Page 5819 - Week 18 - Tuesday, 10 December 1991
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very little that can be pleaded, except in mitigation of the penalty. The penalties, as those who read the Canberra Times know, are generally fairly consistent. It is an unusual plea in mitigation that causes much variation to what you read in the paper each morning.
I think that the magistrates are going to read Hansard more in getting guidance on what the local Assembly feels about the passage of laws. I have no doubt that shortly the magistrates will be aware of Mr Moore's comments, and they will bear those issues in mind. Without exception, they are humane magistrates in this town. Whilst I look forward to the day that there will be a woman in their midst, nevertheless they are attuned to social justice imperatives and they are attuned to the gross injustices of people coming in for social security fraud whilst the great rip-off merchants of our corporate world can delay and delay outcomes and then jump overboard.
This Bill follows through the spirit of the Prime Minister's initiatives that came out of Perth. His Perth meeting with Premiers resulted in a number of moves, not all of which we are implementing at the moment, not the least being that in respect of bicycle helmets. Someone, in response, might tell us what the current situation is in that regard, although it is not relevant to this debate.
The fact that our penalties are not close to those in New South Wales never fizzes on me. I do not support Mr Stefaniak's comments in that regard. We have a different road system and different traffic engineering.
Mr Stefaniak: Don't be a wimp, Bernie.
MR COLLAERY: I will be a wimp on this. I am quite happy to be a wimp, because our traffic engineering and our road system are different. Many issues associated with the enforcement of motor traffic rules in the ACT are different from the situation in New South Wales. New South Wales has complex, badly planned, dense urban traffic areas where speeds in excess of the limit can result in a higher degree of dangerous driving. On our open carriageways - and I am not in any way excusing speeding - very often a speed in excess of the limit does not constitute dangerous driving of the same order. I am getting a bit worried, Mr Speaker. I can see the Chief Minister over with Mr Stefaniak. Mr Stefaniak is weaving a spell over her, I suspect. I had better stop now, while the penalties are at their present level; they might just go up if we are not careful.
MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services) (8.23), in reply: I thank members for their comments. This Bill essentially does two things. It allows a significant upping of the penalties for speeding offences, most significantly in the new category of exceeding the limit by more than 45 kilometres an hour. It allows me to make regulations to impose penalties.
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