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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-06-04 Daily Xml
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Rail Safety National Law (South Australia) (Rail Safety Work) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 14 May 2020.)

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (15:25): I rise on behalf of the opposition and indicate that I am the lead speaker in this place. This legislation was not developed by the state government or by the cabinet, it was developed nationally. South Australia is in the unique position that we have been tasked by the nation to be the lead legislator in a number of areas, namely, energy policy and rail safety law. I am advised that COAG has decided, in consultation with the other jurisdictions, that there need to be amendments to the definition of 'rail worker'. There is a longstanding process in this parliament that this opposition will support national reforms.

The Australian Railway Association raised concerns about the definition of 'rail safety worker' in the rail safety national law. The ARA's primary concern was that the definition was open to broad interpretation, which resulted in workers who have no impact on safety being classified as rail safety workers. As a result, there is unnecessary overlap with work health and safety legislation that results in increased costs and a regulatory burden for industry.

My advice is that the definition of a rail safety worker will be changed through this legislation to align with the objectives of the Rail Safety National Law to capture only work that could pose a risk to railway operations, current or future, and to clearly distinguish between the risks from the work and the risks to the person performing the work. I am advised that the amendments also remove risk to workers who are not specific to railway operations and who are therefore adequately addressed under other work health and safety legislation. The opposition accepts the government's argument and will be supporting these changes.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:27): I rise today to speak in support of the Rail Safety National Law (South Australia) (Rail Safety Work) Amendment Bill 2020. I understand this is a very simple bill that has come about from a COAG decision made in response to concerns raised by the Australian Railway Association and that South Australia is the lead legislator for rail safety law. The COAG decision was to amend some definitions in the Rail Safety National Law (South Australia) Act 2012 (RSNL) and all jurisdictions have agreed to these reforms.

We have been assured by minister Knoll that this legislation has been broadly supported by industry and the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator. However, we do not know if the relevant unions were consulted on the bill or what their views were. This is a concern, since the bill narrows the definition of who is a rail safety worker, a topic I would have thought unions might have a position on. I note that Labor did not mention this at all in the other place.

The bill addresses concerns that the definition of rail safety work in the RSNL was open to broad interpretation and therefore prone to overlap with other work health and safety provisions and that some of the people who currently come within the definition do not undertake rail safety work at all. Clarifying the definition of who is a rail safety worker and what work could pose a risk to railway operations is also intended to reduce the rail safety work assessment burden for the industry.

I am told there is no direct cost to the industry from these amendments and that indeed there should be a reduced administrative burden. Importantly, the bill talks about safety work being done properly and managing the risk of workers' exposure to moving rolling stock.

The member for Flinders, Mr Peter Treloar, noted in the other place that many lives have been lost in building and maintaining railways in South Australia over the years. I sincerely hope that this bill contributes to ensuring that no workers are put at risk in performing their duties in any area of rail operations, construction or maintenance.

Although I enjoyed Mr Treloar's nostalgic historical journey of rail on Eyre Peninsula in his second reading speech in the other place, it was a great disappointment that he as the local member, with so many family ties to rail in that regional area and with so many constituents employed in agriculture, rail and associated industries, did nothing to stop the closure of the Eyre Peninsula rail line over 12 months ago.

The government sat by and watched that rail line degenerate until, after four years of fruitless negotiations, the private operator, Genesee & Wyoming, and Viterra gave up. The aged and neglected rail line needed an injection of funds that this government was not prepared to make. Viterra decided to discontinue using the service and, with no government intervention or support, the future of rail on the peninsula was doomed.

Viterra transferred all their grain freight to road transport to ensure future efficiency and cost effectiveness of their supply chain, and to remain internationally competitive. As a consequence, 33 local people lost their jobs with Genesee & Wyoming. Not only did minister Knoll do nothing at the time to stop the closure of the line, minister Knoll has also done nothing since then to deal with the estimated additional 30,000 truck movements on substandard roads per year.

The impacts of forcing grain onto the road include the unknown increased cost of road maintenance to the state and local councils, and an exponential increase in risk to the personal safety of people sharing our roads with these very heavy articulated vehicles. So it was indeed a sad and disappointing day to see rail go after more than 100 years of serving Eyre Peninsula communities.

