Page 2844 - Week 10 - Thursday, 7 October 2021
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potential to join the mix of transport types in Australia’s future transport system. These trials have encouraged community awareness of, interest in and acceptance of automated vehicles.
In a slightly different vein, we have also been exploring adjustments to the ACT’s regulatory frameworks that will enable the use of automated vehicles in the future, as technology matures. One important area where we have already made important preparatory improvement is in delivering the ACT’s motor accident injuries scheme.
We introduced reforms to the ACT’s compulsory third-party insurance scheme for a range of good reasons: to expand the number of Canberrans who are covered, to help people access care and support sooner, and to direct a greater share of scheme costs towards helping injured people, instead of going through the legal system.
I am really pleased to say that after about 18 months in operation, the new scheme has been seeing very positive results across all these fronts. But another important rationale for moving to a no-fault approach to motor accident injury insurance is that a fault-based scheme simply does not work in a world of autonomous vehicles. The ACT’s old approach relied on identifying someone who is at fault, and therefore someone to sue, in order to provide benefits for injured people.
In a world of autonomous vehicles, this is a complex ethical question. Who is at fault if a driverless car injures someone else on the road? The person who owns it? The company that manufactured it? The software company that designed the artificial intelligence which guides it? These are very complex questions which will need to be explored and unpacked further in our legal system as the use of AI expands across transport and a range of fields.
In the case of motor accident injury insurance, we have effectively solved this problem already. By moving to a scheme where anyone who is injured on our roads is entitled to treatment, care and income replacement benefits regardless of who was at fault, this particular part of our regulatory system is well set up for a time when autonomous vehicles may be on Canberra’s roads.
This is just one example, and there obviously is a lot more work to do to prepare the ACT’s regulatory frameworks for wider uptake of autonomous vehicles. But it is an example of how we can be incorporating a future focus into the legislative and regulatory reforms we make today, to ensure that our system is responsive and ready for the changes we know are coming.
Madam Speaker, the ACT government acknowledges the significant advances in automated and autonomous vehicle technology over recent years and is taking the necessary steps to ensure that Canberrans can take advantage of the opportunities it provides for the future. The benefits could be significant and extend beyond vehicle owners to all members of our community.
The ACT government will continue to work with industry and with other Australian states and territories to progress this work, together with the commonwealth. I am working with my ministerial counterparts at the commonwealth, state and territory
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