Background
The National Transport Commission (NTC) is a statutory body established in 2003 under the National Transport Commission Act 2003 (NTC Act). The NTC leads national land transport reform in support of all Australian governments to improve safety, productivity, environmental outcomes, and regulatory efficiency. The Act requires Infrastructure and Transport Ministers’ to complete a statutory review of the NTC every six years. The 2021 Review is the third such review under the NTC Act.
NineSquared’s role
The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications (DITRDC) engaged NineSquared to undertake the Review. The purpose of the Review was to consider the operations of the NTC and the NTC Act, its associated Inter-Governmental Agreement for Regulatory and Operational Reform in Road, Rail and Intermodal Transport 2003 (IGA), and make recommendations about whether the NTC should continue and/ or the NTC Act be repealed. The key objective was to consider whether the NTC should continue to operate, and if so in what role.
The Review presents recommendations based on a Review of the NTC’s:
- Operational effectiveness
- Role and relationships; and
- Future work priorities and governance arrangements
As part of the Review, extensive discussions were held with the NTC, senior officials from each jurisdiction, road and rail national regulators, research groups and representatives of relevant national and state transport industry associations. In total, around 30 stakeholders were engaged during the six-week consultation period, including written submissions from peak industry bodies. Stakeholders commented on a variety of aspects of the NTC, highlighting achievements, identifying issues and making suggestions, all of which informed our analysis, findings and recommendations.
Results and relevance
In summary, our Review found that the NTC is effective in delivering Transport and Infrastructure Ministers’ work program and we recommended that the NTC should continue to operate.
We compiled our analysis into a comprehensive report, complete with findings and recommendations regarding the NTC’s future operations, role, relationships, working priorities and governance. The finalised Review was reported to and approved by Infrastructure and Transport Ministers in May 2021.
