New South Wales Consolidated Acts

TRANSPORT ADMINISTRATION ACT 1988 - SECT 17

17 Ministerial control

(1) The Minister may give the RailCorp Board written directions in relation to the exercise of RailCorp’s functions.

(2) Subject to this section, the Board and the Chief Executive Officer of RailCorp must ensure that RailCorp complies with any such direction.

(3) If the RailCorp Board considers that:

(a) RailCorp would suffer a significant financial loss as a result of complying with any such direction, and

(b) the direction is not in the commercial interests of RailCorp,

the Board may request the Minister to review the direction.

(4) A request for a review must be made within 7 days after the direction is given or within such other reasonable period as the Minister determines.

(5) If the Board requests a review, RailCorp is not required to comply with the direction until notified of the Minister’s decision following the review.

(6) Following the review the Minister may confirm or revoke the direction, but the Minister must not confirm the direction unless:

(a) the Minister has estimated the financial loss concerned from information supplied by RailCorp or from other sources, and

(b) the Minister has referred the matter to the Treasurer, and

(c) the Treasurer has approved of the financial loss being reimbursed from public revenue.

(7) Subsections (3)-(6) do not apply to a direction that may cause RailCorp to suffer a significant financial loss as a result of complying with that direction if:

(a) the Minister decides that the direction is warranted on grounds involving urgency or public safety, and

(b) the direction is given after consultation with the Treasurer.

(8) The Treasurer may approve of any financial loss resulting from a direction referred to in subsection (7) being reimbursed from public revenue.

(9) For the purposes of this section, the amount of the financial loss that RailCorp suffers as a result of complying with a direction includes the amount of expenditure that RailCorp incurs, and the amount of revenue that RailCorp forgoes, as a result of complying with the direction which it would not otherwise incur or forgo.

(10) The amount to be reimbursed to RailCorp is to be paid, from money advanced by the Treasurer or appropriated by Parliament for that purpose, at such times and in such amounts as the Treasurer determines after receiving advice from the Minister on the estimated financial loss incurred by RailCorp from time to time.