BIC National e-Bulletin – June 2022

With only 2 weeks to go we are excited to release the latest program and speaker’s compendium for the not to be missed National Bus Industry Summit, June 28 and 29 in Canberra (you need to be there if you want the ‘no frills’ analysis of the ‘race to zero’). 

In this bulletin, we take a look at Assessing Fitness to Drive, the results of the federal election, recruitment and retention. We also welcome new member Foton Mobility.

A quick wrap on events from the Bus Australia Network and Association Partners 

• New program out now including speakers compendium for the National Bus Industry Summit being held in Canberra June 28 and 29.
• Don’t forget to book your ticket for the upcoming Australasia Bus Expo in Sydney, hosted by BusNSW. Over 100 exhibitors already booked! Beat the rush – book
  now
• Stay up to date: national and international events calendar 

The National Bus Industry Summit on June 28 and 29 will see broad involvement from senior government policy makers, bus and parts suppliers, technology experts and bus operators.

The summit will include a detailed update on the progress of the reform of the Disability Standards for Accessible Transport. There are significant changes being proposed by the Federal Department of Infrastructure & Transport on how conveyances and related premises/infrastructure need to be designed and function in order to provide a modern accessible transport system.

There will also be an update on where the National Transport Commission currently sits with the reform of Heavy Vehicle National Law which commenced in 2019!! The HVNL reform has
experienced several hiccups along the way as the NTC tries to find common ground between state/territory jurisdictions, heavy vehicle industries and road law enforcers. The NTC’s Executive Leader of Regulatory Reform will present on the design of a new HVNL at the Summit.

The zero emissions session on Day 1 will open with a humdinger assessment on the ‘no bullshit reality’ for the bus industry in the race for zero. Technology and energy specialists will provide factual information on all electric technology regardless of power generation.

Delegates will hear from government and private operators on their experiences in implementing ZEBs. The zero emission session will finish with presentations from two academic bodies who will provide some ‘real world’ examples of the
critical issues surrounding these technologies.

Day 2 of the summit will see 2 separate summits running concurrently – technical and industrial relations/human resources. Both programs on Day 2 will cover critical need-to-know issues that many businesses should be addressing right NOW in order to be ready for what’s coming down the pipeline in the next 12 months or so.

Full details of the program and to register are on the moving people website.

What’s new in government

…pretty obvious. We have a new Australian government!

The BIC congratulates the Australian Labor Party for their election win. Albo has long been a friend of public transport and pledged $125 million to manufacture 130 electric buses in Perth if Labor won the federal election. 

We spoke to the new Prime Minister in the lead up to the election highlighting the importance of federal government leadership in the transition to zero emission buses and coaches, addressing the shortage of bus and coach drivers by changing pension rules, the importance of public transport for moving
people and local manufacturing.

With a new government and lots of Greens and Teal independents on board we will be ramping up our advocacy efforts on behalf of bus and coach operators, manufacturers and associated service providers and the communities that benefit from or could benefit from easy access to bus and coach travel.

National Transport Commission – new guidelines for Assessing Fitness to Drive

The Transport Ministers have approved the new addition of the Assessing Fitness to Drive guideline, which has been produced by the NTC and Austroads which comes into effect on 22 June 2022.

The ultimate aim of the guideline is to create national consistency of medical
standards for driver licensing across Australia. To that end, the new guideline has been updated to account for advances in healthcare since the last edition of the standards (2016) – such as new research on implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), improved and earlier detection of dementia, and the ability to prescribe medicinal cannabis for various conditions. The guideline outlines the responsibilities of drivers, examining healthcare professionals and licensing authorities.

The guidelines however, will continue to be silent on any standards/guidance to assist Employers who are predominantly reliant on the Employee to self-report. The Employer will also continue to be reliant on the health professional and the licensing authority to be accurate and timely in the provision of assessments or accreditation. The NTC considers these to
be out of scope of the AFD. It remains to be seen how this will work with Automatic Mutual Recognition which will be adopted by all states/territories (except Qld) from 1 July.

The guideline will be made available on 22 June 2022. Here are some highlights from the NTC’s final report:

• The definition of congenital conditions has been expanded to include “disability and driving” – clarifies that the capacity to perform the driving task may be impacted by the presence of a disability, and describes the associated action required by health professionals to assess disabilities
• For drivers with an
  ICD, the guidelines now specify a ‘non-driving period post-implantation’ (six months) and an annual review period.
• Recognition of the use of medical cannabis that can be managed similarly to other prescription medications that can impair driving
• Clarify appropriate communication between health professionals and driver licensing authorities in the event of a health professional becoming aware of unreliable information provided by the driver.
• Directs treating specialists to share their fitness-to-drive assessment outcomes with the patient’s general practitioner.
• Substance abuse – clarifies assessment requirements,
  licensing requirements and periodic review. The changes will support driver licensing authorities to identify when ongoing review can be performed by a general practitioner.

BIC welcomes new members to our team of National Industry Navigators