THE government’s proposed Road Vehicle Standards Bill has been generally well received by most of the car industry, with the strident concerns of the grey importers duly noted.

While it is good to study the details of new rules and regulations in search of unintended or obscured consequences, there is a bigger question here – will this proposed new legislation ever become law?

Once upon a time in Australia’s not-so-distant past there was a certain inevitability about the legislative process.

A stable government, from either side of politics, with a sound majority, would propose a new Bill which would sail through the lower House. Then, unless it was especially contentious, the Bill would make its way through the Senate with a predictable amount of horse trading with the opposition or the odd stray independent senator.

In today’s Australian Parliament no-one is too sure even who is duly elected and who isn’t. New Zealand is known for its grey vehicle imports, and, until very recently, our deputy prime minister was apparently a New Zealand citizen.

The point here is, who knows what happens when, or even if, this Bill goes to Parliament. Will we have the same government later this year? What will the cross bench view be in the Senate and how much politics will the opposition play?

With no disrespect to those who have worked hard to arrive at what seems to be a largely sensible piece of legislation, the Bill could easily be amended beyond recognition or fall by the wayside completely at the whim of a minority view.

All that Minister Fletcher’s office would say when asked by GoAutoNews Premium about the chances of getting the Bill enacted was, “the government expects to introduce legislation later this year”.

No-one would say what they expect to happen when they do.

Comment by Daniel Cotterill