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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
Queensland
Transport Infrastructure
Amendment Bill 2004
Queensland
Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill
2004
Contents
Page
Part 1 Preliminary
1 Short title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Part 2 Amendment of Transport Infrastructure Act 1994
2 Act amended in this part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3 Insertion of new ch 7, pt 6, div 1AA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Division 1AA Preliminary
213A Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
213B Definitions for pt 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4 Amendment of s 216 (Investigations by rail safety officer) . . . . . . 7
5 Amendment of s 217 (Power of rail safety officer to investigate
incident) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6 Amendment of s 220 (Role of board of inquiry) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
7 Amendment of s 235 (Self-incrimination) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
8 Insertion of new ch 7, pt 6, divs 4 and 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Division 4 Protection of particular information
239AA Limitations on disclosure etc. of restricted
information ........................... 10
239AB Release of restricted information in the interests of
safety of transport by rail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
239AC Authorisation of coroner to have access to restricted
information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
239AD Chief executive may authorise persons to have
access to restricted information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Division 5 Relevant persons
239AE Meaning of relevant person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
239AF Certification by chief executive of relevant person's
involvement in investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
239AG Relevant persons not compellable as witnesses . . . . 14
2
Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2004
9 Insertion of new ch 18, pt 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Part 4 Transitional provision for the Transport
Infrastructure Amendment Act 2004
531 Statements about derailment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
10 Amendment of sch 6 (Dictionary) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Part 3 Amendment of Coroners Act 2003
11 Act amended in this part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
12 Amendment of s 52 (Documents that can not be accessed) . . . . 16
Part 4 Amendment of Freedom of Information Act 1992
13 Act amended in this part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
14 Insertion of new pt 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Part 9 Transitional provision for Transport
Infrastructure Amendment Act 2004
112 Application for access to particular documents . . . . . 17
15 Amendment of sch 1 (Secrecy provisions giving exemption) . . . . 17
2004
A Bill
for
An Act to amend the Transport Infrastructure Act 1994, and for
other purposes
s1 4 s3
Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2004
The Parliament of Queensland enacts-- 1
Part 1 Preliminary 2
Clause 1 Short title 3
This Act may be cited as the Transport Infrastructure 4
Amendment Act 2004. 5
Part 2 Amendment of Transport 6
Infrastructure Act 1994 7
Clause 2 Act amended in this part 8
This part amends the Transport Infrastructure Act 1994. 9
Clause 3 Insertion of new ch 7, pt 6, div 1AA 10
Chapter 7, part 6-- 11
insert-- 12
`Division 1AA Preliminary 13
`213A Objects 14
`(1) The objects of this part are to provide for-- 15
(a) the reporting of incidents on or involving a railway; and 16
(b) the investigation of or inquiry into incidents on or 17
involving a railway, including-- 18
(i) investigations or inquiries independent of an 19
accredited person for the railway; and 20
(ii) investigations or inquiries conducted to find out the 21
cause of the incidents and to make 22
s3 5 s3
Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2004
recommendations about improvements to safety of 1
transport by rail. 2
`(2) The following are not objects of this part-- 3
(a) to apportion blame to individuals for incidents on or 4
involving a railway; 5
(b) to provide the way to decide the liability of any 6
individual in relation to an incident on or involving a 7
railway; 8
(c) to help in court proceedings between parties, except as 9
expressly provided by this part; 10
(d) to allow any adverse inference to be drawn from the fact 11
that an individual is involved in an investigation or 12
inquiry. 13
`(3) Subsection (2) does not make evidence inadmissible in a civil 14
or criminal proceeding unless this part states the evidence is 15
