Page 3807 - Week 13 - Thursday, 18 October 1990
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MR HUMPHRIES: Mrs Grassby, I am certainly nearer in age to the age at which people might be using these particular baby capsules, and as my interest has been more recent I think I should comment briefly on the important issues that this Bill raises.
I am pleased to note that this legislation has the support of those on all sides of the house. Mr Stevenson, I believe, has not spoken on the Bill as yet, but perhaps he may come down and offer some - - -
Mr Duby: He told me he would support it.
MR HUMPHRIES: I am very gratified to see that Mr Stevenson also supports it, so we may well have unanimous support in the house for this important measure.
Members are aware, of course, that this Bill requires children under the age of one year, travelling in a moving vehicle, to be restrained in a suitable Australian standards approved infant or child restraint where the vehicle is fitted with restraint anchorage points. It is a reflection, of course, on the habits of Australians that such legislation is necessary. It is remarkable how many of the people who drive on our roads are not properly belted up. That decision on their part, of course, is a matter of some concern, but it is of even more concern when people travel in vehicles and do not properly restrain their children - children who often have no choice to exercise on whether they are properly protected against an accident or not.
I am sure we have all seen examples of that. I recall only a few days ago seeing a car belt past me, as I was driving along the road, with a number of children in the back - obviously on the way to school - and none of them were restrained. It is also regrettable that that particular incident happened in a school zone, a 40 kilometres per hour school zone. It is extraordinary to think that people should abuse protections of that kind which are basically designed for their and their children's benefit.
I think that we should see this legislation not as an unwarranted intrusion into the liberty of people to exercise decisions and choices about what they do in their own cars but, rather, as a means whereby the community can protect itself against the enormous cost entailed in road accidents.
It is obviously regrettable that, if people sustain road accidents, that does throw a very large burden on the community, particularly on the health services of the community. I think that we should all be prepared to support measures which minimise that cost.
I think it is worth commenting, very briefly, on some of the limitations in the legislation. I, for one, would like to see in due course the exemptions referred to in section
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