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Federal
National Law Body
Transport and Infrastructure

Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator

Portfolio: Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts

http://www.onrsr.com.au/

Major Digital Projects
5

New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) Regulator and IT Build

Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts

Tier 2
DCA: Medium
Active

Total Budget

$79.2M

Digital Budget

$23.8M

July 2024January 2026

The establishment of a NVES for light vehicles will deliver more fuel-efficient cars for Australians and support the government’s commitment to achieve net zero by 2050. This investment is for the development of an effective ICT environment in which to manage the regulatory obligations around the NVES, such as data capture from vehicle suppliers/importers, reporting, facilitation of compliance and audit functions, and the establishment and maintenance of a NVES credit trading scheme.

Reporting and Program Management (RPM) System

Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts

Tier 2
DCA: High
Active

Total Budget

$30.8M

Digital Budget

$14.2M

July 2023June 2026

The RPM project is improving the administration of grant payments to states and territories for land transport infrastructure projects. Following recommendations from the Australian National Audit Office, the department is developing a new system, which has been designed to address evolving business needs and transition the current legacy system to a more scalable and flexible system. The RPM Project Objectives are: (1) Develop a new system to automate, simplify and streamline business processes; (2) Provide a single source of data for all grant process stages that is validated and accurate, easy to access and analyse; (3) Ensure the new system is intuitive, easy to use and flexible, and can be extended to meet future needs; and (4) Migrate data from the existing data sources into a consolidated source of truth for infrastructure investment.

Digital First (DF) Program

National Archives of Australia

Tier 3
Active

Total Budget

$25.1M

Digital Budget

$20.6M

July 2023June 2026

The National Archives of Australia has established the DF Program to uplift its ability to manage, preserve and provide meaningful access to an increasingly digital collection of records that hold national significance. In late 2025, the DF Program was rescoped to realign the work of the program to support implementation of the new Strategy 2025–2030: Evolving National Archives. The program will finish in June 2026, with additional scope relating to account and workload management to be addressed through strategy implementation.

Fighting SMS Scams

Australian Communications and Media Authority

Tier 3
Active

Total Budget

$10.9M

Digital Budget

$3.2M

October 2024July 2026

This project is enabling the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to develop, operate and maintain an SMS ID registry to help prevent scammers from impersonating brands and entities in texts, using message headers (such as myGov), and to create a trusted communications channel.

Spectrum Management

Australian Communications and Media Authority

Tier 3
Active

Total Budget

$22.7M

Digital Budget

$20.9M

October 2022May 2027

The digital spectrum management system will include a range of new and enhanced digital and ICT capabilities to support improved spectrum management.

Ideas relevant to this department

12 tagged

Reform proposals on YourGov that name this department as a delivery partner — drawn from citizen voice, government strategy, research, international examples and gap analysis.

STRATEGY SUMMARY

To enhance rail safety for the Australian community through targeted, risk-based regulation and by proactively sharing insights and information arising from our work. [CP p.5]

VISION

Safe Railways for Australia. [CP p.5]

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.5

PURPOSE

To enhance rail safety for the Australian community through targeted, risk-based regulation and by proactively sharing insights and information arising from our work. [CP p.5]

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.5

Strategic priorities

· 5

1

Leverage data and intelligence to enhance our approach to risk-based regulation

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.12
2

Ensure our people are valued, skilled and engaged

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.13
3

Cultivate strong and collaborative relationships with key stakeholders

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.14
4

Position ONRSR as a future-focused and sustainable regulator

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.16
5

Influence safety practices and build safety knowledge among rail transport operators

Corporate Plan 2024-25 · p.17

Outcomes

· 5

Outcome 1: Enhanced risk-based approach to rail safety regulation

Refine the ONRSR risk model and supporting decision tools to better target our resources to deliver the greatest safety improvement impact.

KEY ACTIVITIES

  • Refine the ONRSR risk model and supporting decision tools
  • Deliver a revised national work program
  • Revise the annual safety report
  • Develop a data and analytics strategy
  • Enhanced investigation strategy

Outcome 2: Engaged and skilled workforce

Reinforce leadership behaviours where everyone feels respected, connected and trusted.

KEY ACTIVITIES

  • Develop and implement the ONRSR workplace culture roadmap
  • Implement the ONRSR leadership excellence strategy
  • Conduct a culture pulse check
  • Extend the ONRSR capability framework
  • Refresh the ONRSR way

Outcome 3: Effective stakeholder relationships

Develop an ONRSR engagement and education strategy to outline the approach to engage duty holders and key rail safety stakeholders.

