Page 5424 - Week 17 - Tuesday, 3 December 1991
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The Government appears to believe that large motorcycles are more dangerous. Mr Connolly himself has admitted to representatives of motorcyclists of the ACT that the Government has no evidence, though, linking large cycles with increased accident rates. By the way, at the meeting where Mr Connolly said that, he also admitted that the Government does not actually have a road safety strategy either. That is an interesting little point.
Mr Speaker, there have been six road deaths related to motorcycles this year. The Australian Federal Police advise that not one of those deaths included a rider of a motorcycle over 600cc and three of them occurred in single vehicle accidents involving inexperienced, unlicensed riders who had not had any formal rider training.
The Government continually quotes figures from a survey that motorcycles have proportionally higher fatalities per kilometre travelled. They have not yet provided details of the survey; nor have they shown its relevance to the ACT. The NRMA have recognised improved motorcycle safety statistics by reducing third-party insurance fees each year since 1985. There is no justification for creating separate registration categories for different sized bikes. After all, cars attract the same fee, regardless of their accident record, weight, size, engine capacity, power, passenger carrying capacity, et cetera.
In relation to third-party insurance, the Government continually refers to total registration costs, and those include third-party insurance. Third-party insurance rates are irrelevant to government revenue. In Canberra, all motorcycle third-party insurance is run by the NRMA, a private organisation. The third-party insurance scheme is a self-funding, user-pays insurance scheme with rates that are variable from year to year in relation to the claims record for each category of vehicle. The NRMA have identified $40m that they are prepared, very properly, to pour back into the community as a result of more money coming in than they bargained for, and that is appropriate.
Mr Berry: As a result of the brilliant efforts of Terry Connolly.
MR STEFANIAK: I think the NRMA should be complimented first and foremost. Third-party insurance rates are not part of government revenue and therefore cannot be incorporated into the setting of government fees.
A number of erroneous comparisons have also been made between New South Wales and the ACT, and the Government claims that motorcyclists are better off than car owners when comparing equivalent New South Wales charges. Total registration fees break down into third-party insurance and a registration fee. In addition, New South Wales vehicles carry a road tax component. We have already excluded
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