Appendices

Appendix B-Activities of Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics

This appendix provides an overview of the activities of the Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics (BTRE) in 2006-07.

Overview

BTRE is a specialist economic research arm of the Department of Transport and Regional Services. It provides economic research, analysis and statistics on transport issues and issues affecting regional Australia.

BTRE disseminates its findings, in order to:

• inform the development of Australian Government policy, regulation and programmes; and
• contribute to public discussion and debate on transport and regional issues.

BTRE hosts or supports a range of activities to promote consultation and information sharing on transport and regional issues, within Australia and internationally.

In this respect, BTRE provided a secretariat for the Council of Australian Governments' review of urban congestion, trends, impacts and solutions, and led the Department's engagement with the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) and the Joint ECMT-Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development Transport Research Centre, during 2006-07.

Research and publications

BTRE's annual research, analysis and statistics programme is developed in the Department's business planning cycle and is available from www.bitre.gov.au.

In 2006-07 BTRE published 18 reports, papers, information sheets and other major publications on transport and regional issues, including the following.

• Optimising harmonisation in the Australian railway industry reviews the theory and practice of physical and regulatory harmonisation in Australia and overseas against the backdrop of a decade of industry and policy change.
• Estimating urban traffic and congestion cost trends for Australian cities examines trends in urban traffic growth and provides updated estimates of the social costs of rising congestion levels.
• Australian rail freight performance indicators 2005-06 commences a new annual series of information papers on Australian rail freight industry performance, developed in partnership with the Australasian Railways Association.
• Waterline 41 outlines a new and exploratory set of indicators on the interface of Australia's leading container port terminals with road and rail transport.
• Skill shortages in Australia's regions examines relationships between the locations of skilled people and skill shortages.

BTRE also issued 44 releases of aviation statistics during the year.

Table B.1 lists the 2006-07 publications, all of which are available as free downloads from www.bitre.gov.au. The table also notes how the publications contribute to the Australian Government's national research priorities. Information on these priorities can be found at the Department of Education, Science and Training website at www.dest.gov.au.

Table B.1 Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics publications, 2006-07

	Issue	Title
Reports	114	Optimising harmonisation in the Australian railway industry a
Working papers	65	Container and ship movements through Australian ports 2004-05 to 2024-25 a
	67	Drivers of economic growth in the greater Sydney metropolitan region b
	68	Skill shortages in Australia's regions b
	69	Australian maritime trade 2000-01 to 2004-05 a
	70.1	Ex-post economic evaluation of National Highway projects, Case Study 1: Wallaville Bridge a
	71	Estimating urban traffic and congestion cost trends for Australian cities c
Information papers	57	Filling a gap in rail data: an investigation of the Gheringhap Loop train sightings a
	58	Australian sea freight 2004-05 a
	59	Australian rail freight performance indicators 2005-06 a
Information sheets	25	Public road-related expenditure and revenue in Australia (2006 update) a
	26	Passenger movements between Australian cities, 1970-71 to 2030-31 a
Aviation statistics	Monthly	Airline on time performance
		International scheduled air transport
		Australian domestic airline activity
	Annual	Airline on time performance
		International scheduled air transport
		Australian domestic airline activity
		Airport traffic data 1995-96 to 2005-06
		General aviation 2005
Other major publications	9	Avline a
	41	Waterline a
		About Australia's regions 2006 b
		Australian transport statistics 2006 a
		About Australia's regions 2007 b
		Australian transport statistics 2007 a

^a Contributes to National Research Priority 4-Safeguarding Australia.
^b Contributes to National Research Priority 2-Promoting and maintaining good health.
^c Contributes to National Research Priority 1-An environmentally sustainable Australia.

Consultation and stakeholder engagement

The seventh BTRE transport colloquium, on the theme Australian Transport-Policy Challenges for Future Growth, was held at Old Parliament House, Canberra, in June 2007. More than 200 delegates took part in a programme which covered topics including road and rail regulation, infrastructure investment, road safety strategies and climate change and transport. Professor Werner Rothengatter, University of Karlsruhe, Germany, provided an international perspective as keynote speaker.

In September 2006, BTRE hosted the conference Regional Perspectives 2006-Regions are Big Business, in Beechworth, Victoria. The conference highlighted the role of large enterprises in the support and development of regional economies, from the perspectives of both the enterprises themselves and the local communities seeking to attract big business to their areas.

BTRE also hosted a guest seminar by Wendell Cox, Principal, Demographia, on land use and transport policy, in August 2006, and held three seminars on new publications. BTRE staff members gave a total of 24 presentations at a range of other conferences and government and community meetings.

Outlook

Among its activities in 2007-08, BTRE expects to:

• release new research results on
  • trends and future scenarios for truck productivity;
  • trends in regional aviation access and services;
  • international experience with congestion charging; and
  • variations in the cost of living and doing business in Australia's regions;
• release long-term traffic projections for the AusLink non-urban corridors, using new data provided for this purpose by state and territory agencies;
• release a first annual consolidated transport statistics and trends publication; and
• report to the Council of Australian Governments on measures to improve urban congestion data, modelling and performance information for decision making.

Prev. | Index | Next