page_title: Bus Safety Act 2009
section_title: Debate
hierarchical_section_title: Bus Safety Act 2009 / Parliamentary approval / Debate
caption_attribution_description: Parliament of Victoria
context_page_description: The Bus Safety Act 2009 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia and is the prime statute regulating the safety of bus operations in Victoria. The Act was developed as part of the Transport Legislation Review conducted by the Department of Transport between 2004 and 2010 and is aimed at preventing deaths and injuries arising from bus operations in Victoria and establishes a modern "best practice" regulatory framework to assist in maintaining and improving the Victorian bus industry's good safety record.
  The Act continued regulatory control over the operation of large buses and introduced safety standards for the small or mini-bus sector which comprises 40% of the Victorian bus fleet. Controls over large and small buses comprise permissions such as accreditation and registration. In addition, the Act introduced broad based "safety duties" for bus operators and all others who have a significant role in providing both commercial and non-commercial bus services.
context_section_description: The Bus Safety Bill was supported by opposition members and was the subject of minimal negative comment during its passage.  The then Opposition shadow Transport Minister and the Minister for Public Transport, Terry Mulder MP, commented that -
  "I know the Bill focuses very much on safety, but certainly the experience that I have had over the years working with businesses - putting in place accredited systems and business management systems - is that really at the end of the day you should make money. A business should function a hell of a lot better if it has an accreditation scheme in place.
  As to this issue dealing with safety, it may well be that a company's buses are maintained at a higher level and that it does not then suffer the risk of breakdown, maintenance failures and a loss of reputation because of the failure of its equipment.
  I believe accreditation has a great place in a lot of businesses and a lot of operations, providing it does one of two things: one, today you look at the safety regime, because a safety regime is very important; and two, you have to make sure you get a financial benefit out of it, because when you get a business that is being screwed or under enormous financial pressure, it tends to start to drift away from putting money into areas where it should, such as safety.
  What I would say to Bus Association Victoria members is, firstly, embrace the issue of safety, and secondly, make sure your accreditation schemes provide you with the opportunity to enhance your business, improve your bottom line and become a better operation as a result of it.
  As I say, the opposition will not oppose the Bill before the House. I have raised a couple of concerns that we have in relation to the Bill and trust that the Minister will pick those up."
  The then Parliamentary Secretary for Public Transport, Rob Hudson MP, observed that -
  "This Bill is really all about improving the safety of bus operations in Victoria.
  I think we need to recognise that there is already a high level of bus safety and bus safety standards that apply to buses in Victoria, and this Bill enhances those and takes them to a new level.
  Buses are playing an increasingly important role in our public transport system. For the 2008 calendar year there were nearly 98 million passengers on our buses, which is an increase of 12.9 per cent. They are experiencing the highest growth in patronage since 1949-50. We have a huge increase in bus use at the moment. With the increasing role that buses are playing in the transport network, it is important for us to ensure that we have included all buses that are out there providing commercial bus services.
  The problem with the current regime is that it is prescriptive, it is limited in its scope and it is unclear. It focuses only on the operator of the bus service.
  This legislation extends that to all the players in the bus sector. The part of the industry that has been regulated to date, the part that has been accredited really in many respects, is going to face a reduced regulatory burden as a result of this Bill because those companies will not be required, as they are now, to renew their accreditation every three years. Instead what they will find is their accreditation will be ongoing and will be subject to audit.
  The real impact of the Bill is going to be felt mainly in the case of minibuses, which are currently completely unregulated - they are, typically, buses with 10 to 12 seats.
  There are about 5500 of those buses out there, and they are going to be brought within the scope of bus safety regulation for the first time. That represents about 40 per cent of all the buses that are out there in the bus sector, so I think that is where this Bill is going to have the biggest impact, bringing those buses into the bus safety regime. They are going to do that principally, depending on whether they are a commercial bus or not, through the registration scheme."
  In reply, the Minister indicated that -
  "The Bill provides a new best practice safety regulation regime for Victoria's growing bus industry. ...
  The i
caption: The Bill which became the Bus Safety Act was considered by the Victorian Parliament between early December 2008 and late March 2009.
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