KEY ACTIVITIES

  • Develop an ONRSR engagement and education strategy
  • Review ONRSR’s stakeholders
  • Establish collaboration partnerships with key industry stakeholders
  • Implement the RSNL review recommendations

Outcome 4: Efficient and effective regulator

Deliver a revised cost recovery model.

KEY ACTIVITIES

  • Deliver a revised cost recovery model
  • Develop KPIs to demonstrate ONRSR is an effective and efficient regulator
  • Deliver an IT remediation program
  • Deliver a new governance framework
  • Review regulatory tools, future skill sets and processes

Outcome 5: Safety leadership

Establish an annual education and engagement (safety promotion) program, along with an appropriate evaluation framework, to encourage and support the rail industry to achieve safety improvements.

KEY ACTIVITIES

  • Establish an annual education and engagement (safety promotion) program
  • Develop ONRSR safety strategy
  • Share safety lessons, case studies and better practices

Values

· 5

Integrity

Respect

Independence

Diligence

Excellence

Performance measures

· 9

CodeMeasureTarget 2025-26Latest resultStatus

CCE01

National rate of key occurrence category incidents

Decrease (3 yr. trend)

Corporate Plan 2024-25

0.58

Annual Report 2019-20
Achieved

CCE02

Number of drug and alcohol tests and % positive

0% drug, 0% alcohol

Corporate Plan 2024-25

0% drug, 0.263% alcohol

Annual Report 2019-20
Achieved

CCE03

% of set minimum interaction levels achieved in previous calendar year

100%

Corporate Plan 2024-25

100%

Annual Report 2019-20
Achieved

CCE04

% of preliminary audit reports issued within four weeks of an audit

90%

Corporate Plan 2024-25

87%

Annual Report 2019-20
Achieved

CCE05

% of inspection reports issued within four weeks of an inspection

90%

Corporate Plan 2024-25

94.5%

Annual Report 2019-20
Achieved

CCE06

% adoption of ONRSR’s major project guidance

100%

Corporate Plan 2024-25

91%

Annual Report 2019-20
Achieved

CCE07

% annual voluntary staff turnover

10-15%

Corporate Plan 2024-25

7.2%

Annual Report 2019-20
Achieved

CCE08

% of payroll invested in training and development

1-2%

Corporate Plan 2024-25

1.26%

Annual Report 2019-20
Achieved

CCE09

Annual lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR)

0

Corporate Plan 2024-25

9.58%

Annual Report 2019-20
Not Achieved

Ideas distilled from this entity's strategy & evidence

· 12

Risk & Assurance

Recommendation tracker for audits, reviews, and inquiries

Publish a single internal tracker for audit/review recommendations, owners, due dates, and implementation evidence.

Impact: High
Effort: Low
small

24047-ONRSR-Corporate-Plan-FA-3-web.pdf)

Risk & Assurance

Integrated assurance and lessons-learned system

Create an assurance system that connects audit findings, risk registers, delivery reviews, and investment decisions.

Impact: Very High
Effort: High
large

24047-ONRSR-Corporate-Plan-FA-3-web.pdf)

Regulation & Policy

Regulatory burden scan for forms, guidance, and reporting

Identify the top 10 highest-friction reporting obligations and simplify guidance, forms, or evidence requirements.

Impact: High
Effort: Low
small

Corporate-Plan-2019-2022.pdf)

Regulation & Policy

Adaptive regulation program with live feedback loops

Create an adaptive regulation model using sandboxes, industry data, risk scoring, and regular rule updates.

Impact: Very High
Effort: High
large

Corporate-Plan-2019-2022.pdf)

Data & Performance

KPI evidence register with named owners

Create a simple register mapping each KPI to source data, owner, frequency, target, and last result.

Impact: High
Effort: Low
small

ONRSR-2019-2020-Annual-Report-web-version.pdf)

Data & Performance

Outcome dashboard linking budget, delivery, and public impact

Build a public-facing outcome dashboard showing spend, outputs, outcomes, and delivery confidence.

Impact: Very High
Effort: High
large

ONRSR-2019-2020-Annual-Report-web-version.pdf)

Citizen Participation

Consultation feedback summaries with response tracking

Summarise consultation submissions by theme and publish what changed in response.

