Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee, , 6:17:02 to 6:24:57
Officials detail the ongoing consultation with industry regarding the adoption of international UN regulations for vehicle cyber security and software management.
Topics: Online safety, Infrastructure
Speakers: Melissa Cashman, Hon Bridget McKenzie, Anita Langford, Unknown Speaker
>> Okay. I'm assuming my Tasmanian colleagues will be asking the freight equalization >> review questions. >> Um I just wanted to get an update on the um connected vehicle M Lford, can I get an update, please?
vehicle standards, are they the cyber security standards?
>> No, they are not. They are the standards um that you are talking to. >> Um, I think there was a UN type of
the moment, Senator, on those
>> outline the consultation for me, please.
>> So, there have been two tanches. uh one trench earlier this year uh with peak bodies for industry that includes the BIC um and peak bodies like that. Um I
have these sort of a round table or are they requesting written submissions?
>> Uh it's a combination of both. Um, Ms. Kashman is been the person leading that uh, consultation, so I'll invite her to
>> Thank you.
>> Thanks, Melissa Cash, assistant secretary for vehicle safety policy and partnerships. Uh, we've commenced consultation with the industry in April this year, a first round of consultation to get some initial feedback on their um, understanding of the international standards. We then commenced a second round of consultation taking into account their feedback from the first round that commenced the end of July. It's ongoing. A number of the participants have asked for an extension of time to provide the feedback. We've had a range of oneonone.
>> When is the feedback expected to be received?
>> We had expected the feedback to be received in uh August. Um but a couple of the um applicants have asked for further time. We've had a couple of one-on-one meetings. We've had uh we have a uh twice a year we have a forum with all of our peak bodies. Uh we had one of those uh in September. We we um discussed the issue that with them then. uh Miss Langford hosted a meeting of the peak bodies a couple of weeks ago where we discussed the matter uh again and coming from that meeting they have asked for a more technical workshop which we are just scheduling with them at the moment to discuss through the technicalities of the ADRs
>> and Senator there's two more things I would add to that uh the meeting that we held a couple of weeks ago also included representatives from the Australian signals director and home affairs to talk about the threat environment and then deputy secretary infrastructure will be meeting with CEOs in November to talk about it.
>> In November. So UN regulation 155 became mandatory for all new vehicle types in contracting parties from July 22 uh 2022 and for all new vehicles produced from July 2024. What has been the reason for delay in
Certainly Senator. So the United Nations regulation can't be just picked up and dropped into Australian law. in particular this one. It was developed during co so Australia didn't have the chance to participate in the development of that standard. So it was heavily influenced by Europe and Europe has a different approval system to us. They have a lot more flexibility in that they have an
>> as cashman we have this is not our first rodeo on this topic and then later in every estimates week I go and have the same conversation with ASD with home affairs who then kick me back to you. Usually you tell me it's a privacy issue. I'm glad we've moved on from that. So my question is CO or not CO 2022. It is now 4 years later.
>> Yep.
>> I want to understand why the delay. So
we are consistent with other non-European countries that are implementing this standard. We're consistent with Japan. They're a little bit ahead of us. We're consistent with South Korea, all of our input markets. the US doesn't have uh a standard planned at all. Uh we've had to do a lot of work to fill in the gaps of the in of the United Nations standard because of our different approval system. So we've been doing that.
>> I appreciate that. >> And you're having some stakeholder meetings with industry this year. >> I'm not understanding why this has suddenly become urgent when it hasn't
always been the plan. Um, Senator, you would you would probably remember from previous um uh evidence in this forum that the uh home affairs developed the cyber security um legislation and during the development of that legislation and subordinate um instruments. There was discussion about whether road vehicles would be regulated under that act and those instruments or whether there was a case or whether it was appropriate for them to continue to be regul regulated under the um ADRs because we we had these new these international standards to um to relate to. So that decision was made. Those instruments have now been created and they do uh cleave out vehicles be on the on the basis that the vehicles will implement standards similar to the United Nations standards. So once that was all decided, we commenced consultation with our industry. We actually have been talking to them about this since last year. Uh it's been in April this year that we actually gave them documentation seeking formal feedback on this issue. In April
2026
>> is when we started formal consultation. Yes. But we have been discussing this. We have mentioned uh we've been talking to industry last year.
>> But in the meantime, vehicles are able to enter our market with no standard
>> uh with no Australian standard applied.
What progress has the department made with regard to the adoption of UN regulation 156 that mandate uh that vehicle manufacturers establish safe and secure vehicle software update
regulation 155 and 156 together. They are quite um closely related. >> Uh so we're handling those together as a
>> So consulting on both of them at the same time.
>> At the same time. That's right. Senator,
>> uh, on the 25th of September, the ABC four corners program broadcast the investigation Asleep at the wheel, which exposed current and live examples of being able to hack connected and electric vehicles to monitor phone calls while driving to remotely switch on and off key safety features like window wipers and lights. Are you aware of this um program and investigation?