Regulation of Heavy Vehicle Charges
DR ELIZABETH GIBSON, General Manager of CMPA provides a brief on the upcoming submission on the regulation of heavy vehicle charges.
The Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development (Australian Government) released the following paper in May 2017: Land Transport Market Reform – Independent price regulation of heavy vehicle charges (https://infrastructure.gov.au/roads/heavy/index.aspx ).
Purpose of this paper
This paper seeks stakeholder views on establishing independent price regulation for heavy vehicle charges. In particular, the Australian Government would like views from stakeholders about which entity or entities should perform the function. Three potential options are outlined in the paper.
What is independent price regulation?
Independent price regulation typically refers to a system in which infrastructure access prices are set by an agency or organisation, at arm’s length from government. In the heavy vehicle context,
this would mean prices would be set by an agency which is separate from, and independent of, those parts of government (state and federal) which are responsible for:
• Delivery and/or funding of road services to the heavy vehicle industry;
• Development, setting and/or operation of government budgets; and
• Monitoring and compliance of safety outcomes for the heavy vehicle industry.
Such a structure would also mean that the independent price regulator would not face:
• The political and or fiscal pressures that exist under current arrangements; and
• Conflicting responsibilities such as maximising revenue vs setting a fair and efficient price.
Why independent price regulation?
The system we presently use for setting the heavy vehicle user charge is not working well. While the National Transport Commission produces a recommended price in accordance with its stated principles, usually this recommendation is not accepted by governments and, instead, a price is agreed through political negotiation. The paper is also considering inclusion of light vehicles.
The following are the 3 proposed options:
Option 1. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) would undertake independent price regulation of heavy vehicle charges.
Option 2. The National Transport Commission’s (NTC’s) price determinations would be automatically implemented by governments, provided certain criteria are met.
Option 3. State and Territory based economic regulators would undertake independent price regulation of heavy vehicle charges.
The CMPA will make a submission with Members’ input.
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