On 14 October 2026, the South Australian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport tabled the Rail Safety National Law (South Australia) (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2026 in South Australian Parliament. The Bill proposes miscellaneous amendments to the Rail Safety National Law (RSNL) as part of its ongoing legislative maintenance program. As lead legislator of the RSNL, amendments must pass both houses of South Australian Parliament before taking effect in other jurisdictions. Responsible ministers for infrastructure and transport across the nation unanimously approved the bill in early June 2026.
The Bill proposes three amendments to the RSNL:
1. Information Sharing
The Bill will vary the definition of prescribed authority in section 13 of the RSNL to update the list of entities that the national regulator may share information with.
- The regulator will now be specifically authorised to share information with key statutory bodies in NSW and Victoria: the Chief Investigator of the Office of Transport Safety Investigations (NSW) and the Chief Investigator, Transport Safety (Vic).
- Reference to the Rail Industry Safety and Standards Board will be updated in line with its name change to the Australian Rail Industry Standards Organisation.
2. Road Managers to Share Responsibility
The Bill will amend section 50 of the RSNL to specifically include road managers, who have statutory responsibility in respect of interface coordination, within the national law’s principles of shared responsibility.
3. Audit Powers
The Bill will clarify the regulator’s powers with respect to audits.
- The Bill will confirm that the regulator may exercise the powers of a rail safety officer under Part 4 of the RSNL for the purposes of conducting an audit.
- Whereas a rail safety officer is ordinarily empowered to enter railway premises without prior notice under Part 4, the Bill will specify that the existing requirement for the regulator to give at least 24 hours’ written notice before inspecting rail operations continues to apply for the purposes of conducting an audit.
Rail industry stakeholders should keep abreast of these developments. For further guidance with obligations under the Rail Safety National Law, please contact Larissa Buriak and Chris Mitchell.
