Marchant speaks out on ACCC’s rejection of Hunter plan – Part Two

To read Part One of this story click here

By Jennifer Perry

The ACCC rejected ARTC’s proposed rail access arrangements for the Hunter Valley rail network in their current form. There is nothing unusual or dramatic in this. It is almost always the case that the regulator requires some adjustments to an undertaking prior to final acceptance and it was inevitable that a complex arrangement such as the HVAU would require at least some tweaking.
The ACCC draft decision is a substantial document that flags changes being required to almost every part of the HVAU.
While Marchant told Rail Express that he was happy with the ACCC’s draft decision “in general terms and in an overall sense”, the volume of changes to, and certain elements of the undertaking were an issue for ARTC.

RE: An undertaking is always a balance between prescription and flexibility. Does ARTC think the ACCC has got the balance right in the draft decision?

DM: A large number of changes the ACCC is seeking actually involves moving a range of things that we see as being negotiable between an access seeker, a miner and ourselves in our draft access agreement, into the actual HVAU as non-negotiable.
I think the ACCC is worried that some of the larger miners may be able to negotiate better benefits in some areas than the smaller miners. Essentially the issue is there were some differences of views between various miners and the ACCC has landed on the view that some of what we have in our draft access agreement is too flexible – we’ll live with that.

RE: ARTC has worked hard to consult and resolve issues directly with the coal producers, who are the ones who will ultimately be paying for the network. Has that effort yielded positive results and has the ACCC taken those constations sufficiently into account in their draft decision?

DM: We’ve spent a huge effort in the last 12 months in trying to resolve issues with the coal producers and I think the positive changes that have come from those consultations will be reflected in the next round. Most of the issues that have come from our extensive consultation with coal producers and train operators are dealt with in one way or another in the ACCC’s draft decision.
Some of the difficulty has been there are some different views amongst the coal producers about different elements of the undertaking and the ACCC came to the view, as mentioned, that what the producers wanted as negotiable, need to be non-negotiable. We’ll live with that, that’s what the ACCC is there for.

RE: How do you see the process unfolding form here?

DM: The ACCC is looking for a range of feedback form ourselves, miners and others by March 31st. I envisage that they will take most April going back through that framework and will consult with us in greater detail around that and I expect that they will come out with a reasonably concluded range of positions by the end of April, but I wouldn’t expect the new undertaking to become effective until at least July.