Page 5434 - Week 17 - Tuesday, 3 December 1991
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drive in new motor cars supplied from taxpayers' funds, if that is their choice, why should someone else be discriminated against if they choose to ride large motorbikes that they pay for themselves?
The simple situation is that there was no consultation in the matter. It is probably right that the majority of people in Canberra, not just motorcycle riders, disagree with such a vast charge. It is certainly true that the Labor Party have not mentioned any valid reasons for such increases. I agree with the disallowance for those reasons, and it looks as though justice will be done on this issue.
MR DUBY (5.37): This is a ticklish issue. It is not often that I stand as an apologist for Minister Connolly; I think he would be the first to agree with that. However, the comments made by Mr Jensen, who is not here at the moment, unfortunately, that the Minister should receive an Oscar award for his fine acting performance were simply beyond the pale. If any awards are going at all, there should be a gold medal acrobatic award to Mr Jensen and, indeed, to the members of the Liberal Party for backflipping.
The simple fact is that this is an issue that no-one has been able to refute. Contrary to what Mr Stevenson says, the figures quoted by the Minister are accurate. No-one can dispute them. In the current situation, the cost in the ACT of registering a machine over 600cc is $105 per annum. The cost of registering a machine over 300cc in New South Wales - not over 600, but over 300 - is currently $106 per annum, on my understanding.
We then go on to the difference between the third-party insurance component of the total cost of putting a machine on the road in the ACT and of the total cost of putting a machine on the road in New South Wales. I am not going to get involved in the various differences between the costs of third-party insurance in New South Wales versus the costs of third-party insurance in the ACT. Suffice it to say that the total all-up dollar figure to a motorcyclist in Queanbeyan to register a 750cc machine, or whatever, is in the order of $507, I think. Here in the ACT it is about $507 - around $500 is close enough for argument.
Those are the figures I have. There are some titters from the gallery, Mr Speaker, that that is not the figure. I have been told that it costs about $500 to register a heavy machine in New South Wales. I also know that under this proposal it costs about $265 or $266 to register the same machine in the ACT. That is to put it on the road and pay your third-party insurance.
The reason for the difference is undoubtedly the difference between third-party insurance premiums. The argument has been made that the actual cost of registration in the ACT of $105 versus $106 in New South Wales should not be taken into account because there is a $40 slug on all
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