Page 1898 - Week 07 - Thursday, 31 May 1990
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This amendment has been discussed with the Transport Workers Union and the Federated Engine Drivers and Firemen's Association. As I said, at no time did we have any problem with the Minister on this. He quite understood the situation of these people and was in agreement that there should be a way to get around this. I thank the Minister for his help in this way.
MR DUBY (Minister for Finance and Urban Services) (10.39): At the outset let me say that the Government has no objections to this amendment by Mrs Grassby, but there are some things that I would like to read into the Hansard during the passage of this Bill. I have already enunciated the Government's intention of removing all reference to police officers and specifying that inspections shall remain the exclusive province of inspectors appointed by the Registrar of Motor Vehicles. That amendment, which we have already passed on some clauses and which we will pass on other ones, brings that arrangement into effect. Naturally, as I said, normal police powers relating to traffic regulations and so on will continue to apply.
The Transport Workers Union also wanted to formalise implementation procedures by including a reference to the procedures manual in this Bill. While it appeared initially that this could be accomplished by an amendment, the Law Office advises that this is not appropriate. I understand that reference to an administrative manual, such as proposed by the TWU, would need to include the proviso that adherence to its procedures was not essential in order to mount a successful prosecution.
In these circumstances, a legal reference to the manual would have no meaning as it would confer no rights and impose no obligations. I have advised the Transport Workers Union that, although the proposed mechanism to formalise the manual is unsuitable, the spirit of our agreement will be honoured. I have given that undertaking to Mrs Grassby as well. In simple terms, this means that my officers will consult with the industry on appropriate inspection procedures that will make compliance more straightforward and offenders more easily detectable.
For example, a standard-sized body for that section of the industry known as "mudcarters" will be agreed with the pavement management section of the Department of Urban Services. Bodies of the agreed size, to be agreed in consultation with the industry, will be stamped and checked each year at registration time to ensure continued compliance. A truck with this stamped body will be deemed to comply with the requirements of the Act. This has been referred to in discussions as "no spill, no bill". This does not mean that a vehicle will not be checked to determine its weight in situations where a vehicle is carrying an obviously heavy load or there are indications of other obvious overloading.
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