accepted the logic and the application of the model.

The main feature of the new cost-recovery model is that commercial rail transport operators will pay an annual accreditation fee based on their risk profile and the regulatory effort expended by the regulator. The main difference between the new model and the existing cost-recovery arrangements is the method used to calculate the annual accreditation fee payable by a commercial rail transport operator. Currently, an accredited commercial operator is required to pay a fixed annual fee of $15,000 as well as a variable annual fee that is based on track kilometres managed and track kilometres travelled or both.

Under the new cost-recovery model a commercial operator will pay one annual accreditation fee that is based on the operator's risk profile and the regulatory effort required from the regulator to oversee the operator and other operators with a similar risk profile. The risk profile of an accredited rail transport operator will be calculated using the risk profiling tool developed by the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator. The new cost-recovery model will completely remove the need for governments to subsidise the cost of regulating the safety of the commercial rail industry.

In terms of tourist and heritage operators, under the current arrangements tourist and heritage operators are charged a reduced annual fixed fee of $2,000 in addition to the variable annual fee. Most of these operators have their annual fees paid for by government, so they cover very little of the regulatory effort the sector attracts. In fact, tourist and heritage fees cover only about 5 per cent of the cost of regulating the sector. The remainder of the cost is currently met by commercial operators.

Given this, it was agreed by infrastructure and transport ministers that the cost of regulating tourist and heritage operators would fall to all governments, including the commonwealth, and would not be cross subsidised by the commercial operators. This means the subsidisation of the tourist and heritage sector by commercial operators will be significantly reduced under the new arrangements.

Under these changes, the states, territories and the commonwealth will pay a total of $4.9 million towards the cost of regulating tourist and heritage operators. South Australia's contribution to cover tourist and heritage operations will be just 4.81 per cent of the $4.9 million national contribution to the regulator, as agreed in May 2021.

As the member for Elder, I am very lucky to have an electorate connected to three train lines: the Seaford line, which I share with the member for Badcoe; the Flinders line, which I guess when I come to think of it I do not get to have all by myself but share with the member for Davenport; and a teeny bit of the Belair line, which I share with the member for Unley and the member for Waite. I love that, because of another election promise being delivered, all seniors can currently use these trainlines and all other public transport services for free all the time.

When the former Liberal government announced their privatisation of our trains and trams, I was proud to stand in solidarity with workers and commuters campaigning for the privatisation not to go ahead, getting petitions signed by hundreds of people on many early mornings. Sadly, the government of the time ignored the pleas of the community and went ahead with the privatisation. However, now I get to stand proud as a member of the Malinauskas Labor government, a government committed to reversing this privatisation.

Our first budget included $1 million to fund a commission of inquiry to advise the government on the return of trains and trams into public ownership. Thanks to positive early negotiations, Keolis Downer and the government now have the same objective, and the rail operations will be returned to public hands. Other commitments in the track space—boom tish—include:

• $55.1 million for reinstating the construction and operation of a port rail spur for the Outer Harbor line;

• $29.4 million for improving services to Mount Barker and the Adelaide Hills;

• $10 million to optimise the operation of the automated protection system on the Seaford line;

• $2 million to upgrade the Noarlunga Interchange;

• $1.5 million to install an activated pedestrian rail crossing near Kilkenny Primary School;

• $1.4 million to ensure the continued running of the Overland train service between Adelaide and Melbourne;

• $530,000 to construct a car park and kiss-and-ride space adjacent to the Tambelin Railway Station;

• $500,000 to install CCTV at West Croydon Railway Station—

I could just go on and on—

• 416,000 for investigations into how to better integrate public transport opportunities in regional areas; and

• locally, we are upgrading Woodlands Park train station and Clarence Park train station. Preliminary work has started on both, and the member for Badcoe and I are working together with the minister, his office and the department on the progress of these upgrades.

I am proud of our government's work in transport, in particular rail, and I commend the bill to the house.