Roads Legislation Amendment (NSW Motorways) Bill 2025 - Second Read Speech
At the outset, I acknowledge the mess—left largely, but not totally, by the previous Government—that this current mob has to unpick. The Greens supported the 2024 motorways bill that provided for the independent oversight of toll prices, the creation of a tolling ombudsman to deal with disputes and complaints between motorists and toll road operations, and the creation of NSW Motorways. Ultimately, The Greens will probably support this bill as well. However, we need to see what happens at the Committee stage.
I note that some of the bill seems to do a bit of tidying up, perhaps as a result of the rushed nature of the 2024 legislation. The bill amends the Roads Act 1993 and the Transport Administration Act 1988. The bill repeals the 2024 NSW Motorways Act. Specifically, it formally recognises NSW Motorways as a roads authority under the Roads Act 1993, which will allow it to undertake roadworks, acquire land and manage tollways—powers previously held by Transport for NSW. It transfers the Sydney Harbour Tunnel to NSW Motorways. It clarifies how tolls and charges are levied by toll authorities, expands the Tollway Ombudsman scheme and establishes a customer advocate, which I will speak about in more detail later.
Schedule 1 [17] to the bill provides for the vesting of the Sydney Harbour Tunnel in NSW Motorways. Schedule 1 [20] will update the definition of "toll operator" so that there is only one default toll operator, NSW Motorways. Other toll operators must be identified in a gazetted ministerial order and limited to a named tollway. The Transport Administration Amendment (NSW Motorways) Bill 2024 created the framework for NSW Motorways to be established. During the second reading debate on that bill, the Minister said:
I make it clear that this is the first phase of legislation. The Government is not ruling out introducing more legislation.
It was acknowledged at the time that the reform is complicated and that detailed work was required to progress it. NSW Motorways was established on 1 July 2025 with the expectation that it would be fully stood up and operational in early 2026.
My office reached out to the Minister's office with a number of questions about this bill, specifically in terms of how it sits with the 2024 bill, because it seemed as though some things in this bill should have been done by the 2024 bill. I thank the Minister and his office for providing very good detail and the type of information we were seeking—not spin, but the facts. I now put some of that on the record. We specifically asked about the need for some parts of this bill. We know that the 2024 bill contained a provision nominating NSW Motorways as the roads authority for toll roads.
As part of the detailed review, that provision was identified as having a number of issues and was not commenced for that reason. The land acquisition and related powers were also identified as being more effectively incorporated within the full regulatory context of the Roads Acts 1993, with related provisions and context. That is a very good thing to know. The general powers under the Transport Administration Act, such as to contract, conduct a business or act as agent, are not sufficient to replace specific powers in the Roads Act. For example, a general power to contract under the Transport Administration Act does not confer a power to contract for roadwork or traffic control work. Again, that is really good information to know.
The 2024 bill created the framework for NSW Motorways to have powers conferred on it by other Acts, including the Roads Act. The initial bill conferred limited, specific powers such as the right to levy tolls and charges, and to acquire land. It left general roads functions to be resolved in subsequent legislation. A lot of those changes are now reflected in this bill. We know through some of the work by the Fels review that most other States have tolling arrangements which are simpler and far more centralised. Queensland's Linkt system, which is also operated by Transurban, is unified across Brisbane. Victoria has far fewer toll concessions and a single ombudsman process. New South Wales continues to have multiple contracts and toll operators, not a single public body coordinating the system. That is why The Greens have supported NSW Motorways.
In her contribution, the Hon. Natalie Ward raised concerns around the role of the customer advocate and the role of the Ombudsman. Both of those positions seem very different compared with what Allan Fels and David Cousins were suggesting. The customer advocate is supposed to do things like:
... seek to investigate and resolve systemic issues raised by complaints. The position will provide a high-profile central point of contact for motorists' complaints and issues of concern.
That is what the Fels and Cousins review expected, and why it suggested a customer advocate. It states:
The customer advocate will have a critical role in quickly identifying new issues that arise and working across organisations to resolve them.
The role of the customer advocate outlined in the bill is a far more passive position, and I think there would be substantial benefits in strengthening the role of the customer advocate. Indeed, why bother to have the customer advocate if it is not going to do what the Fels review recommended?
The Fels review—and I know this may be picked up in the amendments—recommended that the customer advocate should be required to report annually on activities undertaken during the year. The Greens also have concerns about the independence of the role of industry ombudsman regarding the concessionaires for whom the position is supposed to be the dispute resolution body. Those two positions are extremely positive elements of the bill but, crucially, only if they are given the independence and power to operate as the recommendations of the Fels review intended.
I will finish by saying that The Greens support the bill because we appreciate the effort that the Minister has gone to in trying to unpick these incredibly complex, expensive and very unfair tolling contracts and make them fairer, at whatever level, for the people of this State. I cannot imagine what he was left with, frankly. We support those efforts, and hopefully we will see some more.