As I have said previously, this government and the previous Labor governments have an aversion to rail. It is a vile four-letter word in their transport ideology. Yes, Labor did spend up big on electrification, even though it failed to complete the job. They went back to the future to extend trams in the city and to Hindmarsh, but that is where their vision ended.

Rail presents governments with worthwhile nation-building projects. In 2017, the federal government set aside $10 billion for its National Rail Program. It is designed to make our cities more liveable and efficient as they grow and reduces the burden on our roads—unlike what is happening on Eyre Peninsula. It provides more reliable transport networks and supports efforts to decentralise our economy and grow regional Australia. Take note of that last goal: grow regional Australia, not regional South Australia.

Successive governments have allowed our regional network to fall into rack and ruin because they have refused to enforce the conditions of the lease on the company that has them: Genesee & Wyoming (now One Rail Australia). Infrastructure SA paid scant notice to a very good submission by the South Australian transport action group to revitalise our flagging economy while also providing a foundation for future mining and manufacturing expansion in Whyalla, in the Spencer Gulf region and on parts of Eyre Peninsula where there are iron ore and goldmining leases and the proposed site of a low-level radioactive waste facility in Kimba.

The report, titled South Australia: Building the Future, outlines some innovative initiatives like a standard gauge line connecting Port Augusta, Whyalla, Kimba and Wudinna, and also extending the network of rail in the Adelaide Hills to take in the massive growth in Mount Barker and ease traffic congestion on the South-Eastern Freeway. While the rest of the world and other Australian states continue to embrace rail as an economic and competitive form of transport, South Australia's regional network is being left to stagnate due to a lack of vision and financial commitment.

Railways are dominant throughout Britain, Europe, the United States, Africa and Asia because of the enormous social and economic return. Rail travel is very popular and the movement of freight on rail rather than roads is much cleaner and safer. They are the backbone of some of the world's biggest economies and they continue to invest and expand in them. There was a time not so long ago that this state built locomotives at Islington. All that now seems lost. This government is content to allow rail to hurtle backwards to an era pre-dating Robert Stephenson's Rocket and the industrial revolution.

There are a couple of exciting projects I would like to touch upon. One is the Iron Road Cape Hardy project, which would create a multicommodity deep-sea port with capsize berths. This is a unique development that presents enormous potential because it would bring together mining, agriculture and Indigenous businesses on Eyre Peninsula. However, this state government appears to have stalled in giving this initiative some support, even though it is the only deep water port that has approvals in place.

I was recently speaking with farmer Tim Scholz, who is Iron Road's principal advisor for stakeholder engagement and business development for port operations. Mr Scholz believes Port Hardy should take precedence over other proposals in the works such as Lucky Bay, which is considered too shallow. Most farmers on Eyre Peninsula want to be part of the deep port build and support the rail infrastructure.

There are 60 farmers already committed to a co-op whose production output is worth more than $800 million. However, for this to proceed it needs the state government to show some leadership, vision and commitment. To get established, the co-op is seeking $10 million over five years under regional development grant funding.

Mr Scholz informs me they are in a catch 22 situation and the only impediment to being eligible to get access to the funding is a requirement for a AAA bank guarantee. In the meantime, they have a big multinational ready to invest. The federal government has committed $25 million to Iron Road but it also requires the state government to chip in to avoid a real lost opportunity. While on lost opportunities—

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Pangallo, just before you continue, your speech as been very wideranging—

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: Yes, it is, but it is on rail.

The PRESIDENT: Did you say 'It's unrelated'?

The Hon. C. Bonaros: It's on rail.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: Well, I am about to be derailed.

The PRESIDENT: We are indulging you, the Hon. Mr Pangallo, but I am really failing to see how a lot of this actually comes back to the bill at hand. Please continue, but you are really testing my patience with this.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: I am nearly through, Mr President. I will continue because it gives me an opportunity to speak about an area that I am quite passionate about. It is not often that this area actually manages to come up in our parliament.

I will just get back on lost opportunities. The transport minister does not believe there is a place for a tourist wine train into his own electorate, which contains the world-famous Barossa Valley. Passionate Barossa tourism business operator John Geber reminds me of that famous storybook The Little Engine That Could, with its theme of optimism and hard work.