not admissible in the proceeding. 16
`213B Definitions for pt 6 17
`In this part-- 18
civil or criminal proceeding includes an administrative 19
proceeding for the discipline of an individual. 20
coronial procedure means any of the following under the 21
Coroners Act 2003-- 22
(a) the making of a decision for section 30 of that Act; 23
(b) an inquest; 24
(c) an investigation; 25
(d) a conference under section 34 of that Act. 26
court includes any tribunal, authority, person or body that has 27
power to require the production of documents or answering of 28
questions, but does not include the Legislative Assembly or a 29
commission of inquiry under the Commissions of Inquiry Act 30
1950. 31
data logger recording means a recording from a device 32
installed on a locomotive or self-propelled rolling stock that 33
s3 6 s3
Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2004
records rolling stock event data related to operational 1
performance of the locomotive or self-propelled rolling stock. 2
data logger recording information means-- 3
(a) a data logger recording or part of a data logger 4
recording; or 5
(b) a copy or printout of all or part of a data logger 6
recording; or 7
(c) any information obtained from a data logger recording 8
or part of a data logger recording. 9
individual does not include an accredited person. 10
inquiry means an inquiry conducted by a board of inquiry 11
established or re-established under section 219. 12
investigation means an investigation under this part of an 13
incident on or involving a railway by a rail safety officer. 14
relevant person see section 239AE. 15
restricted information means any of the following, other than 16
data logger recording information-- 17
(a) a statement, whether oral or in writing, obtained from a 18
person in the course of an investigation or inquiry, 19
including any record of the statement; 20
(b) all information recorded in the course of an 21
investigation or inquiry; 22
(c) all communications in the course of an investigation or 23
inquiry with a person involved in the operation of rolling 24
stock that is or was the subject of an investigation or 25
inquiry; 26
(d) medical or private information regarding persons, 27
including deceased persons, involved in an incident that 28
is being or has been investigated or that is or has been 29
the subject of an inquiry; 30
(e) in relation to rolling stock that is or was the subject of an 31
investigation or an inquiry--information recorded for 32
the purposes of monitoring or directing the progress of 33
the rolling stock from 1 place to another or information 34
recorded about the operation of the rolling stock; 35
s4 7 s5
Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2004
(f) records of the analysis of information or anything else 1
obtained in the course of an investigation or inquiry, 2
including opinions expressed by a person in that 3
analysis; 4
(g) information contained in a document that is given to a 5
rail safety officer or board of inquiry in connection with 6
this part.'. 7
Clause 4 Amendment of s 216 (Investigations by rail safety officer) 8
(1) Section 216(4), `report the results of the investigation'-- 9
omit, insert-- 10
`give a report of the results of the investigation (the RSO 11
report)'. 12
(2) Section 216-- 13
insert-- 14
`(5) The chief executive must give the Minister a copy of the RSO 15
report within 14 days after receiving the report. 16
`(6) The Minister must table in the Legislative Assembly a copy of 17
the RSO report within 14 days after receiving the report. 18
`(7) The following is not admissible in evidence in any civil or 19
criminal proceeding-- 20
(a) the RSO report; 21
(b) any report prepared by the rail safety officer as an 22
interim RSO report; 23
(c) any report prepared by the rail safety officer as a draft 24
RSO report for the purposes of consultation. 25
`(8) However, subsection (7) has no effect on the use or 26
admissibility of any type of report mentioned in the 27
subsection in a coronial procedure.'. 28
Clause 5 Amendment of s 217 (Power of rail safety officer to 29
investigate incident) 30
(1) Section 217(4)-- 31
omit, insert-- 32
s5 8 s5
Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2004
`(4) If the rail safety officer reasonably believes it necessary for 1
the purposes of the investigation, the rail safety officer may 2
require a person to-- 3
(a) answer questions relevant to the incident; or 4
(b) produce documents or other things relevant to the 5
incident.'. 6
(2) Section 217(10)-- 7
omit, insert-- 8
`(9A) It is not a reasonable excuse for a person to fail to comply 9
with the requirement that complying with the requirement 10
might tend to incriminate the person or make the person liable 11
to a penalty. 12
`(9B) Subsection (9C) applies to the following (primary 13
