Safety duty offences for road-based public passenger services

New safety management framework for all road-based public passenger services

20 February 2026—The new framework starts. Existing industry service providers who continue to comply with existing framework will have 6 months to transition. New service providers must comply straight away.

20 August 2026—All industry service providers must comply, and safety management plans are mandatory.

This page explains the changes that will begin with the new framework. Learn more about the new safety management framework.

All duty holders of road-based public passenger services must comply with safety duties, safety management plan requirements, audit notices and directions to comply.

If a duty holder has not complied with their safety duties, they may be issued a penalty infringement notice (PIN) or a written direction to comply with the relevant legislation. Non-compliance with a duty to comply may result in us issuing a notice to amend, suspend or cancel an accreditation, authorisation, a licence or a service contract.

Not following safety requirements could have serious safety consequences. The penalties are graduated to reflect this. Overall, the penalties are proportionate to each other, and to the risk involved.

What is a penalty unit

A penalty unit is a set dollar amount used to calculate fines. The penalty unit value increases annually on 1 July by a percentage set by the Treasurer. To find the value of a fine, multiply the number of penalty units for the offence by the current value of 1 penalty unit. The value for the 2025–26 financial year is $166.90.

Offences and penalties

The offences and penalties for not following these safety responsibilities are set out in the Chapter 6A of the Transport and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 and are listed below:

Section Description of offence Penalty infringement notice (PIN) Maximum penalty
67P(1) Executive officer of corporation fails to exercise due diligence to ensure corporation complies with safety duty  Equivalent to penalty for individual for 67V(1), 67W and 67X
67V(1) Reckless conduct—category 1—recklessly contravening a safety duty that exposes individual/s to risk of death or serious injury  Individual—3,000 penalty units or 5 years imprisonment

Corporation—30,000 penalty units
67W Failure to comply with duty—category 2—contravention of safety duty that exposes individual/s to risk of death or serious injury  Individual—1,500 penalty units

Corporation—15,000 penalty units
67X Failure to comply with duty—category 3—contravention of safety duty  Individual—500 penalty units

Corporation—5,000 penalty units
67ZC

Particular obligations about safety management plan for a responsible duty holder:

  1. Failure to have a compliant safety management plan
  2. Failure to implement a safety management plan
  Individual—100 penalty units

Corporation—1,000 penalty units
67ZC(4) Failure of a duty holder to comply with a responsible duty holder's plan to the extent applicable  Individual—100 penalty units

Corporation—1,000 penalty units
67ZF Failure to comply with audit notice 16 penalty units 160 penalty units
67ZH(5) Contravening a direction to comply 16 penalty units

Where a direction has been issued for:

  • Non-compliance that exposes an individual to a risk of death or serious injury—320 penalty units
  • Otherwise—160 penalty units

Also consider...