Page 5301 - Week 17 - Thursday, 13 December 1990
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This is certainly an acknowledgment by the Government of the seriousness of this type of offence, the drink-driving offence. It was unfortunate that earlier this year, in relation to the activities of a Minister, we heard a lot of rhetoric from the Government bench that drink-driving really was not, in the scheme of things, a crime, that it was really something that was not particularly serious, and that it certainly did not warrant ministerial resignation.
I was, indeed, interested some weeks ago to see in the Canberra Times the views of the superintendent of the traffic branch who was referring to drink drivers as being, in some cases, no better than murderers. I think that was his phrase. This is a serious problem in Australian society. This was a real carrot and stick exercise. This was not just a Commonwealth-State consultation. It was as a consequence of the bold action of a Federal Minister who held out significant funding proposals to force the States and Territories into agreement on this. As a result of that initiative by Mr Brown, from 1 January 1991 we will be in the position in Australia, for the first time, where there is uniformity of law.
I note that, as part of this amendment, the Government is proposing that the driver apprehended between .05 and .08 will be dealt with by an on-the-spot fine for a first offence rather than fronting a magistrate. There are obviously cost-saving advantages in that. It is a sensible move, but I think it is a situation that ought to be monitored.
In some other States it is still considered appropriate to bring a person before a magistrate when they exceed the limit of .05, for the obvious reason that there can be a perception in the community that an on-the-spot fine is merely a licence for a slight transgression or it is a bit like a parking ticket; whereas, actually having to front a magistrate - with the indignity of appearing in a magistrates court and lining up with everybody else, and getting in front of the magistrate and getting a pretty stern lecture - does drive home the point that this is conduct which society deems unacceptable. It may be that this device of the on-the-spot fine may, in the future, be seen to be inappropriate. In the future if we seem to have continual problems with persons apprehended between .05 and .08, it may be seen to be appropriate to do away with that measure, so as to require people even above .05 to be brought before a magistrate and to have the seriousness of their conduct impressed upon them. That being said, the Opposition supports this legislation.
MRS NOLAN (10.52): I am delighted to hear that the Opposition is supporting this legislation. I would like to remind Mr Connolly that it is my understanding that it was proposed at a meeting of ATAC, the Australian Transport Advisory Council, and it was proposed by the Prime Minister in December 1989, and not Mr Brown, the Land Transport Minister, as he alluded to earlier.
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