evidence)-- 14
(a) any help given by an individual to a rail safety officer in 15
investigating an incident in response to a requirement 16
under subsection (2); 17
(b) any answer given by an individual to a question 18
mentioned in subsection (4)(a) to a rail safety officer in 19
investigating an incident in response to a requirement 20
under subsection (4)(a); 21
(c) a document or other thing mentioned in 22
subsection (4)(b) produced by an individual to a rail 23
safety officer in investigating an incident, and the fact of 24
that production, in response to a requirement under 25
subsection (4)(b); 26
(d) the results of an alcohol test, drug test or medical 27
examination of an individual mentioned in 28
subsection (5). 29
`(9C) The following is not admissible in evidence against an 30
individual in any civil or criminal proceeding-- 31
(a) primary evidence; 32
(b) any information, or document or other thing, obtained as 33
a direct or indirect result of primary evidence (derived 34
evidence). 35
s6 9 s7
Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2004
`(9D) Subsection (9C) does not prevent primary evidence or derived 1
evidence being admitted in evidence in criminal proceedings 2
about the falsity or misleading nature of the primary evidence. 3
`(10) When making a requirement of an individual under this 4
section, a rail safety officer must-- 5
(a) warn the individual it is an offence to fail to comply 6
with the requirement unless the individual has a 7
reasonable excuse; and 8
(b) advise the individual that-- 9
(i) it is not a reasonable excuse that complying with 10
the requirement might tend to incriminate the 11
individual or make the individual liable to a 12
penalty; and 13
(ii) anything obtained under the requirement, and any 14
evidence derived directly or indirectly from 15
anything obtained under the requirement, is not 16
admissible in evidence against the individual in 17
any civil or criminal proceeding.'. 18
Clause 6 Amendment of s 220 (Role of board of inquiry) 19
Section 220-- 20
insert-- 21
`(5) The following is not admissible in evidence in any civil or 22
criminal proceeding-- 23
(a) a report under this section; 24
(b) any report prepared by the board as an interim report 25
under this section; 26
(c) any report prepared by the board as a draft report under 27
this section for the purposes of consultation. 28
`(6) However, subsection (5) has no effect on the use or 29
admissibility of any type of report mentioned in the 30
subsection in a coronial procedure.'. 31
Clause 7 Amendment of s 235 (Self-incrimination) 32
(1) Section 235 (1), after `incriminate the person'-- 33
s8 10 s8
Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2004
insert-- 1
`or make the person liable to a penalty'. 2
(2) Section 235(2)-- 3
omit, insert-- 4
`(2) The following is not admissible in evidence against an 5
individual in any civil or criminal proceeding-- 6
(a) any answer given at the inquiry by the individual, and 7
any document or other thing produced at the inquiry by 8
the individual and the fact of that production, in 9
response to a requirement under this division (primary 10
evidence); 11
(b) any information, or document or other thing, obtained as 12
a direct or indirect result of primary evidence (derived 13
evidence). 14
`(3) Subsection (2) does not prevent primary evidence or derived 15
evidence being admitted in evidence in criminal proceedings 16
about the falsity or misleading nature of the primary 17
evidence.'. 18
Clause 8 Insertion of new ch 7, pt 6, divs 4 and 5 19
After section 239-- 20
insert-- 21
`Division 4 Protection of particular information 22
`239AALimitations on disclosure etc. of restricted 23
information 24
`(1) A person who is or has been a relevant person must not make 25
a record of restricted information. 26
Maximum penalty--2 years imprisonment. 27
`(2) A person who is or has been a relevant person must not 28
disclose restricted information to any person or to a court. 29
Maximum penalty--2 years imprisonment. 30
s8 11 s8
Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2004
`(3) A person who has, or had, access to restricted information 1
under section 239AD1 must not-- 2
(a) make a record of the information; or 3
(b) disclose the information to any person or to a court. 4
Maximum penalty--2 years imprisonment. 5
`(4) Subsection (1), (2) or (3) does not apply to-- 6
(a) anything done by a person in performing functions 7
under this Act or in connection with this Act; or 8
(b) without limiting paragraph (a), disclosure to any board 9
of inquiry; or 10
(c) disclosure to a court in criminal proceedings for an 11
offence against this part; or 12
(d) disclosure to a court in civil proceedings if-- 13
(i) the chief executive issues a certificate under 14
subsection (6); and 15
