What it does
The Australian National Railways Commission Sale Act 1997 (Cth) is the federal privatisation statute that dismantled and transferred the assets of the Australian National Railways Commission (ANRC), the Commonwealth government's interstate railway operator. The Act has three main effects: it inserted a comprehensive asset-transfer framework (Part VA) into the Australian National Railways Commission Act 1983; it amended and ultimately provided for the repeal of the ANR Commission Act and related Acts; and it made incidental amendments to other Commonwealth statutes affected by the privatisation.
The ANRC operated the national rail network connecting capital cities, interstate freight, and the Ghan (Adelaide-Darwin) and Indian Pacific (Sydney-Perth) passenger services. The 1997 Act was the legislative instrument through which those assets were transferred to private operators, state governments, and eventually to the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) for the management of interstate track.
The Act is primarily an amending and enabling statute rather than a substantive regulatory framework. Most of its operative content is in the Schedules, not the three-section body.