Page 581 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 19 May 1992
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The opponents of this Bill have quoted, rather tendentiously, I might say, Madam Speaker, the words of John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, that the treatment of minorities is the measure of the quality of a democracy. Madam Speaker, I have serious doubts that when John Stuart Mill wrote those words he had in mind the compulsory wearing of bike helmets as an example of the oppression of a minority.
As a rule, Madam Speaker, I generally look for philosophical guidance not from philosophers like Mill but from philosophers like my dear old apple-cheeked grandmother, who always used to remind me that in a democracy there are certainly rights - we have in all democracy a basic fundamental principle of rights - but there are also obligations. As a matter of fact, Madam Speaker, I think that someone with the good sense and perspective of Mill would have agreed with the sage wisdom of Granny, and the opponents of this Bill would do well to do the same.
On balance, I believe that the benefits to public safety which this law will bring will outweigh any perceived loss of amenity to some cyclists. I accept that there may be a problem with enforcement of the law, but I do not believe that it is any greater than that which applies to the wearing of seat belts or motorcycle helmets. It is certainly no greater, Madam Speaker, than the problem which would pertain were the law to attempt to make an artificial distinction between different public places such as roads and parks. The Government has an obligation and a duty to protect public safety. This law is a reasonable measure by the Follett Administration to do so.
There has been much said this evening, Madam Speaker, about the statistics pertaining to deaths and head injuries sustained by cycle riders. I seek leave to table and to have incorporated in Hansard the statistics for Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT for the period 1988 to 1991.
Leave granted.
Document incorporated at Appendix 1.
MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition) (9.07): I was not going to speak to this subject either, like my colleague Mr De Domenico; but, when Mr Lamont makes an 18-minute speech, with 15 closely typed pages, it strikes me that there must be something very important about this issue, so we should all make a statement about it.
I support this legislation. I do not support it because the Commonwealth is blackmailing me over black spot legislation or grants of money or anything else. I do have some respect for the notions of people like John Stuart Mill, who lived a long time ago but whose principles still hold good in today's society. Whether it is hard hats or anything else, the principle is still good. I do not think that it is the role of parliaments, however, to sit here in glorious isolation and make decisions about the community, unless it is the will of the community that we do so. There is a will of the community at the moment that has to do with the wearing of safety hats by people riding bicycles.
We do not have to go back too many years to see the argument about whether people should be obliged to wear seat belts in motor cars. There was legislation enacted to require that right across Australia - not because legislators said that it had to be done, but because the community finally realised that it was the
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