(ii) the court makes an order under subsection (7). 16
`(5) In a proceeding for an offence against subsection (1), (2) or 17
(3), the onus is on the defendant to adduce or point to 18
evidence that suggests a reasonable possibility that 19
subsection (4) applies. 20
`(6) The chief executive may issue a certificate about restricted 21
information stating that the disclosure of the information is 22
not likely to interfere with any current or future investigation 23
or inquiry. 24
`(7) If the court is satisfied that any adverse domestic and 25
international impact that the disclosure of the information 26
might have on any current or future investigations or inquiries 27
is outweighed by the public interest in the administration of 28
justice, the court may order the disclosure. 29
`(8) A court in which a disclosure mentioned in subsection (4)(c) 30
or (d) is made may direct that the restricted information, or 31
1 Section 239AD (Chief executive may authorise persons to have access to restricted
information)
s8 12 s8
Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2004
any information obtained from the restricted information, 1
must not-- 2
(a) be published or communicated to any person; or 3
(b) be published or communicated other than in the way, 4
and to the persons, the court states. 5
`(9) If a person is prohibited by this section from disclosing 6
restricted information-- 7
(a) the person can not be required by a court to disclose the 8
information; and 9
(b) any information disclosed by the person in 10
contravention of this section is not admissible in any 11
civil or criminal proceeding, other than a proceeding 12
against the person under this section. 13
`239ABRelease of restricted information in the interests of 14
safety of transport by rail 15
`(1) The chief executive may disclose restricted information to any 16
person if the chief executive considers that the disclosure is 17
necessary or desirable for the purposes of safety of transport 18
by rail. 19
`(2) However, the chief executive may only disclose restricted 20
information that is, or that contains, personal information in 21
the circumstances prescribed under a regulation. 22
`(3) In this section-- 23
personal information means information or an opinion 24
(including information or an opinion forming part of a 25
database), whether true or not, and whether recorded in a 26
material form or not, about an individual whose identity is 27
apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the 28
information or opinion. 29
`239ACAuthorisation of coroner to have access to restricted 30
information 31
`(1) This section applies if a coroner requests or requires the chief 32
executive to give restricted information to the coroner. 33
s8 13 s8
Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2004
`(2) The chief executive must give the restricted information to the 1
coroner. 2
`239ADChief executive may authorise persons to have 3
access to restricted information 4
`The chief executive may authorise someone other than a 5
relevant person to have access to restricted information if the 6
chief executive considers that it is necessary or desirable to do 7
so. 8
`Division 5 Relevant persons 9
`239AEMeaning of relevant person 10
`A relevant person is 1 of the following-- 11
(a) the chief executive; 12
(b) a rail safety officer-- 13
(i) who is required to investigate an incident under 14
section 216(2);2 or 15
(ii) who is not required to investigate an incident under 16
section 216(2) but who is investigating the incident 17
for the purpose of finding out its cause as opposed 18
to finding evidence of a suspected offence; or 19
(iii) whose services are made available to a board of 20
inquiry under section 222; 21
(c) another person made available to help a board of inquiry 22
in any capacity. 23
`239AFCertification by chief executive of relevant person's 24
involvement in investigation 25
`The chief executive may issue a certificate stating that a 26
stated person who is or has been a relevant person is involved, 27
2 Section 216 (Investigations by rail safety officer)
s9 14 s9
Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2004
or has been involved, in an investigation or inquiry about a 1
stated incident. 2
`239AGRelevant persons not compellable as witnesses 3
`(1) A person who is or has been a relevant person is not obliged to 4
comply with a subpoena or similar direction of a court to 5
attend and answer questions about an incident if the chief 6
executive has issued a certificate under section 239AF for the 7
person in relation to the incident. 8
`(2) A relevant person is not compellable to give an expert opinion 9
in any civil or criminal proceeding in relation to safety of 10
transport by rail. 11
`(3) This section does not apply to an inquiry or coronial inquest. 12
