Page 5435 - Week 17 - Tuesday, 3 December 1991
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registration fees in New South Wales, whether it is for a motorcycle or a vehicle, in connection with a third-party insurance levy - I think that was the word used - to pay for costs incurred by the GIO over previous years in administration of the third-party insurance scheme.
That is not, to my way of thinking, a third-party insurance premium or a third-party insurance cost. That is a fee the Government has decided to impose in New South Wales upon all motorists and, as such, it is a government charge. It goes straight to Consolidated Revenue. I do not believe that it goes to the GIO. I do not believe that it goes to the third-party insurance scheme or system in New South Wales. It goes to Consolidated Revenue and, as such, is a government fee. The argument that there are differences between registration fees in New South Wales and the ACT frankly does not hold up.
What we are seeing is a prime indication of what we faced over 18 months with the people of the Residents Rally in particular in the Alliance Government: The inability to take a decision and stick to it, the futile attempt to be all things to all people. Mr Jensen says that the statistics quoted by the Minister are not accurate, et cetera. The fact is that they are totally accurate.
Anyone could argue with force that the fact that the likelihood of having an accident on a motorcycle is 19 times higher than when driving a passenger vehicle is irrefutable. To say that you need to break it down into the difference between big machines and small machines is simply not sustainable. That is the national average, and Mr Jensen is splitting hairs when he says, "It might be that in the States; but here in the ACT, where our road system is much better, it might be only half of that. There might be only 10 times the possibility of being hospitalised". The answer is that it is 19 times more likely.
This measure was included in the proposals of the Alliance Government, in which I was Minister for Urban Services and also Minister for Finance. I make no apologies for the decision. It was taken, and I at least have the bottle to say that it was taken for the hard reason of attempting to discourage folks from riding motorcycles. That is the truth. If I had my way, it would not be just heavy machines incurring registration fees of $105; it would be every machine. Let me make that clear.
I am not going to shirk the issues. I am going to say exactly what the motive was behind what I intended to do. I wished at all times to discourage people from going onto motorcycles. The reasons for that are quite obvious, in my view. Road injuries have a terrible place in our society, and the level of road injuries caused to motorcyclists is horrific. I was quite pleased that I was able to initiate a number of road safety initiatives in the two-wheeled area in relation to motorcycle training and various areas such as that.
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