Impact: High
Effort: Low
small

ONRSR-2019-2020-Annual-Report-web-version.pdf)

Citizen Participation

Always-on policy participation platform

Create a standing participation platform where citizens and stakeholders can propose, vote, and track ideas.

Impact: Very High
Effort: High
large

ONRSR-2019-2020-Annual-Report-web-version.pdf)

Procurement & Delivery

Procurement lessons library for repeat purchases

Capture reusable procurement clauses, market lessons, supplier performance notes, and common evaluation criteria.

Impact: High
Effort: Low
small

latest-news)

Procurement & Delivery

Portfolio delivery office for major investments

Stand up a portfolio delivery office that tracks benefits, risks, dependencies, procurement, and delivery confidence.

Impact: Very High
Effort: High
large

latest-news)

Staff Productivity

Reusable briefing and summary assistant for internal documents

Create controlled templates for summarising reports, submissions, minutes, and ministerial briefs.

Impact: High
Effort: Low
small

ONRSR-2019-2020-Annual-Report-web-version.pdf)

Staff Productivity

Department-wide knowledge and briefing platform

Build a secure knowledge platform that lets staff search, summarise, and cite approved departmental material.

Impact: Very High
Effort: High
large

ONRSR-2019-2020-Annual-Report-web-version.pdf)

Risk & Assurance

Recommendation tracker for audits, reviews, and inquiries

Publish a single internal tracker for audit/review recommendations, owners, due dates, and implementation evidence.

Impact: High
Effort: Low
small

24047-ONRSR-Corporate-Plan-FA-3-web.pdf)

Risk & Assurance

Integrated assurance and lessons-learned system

Create an assurance system that connects audit findings, risk registers, delivery reviews, and investment decisions.

Impact: Very High
Effort: High
large

24047-ONRSR-Corporate-Plan-FA-3-web.pdf)

Regulation & Policy

Regulatory burden scan for forms, guidance, and reporting

Identify the top 10 highest-friction reporting obligations and simplify guidance, forms, or evidence requirements.

Impact: High
Effort: Low
small

Corporate-Plan-2019-2022.pdf)

Regulation & Policy

Adaptive regulation program with live feedback loops

Create an adaptive regulation model using sandboxes, industry data, risk scoring, and regular rule updates.

Impact: Very High
Effort: High
large

Corporate-Plan-2019-2022.pdf)

Data & Performance

KPI evidence register with named owners

Create a simple register mapping each KPI to source data, owner, frequency, target, and last result.

Impact: High
Effort: Low
small

ONRSR-2019-2020-Annual-Report-web-version.pdf)

Data & Performance

Outcome dashboard linking budget, delivery, and public impact

Build a public-facing outcome dashboard showing spend, outputs, outcomes, and delivery confidence.

Impact: Very High
Effort: High
large

ONRSR-2019-2020-Annual-Report-web-version.pdf)

Citizen Participation

Consultation feedback summaries with response tracking

Summarise consultation submissions by theme and publish what changed in response.

Impact: High
Effort: Low
small

ONRSR-2019-2020-Annual-Report-web-version.pdf)

Citizen Participation

Always-on policy participation platform

Create a standing participation platform where citizens and stakeholders can propose, vote, and track ideas.

Impact: Very High
Effort: High
large

ONRSR-2019-2020-Annual-Report-web-version.pdf)

Procurement & Delivery

Procurement lessons library for repeat purchases

Capture reusable procurement clauses, market lessons, supplier performance notes, and common evaluation criteria.

Impact: High
Effort: Low
small

latest-news)

Procurement & Delivery

Portfolio delivery office for major investments

Stand up a portfolio delivery office that tracks benefits, risks, dependencies, procurement, and delivery confidence.

Impact: Very High
Effort: High
large

latest-news)

Staff Productivity

Reusable briefing and summary assistant for internal documents

Create controlled templates for summarising reports, submissions, minutes, and ministerial briefs.

Impact: High
Effort: Low
small

ONRSR-2019-2020-Annual-Report-web-version.pdf)

Staff Productivity

Department-wide knowledge and briefing platform

Build a secure knowledge platform that lets staff search, summarise, and cite approved departmental material.

Impact: Very High
Effort: High
large

ONRSR-2019-2020-Annual-Report-web-version.pdf)

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