Schedule 4 Amendments relating to ferry passenger services
(Section 3)
4.1 Passenger Transport Act 1990 No 39
Insert in alphabetical order in section 3 (1):ferry service contract—see section 16AA.
regular ferry service means any regular passenger service conducted by ferry, but does not include any service of a class prescribed for the purposes of this definition.
Insert after Division 1:Division 1A Service contracts for regular ferry services
This Division applies to service contracts for regular ferry services (ferry service contracts).16AB Service contracts for regular ferry services
(1) A ferry service contract is to be for a term not exceeding 8 years.(2) A ferry service contract may be renewed from time to time in accordance with any provision of the contract concerning renewal.(3) Provision for regular ferry services in accordance with this section and section 16 may be made in one or more contracts.(4) It is the duty of the Director-General to ensure that any ferry service contract is not inconsistent with:(a) the government’s standards of safety for passengers and the public and maintenance, and(b) standards for, or any other requirements relating to, ferries, the operator of the service or employees of the operator under this or any other Act or any regulation, and(c) the terms and conditions of any certificate or other authority issued to an employee of the operator of the service under any other Act or regulation.(5) Nothing in this Division is to be construed as affording a right or expectation of renewal of a ferry service contract.(6) The Director-General is precluded from entering into a proposed ferry service contract if the Director-General would be precluded from entering into that contract by section 21 (4) if it were a contract to which Division 2 applies.16AC Matters to be included in ferry service contracts
(1) A ferry service contract (other than for a service operated by Sydney Ferries) must make provision with respect to the following:(a) requirements relating to the financial viability of the operator,(b) requirements relating to the fitness of the operator to be an operator and the character of the operator or of any directors and managers of the operator.(2) A ferry service contract may specify a region or route of operation.(3) A route may proceed across water and a region may consist of a navigational area.(4) The regulations may provide for other matters that are to be included in ferry service contracts.(1) A ferry service contract is to provide for performance standards to be observed by the contract holder.(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the performance standards may include any model performance standards for ferry services that the Director-General may, by order published in the Gazette, approve from time to time.(3) Performance standards are to be enforced by civil penalty provision or in such other manner as the contract may provide.(4) In subsection (5), civil penalty provision means a provision of a ferry service contract that is expressed to be a civil penalty provision for the purposes of this section.(5) Despite anything to the contrary in any Act or other law, a person who breaches a civil penalty provision is liable to pay, as a debt due to the State, an amount determined in accordance with the ferry service contract as the penalty for the breach of that provision.(6) Subsections (3)–(5) do not apply to a contract between the Director-General and Sydney Ferries.16AE Determination of maximum fare pricing policy for ferry services
(1) This section applies to any ferry service contract that authorises or otherwise provides for the fares charged by the contract holder to be determined in accordance with this section.Note. If its ferry service contract does not provide for this matter, Sydney Ferries may make an order under section 85 of the Transport Administration Act 1988 determining fares.(2) The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (the Tribunal) is to conduct investigations and make reports to the Minister on the following matters:(a) the determination of appropriate maximum fares for regular ferry services supplied under contracts to which this section applies,(b) a periodic review of fare pricing policies in respect of such services.(3) In respect of an investigation or report under this section, the Minister may require the Tribunal to consider specified matters when making its investigations.(4) Division 7 of Part 3 of the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal Act 1992 is taken to apply to an investigation under this section in the same way as it applies to an investigation under Part 3 of that Act.(5) In making a determination under this section, the Tribunal is to consider the following matters:(a) the cost of providing the services concerned,(b) the protection of consumers from abuses of monopoly power in terms of prices, pricing policies and standards of service,(c) the need for greater efficiency in the supply of services so as to reduce costs for the benefit of consumers and taxpayers,(d) the need to maintain ecologically sustainable development (within the meaning of section 6 of the Protection of the Environment Administration Act 1991) by appropriate pricing policies that take account of all of the feasible options to protect the environment,(e) the social impact of the determination,(f) standards of quality, reliability and safety of the services concerned (whether those standards are specified by legislation, agreement or otherwise) and any suggested or actual changes to those standards,(g) contractual arrangements prevailing in the industry,(h) such other matters as the Tribunal considers relevant.(6) A ferry service contract to which this section applies is taken to include a term to the effect that the contract holder must not charge a passenger of the service a fare that exceeds the maximum fare determined under this section from time to time for the provision of such a service to a passenger of that kind.(7) Any contravention of the term implied in a ferry service contract by subsection (6) may be remedied at law or in equity as though the term were an essential term to which the parties had by contract agreed.(8) A ferry service contract to which this section applies may make provision for maximum fares for the provision of regular ferry services concerned to passengers pending the first determination of maximum fares under this section.(9) Any provision of the kind referred to in subsection (8) ceases to have effect as part of the ferry service contract on and from the first determination of maximum fares under this section that applies to the provision of the regular ferry services to which the contract relates.
[3] Part 3, Division 2, heading
Insert “subject to existing contracts” after “ferry services”.
Omit the section. Insert instead:(1) This Division applies to service contracts for ferry services in force immediately before the commencement of Division 1A, or that are renewed as referred to in subsection (3).(2) A service contract must not be entered into under this Division after the commencement of Division 1A.(3) Subsection (2) does not prevent the renewal, under this Division, of a contract in force immediately before the commencement of Division 1A or any succeeding renewed contract.
[5] Section 48 Review of decisions concerning service contracts
Insert “a ferry service contract,” after “with respect to” in section 48 (2).
[6] Schedule 3 Savings and transitional provisions
Insert with appropriate Division and clause numbering in the Part inserted by Schedule 2.1 [8]:Division Provisions relating to ferry service contracts
(1) Sydney Ferries may continue to carry on a regular ferry service without a ferry service contract until such a contract is entered into.(2) This clause ceases to have effect 2 years after the commencement of Division 1A of Part 3 of the Act, as inserted by the 2008 amending Act, or on such later day as may be prescribed by the regulations.
4.2 Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal Act 1992 No 39
Schedule 1 Government agencies for which Tribunal has standing reference
Insert “(but excluding any services provided by Sydney Ferries under a ferry service contract to which section 16AE of the Passenger Transport Act 1990 applies)” after “Sydney Ferries”.