Page 4178 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 23 October 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Follett Government is not totally astray, because there are some very important areas where I think this money can be used and perhaps where the NRMA itself would like it to be used.
This money basically relates to a windfall profit as a result of overpayments in relation to the third-party premiums. So far, $10m is to be invested and the interest is to be used - and that is very commendable and sensible. An amount of $10m is to go to defraying third-party costs. Mr Connolly has indicated, I think reasonably properly, how that can be used and that certainly will be a boon to the ACT motorist. And it has yet to be decided how to deal with an amount of $20m.
There are a number of things I would suggest, by way of constructive suggestion, as to how this windfall money can be used for the benefit of the ACT, for the benefit of road safety and, indeed, for the benefit of the various types of insurance policies that the NRMA provides to ACT residents. Firstly, on the question of road safety, I think it has been painfully obvious for all to see, over the last month, that Mr Connolly and the Labor Government have made an awful hash of the police budget.
Regardless of the rights or wrongs of that budget - regardless of the $1.2m cut and regardless of whether or not money was siphoned off to other areas when the Grants Commission gave it specifically with a view to its being used for the police budget - there is some scope, certainly in future years, for ACT governments, in conjunction with the NRMA, and indeed for the trust account that Mr Connolly states is being set up, to use that money very, very wisely for purposes for which the NRMA and the community itself would be happy - purposes which make maximum use of that money and which are akin to the purposes for which the NRMA would wish it to be used.
There are a number of areas in which the NRMA, and indeed the police, have an interest and involvement which could in fact be funded from this fund. Neighbourhood Watch is one that springs to mind. I understand that the NRMA is probably the biggest household contents insurer and property insurer in the ACT at present - if not the biggest, certainly one of the biggest. It has significant input into the Neighbourhood Watch program. That program has been very successful. It can be made to be more successful.
It is essential that the police have input into Neighbourhood Watch; it is essential that they be seen at Neighbourhood Watch meetings. The people concerned with Neighbourhood Watch expect that. Neighbourhood Watch would lose a lot of impetus if the police were not seen to be actively involved in that. Indeed, their involvement is something that these funds, and the interest on these funds, could be used to sponsor.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .