Department of Infrastructure, State Government of Victoria, Australia.

Chief Investigator

Transport and Marine Safety Investigations

The Chief Investigator, Transport and Marine Safety Investigations is a statutory position established on 1 August 2006 under Part V of the Transport Act 1983 with the objective of improving public transport and marine safety by independently investigating public transport and marine safety matters.

Information on this page


Role of the Chief Investigator

The principal function of the Chief Investigator is to investigate public transport safety matters and marine safety matters and to report the results of investigations to the Minister for Public Transport and/or the Minister for Roads and Ports.

The primary focus of the investigations is to determine what factors caused the incident, rather than apportion blame for the incident, and to identify issues that may require review, monitoring or further consideration.

The Chief Investigator is not subject to the direction or control of the Minister(s) in performing or exercising his or her functions or powers however, the Minister(s) may direct the Chief Investigator to investigate a public transport safety matter or a marine safety matter.

An investigation conducted by the Chief Investigator does not replace the powers of regulatory bodies to conduct their own investigations into the same incident.

More details can be found in a speech made to Parliament on 6 October 2005.

Memoranda of Understanding

The Chief Investigator has signed the following Memoranda of Understanding with other Government safety agencies.

The documents outline the respective roles and responsibilities of each party in relation to safety investigations.
Transport and Marine Safety Investigation reports

View safety investigations reports prepared by the Chief Investigator.

Contact details

Electronic mailing listSubscribe to mailing list
EmailChief Investigator
Telephone03 9095 4275
MailPO Box 2797
Melbourne VIC 3001


This Department of Transport webpage is subject to copyright restrictions. To locate this page electronically, simply visit the Department's Internet site www.transport.vic.gov.au and type the page title of this document into the search box.