`(4) In this section-- 13
expert opinion means an opinion that requires specialised 14
knowledge based on training, study or experience.'. 15
Clause 9 Insertion of new ch 18, pt 4 16
After section 530-- 17
insert-- 18
`Part 4 Transitional provision for the 19
Transport Infrastructure 20
Amendment Act 2004 21
`531 Statements about derailment 22
`(1) This section applies to a statement about the derailment made 23
by a relevant employee to a rail safety officer before the 24
commencement of this section. 25
`(2) The statement (the primary evidence) and any information, or 26
document or other thing obtained as a direct or indirect result 27
of the statement (the derived evidence) is not admissible in 28
evidence against the employee in any civil or criminal 29
proceeding. 30
s 10 15 s 10
Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2004
`(3) Subsection (2) does not prevent the primary evidence or 1
derived evidence being admitted in evidence in criminal 2
proceedings about the falsity or misleading nature of the 3
primary evidence. 4
`(4) Also, subsection (2) has no effect on the use or admissibility 5
of a report in a coronial procedure. 6
`(5) It is declared that the statement, information, or document or 7
other thing mentioned in subsection (2) is taken to be 8
restricted information for the purposes of chapter 7, part 6. 9
`(6) In this section-- 10
derailment means the derailment of the tilt train operated by 11
Queensland Rail derailled on or about 16 November 2004 at 12
Berajondo. 13
relevant employee means an individual involved in the 14
derailment who at the time of the derailment was an employee 15
of a railway operator for the rolling stock involved in the 16
derailment.'. 17
Clause 10 Amendment of sch 6 (Dictionary) 18
Schedule 6-- 19
insert-- 20
`civil or criminal proceeding, for chapter 7, part 6, and 21
section 531, see section 213B. 22
coronial procedure, for chapter 7, part 6, and section 531, see 23
section 213B. 24
individual, for chapter 7, part 6, and section 531, see 25
section 213B. 26
inquiry, for chapter 7, part 6, see section 213B. 27
investigation, for chapter 7, part 6, see section 213B. 28
relevant person, for chapter 7, part 6, see section 239AE. 29
restricted information, for chapter 7, part 6, see 30
section 213B.'. 31
s 11 16 s 14
Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2004
Part 3 Amendment of Coroners Act 1
2003 2
Clause 11 Act amended in this part 3
This part amends the Coroners Act 2003. 4
Clause 12 Amendment of s 52 (Documents that can not be 5
accessed) 6
Section 52(1)-- 7
insert-- 8
`(e) contains information that was given to the coroner under 9
the Transport Infrastructure Act 1994, section 239AC.3'. 10
Part 4 Amendment of Freedom of 11
Information Act 1992 12
Clause 13 Act amended in this part 13
This part amends the Freedom of Information Act 1992. 14
Clause 14 Insertion of new pt 9 15
After part 8-- 16
insert-- 17
3 Transport Infrastructure Act 1994, section 239AC (Authorisation of coroner to have
access to restricted information)
s 15 17 s 15
Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2004
`Part 9 Transitional provision for 1
Transport Infrastructure 2
Amendment Act 2004 3
`112 Application for access to particular documents 4
`(1) This section applies to any document obtained, received, or 5
brought into existence, by a rail safety officer in relation to the 6
derailment before the commencement of this section, whether 7
or not the rail safety officer was carrying out an investigation 8
at any relevant time. 9
`(2) The document is declared to be, and to have always been, a 10
document consisting entirely of exempt matter to which 11
section 48 applies as if its disclosure were prohibited by an 12
enactment mentioned in schedule 1 on and from the document 13
coming into existence. 14
`(3) This section applies in relation to an application under this 15
Act for access to a document mentioned in subsection (1), or 16
for the review of a decision under this Act about access to a 17
document mentioned in the subsection, whether the 18
application was made before or after the commencement of 19
the subsection. 20
`(4) In this section-- 21
derailment means the derailment of the tilt train operated by 22
Queensland Rail derailled on or about 16 November 2004 at 23
Berajondo. 24
investigation see the Transport Infrastructure Act 1994, 25
section 213B. 26
rail safety officer means a person who is a rail safety officer 27
under the Transport Infrastructure Act 1994.'. 28
Clause 15 Amendment of sch 1 (Secrecy provisions giving 29
exemption) 30
Schedule 1-- 31
insert-- 32
s 15 18 s 15
Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2004
`Transport Infrastructure Act 1994, chapter 7, part 6, 1
division 4'. 2
© State of Queensland 2004
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