Mr Geber wants to get the train up and running again using his own money and that of a wealthy Fijian-based Canadian businessman and entrepreneur, David H. Gilmour, who I am informed is up there with the likes of Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. Here is a glimpse of his CV. He is a longtime investor in Australia and founder of several companies, including the Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation, which had 36 properties now owned by Intercontinental Hotels, Barrick Gold Corporation and Fiji Water, which you may have seen on sale around the world.

They are also prepared to invest in a much needed five-star hotel in Tanunda. It is an incredible opportunity for tourism investment, which is being shunned by the minister and his government, particularly at a time when our tourism industry is on its knees and crying out for visionary projects like this one which could mirror the extremely popular rail journey through California's Napa Valley region.

Mr Geber and his backers are not necessarily looking for an injection of funding from the government. All they are calling for is for the neglected rail line from Gawler to Nuriootpa to be brought up to a standard to take a train and a few carriages, just like the lease to One Rail Australia demands. But these plans were frustrated recently when the government did a deal with One Rail to take back and then rip up 120 metres of rail line at the Kroemers Crossing so that it could build a $6 million roundabout. It effectively cut in half 108 years of rail history to the region. Mr Geber's effort to stop this government sanctioned act of rail vandalism has cost him $150,000 in legal fees. The minister has dismissed Mr Geber's expression of interest for the Barossa line this year by saying:

Following an impartial, evidence based evaluation of the submissions, it was determined that none warranted further development as all proposals relied on taxpayer funding and/or presented unacceptable risks for the State Government and the community.

Mr Geber's proposal was to be entirely self-funded.

I understand the Barossa Valley community is now enraged by the minister's stance on reopening a section of rail for tourism that they say is sorely needed and would be on par with the successful Cube development by the d'Arenberg family in McLaren Vale. As Mr Geber pointed out, the original plans for the $6 million Kroemers Crossing roundabout kept the rail line intact. That has been acknowledged by The Barossa Council, Pernod Ricard and the chocolate factory.

He says he has made five formal requests to meet with Mr Knoll to discuss the vast economic potential of rail tourism in the valley, as has been proven in the Napa Valley which attracts 100,000 tourists each year, yet he has had no response. How disappointing! However, I am going to meet with Mr Geber because I firmly believe his proposal has so much merit and potential for the region. Mr Gilmour wrote to the Premier last month imploring him to intervene to save the rail line, describing minister Knoll's actions as being extremely short-sighted, alarming and an irreversible miscalculation at the expense of the Barossa region.

Of course, minister Knoll responded for the Premier saying that removing the line was the most efficient use of public moneys to deliver the roundabout in the absence of any viable proposal for immediate use of the rail corridor, to which Mr Gilmour responded to the Premier on 30 May:

It is astoundingly short-sighted and discouraging for a potential investor to comprehend such a lack of judgement especially in this day and age. I implore you to investigate before this opportunity evaporates.

So there you have it: a government looking a gift horse—in this case, a gift train—in the eye and proceeding on its inevitable course to a train wreck. With those comments, I will commend the bill to the Legislative Council. I thank you for your indulgence.

The PRESIDENT: And we did indulge the Hon. Mr Pangallo. I call the minister to sum up.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade and Investment) (15:43): I thank the members for their contributions. I thank the Hon. Clare Scriven for her brief, concise and constructive contribution.

The PRESIDENT: Hear, hear!

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I thank the Hon. Frank Pangallo for sharing his passion for regional rail with the chamber and airing some of his other concerns around deep-sea ports and wine trains and things. It was pleasing to note, as members have said, that we are the lead legislator. This piece of legislation has been agreed. I think it was back in 2019 that the officials agreed and then the transport ministers agreed on 22 November 2019. It is something we all support and, as the Hon. Clare Scriven says, the opposition has a habit or a practice of supporting national reform. I think all oppositions in the time that I have had the pleasure of being in this chamber have done so.

Bill read a second time.

Committee Stage

Bill taken through committee without amendment.

Third Reading

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade and Investment) (15:46): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.

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