Page 590 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 19 May 1992
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accident, you are required to stop, whether that animal is a horse, cattle, sheep, pig or dog; whereas generally, "animal", for the purposes of the Act, in the interpretation section, means a horse, cattle or sheep. So, members should be aware, if they feel free to ride a sheep or pig down Northbourne Avenue and believe that - - -
Mr Kaine: If you are riding your sheep around London Circuit, be careful.
MR CONNOLLY: No. You see, for riding a sheep you would, of course, be caught, Mr Kaine. You would assume that you would be caught, because of the general definition of "animal" meaning horse, cattle or sheep. Members may think that by riding a pig or dog on the streets of Canberra they could avoid the provisions of the law and the $100 penalty if they were involved in an accident; but they could not because some earlier draftsperson has very thoughtfully provided an extended definition of "animal" to cover pigs or dogs as well as other matters.
Essentially, the extreme matters that Mr Moore was referring to simply do not apply. Pushing a wheelbarrow is not caught. He referred to a wheelchair being caught. In fact, there is a specific provision relating to wheelchairs which has a specific penalty of $100. That simply is that a person shall not either walk on a public street or use a wheelchair on a public street without due care and attention, or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the street. I think that is a sensible provision.
What is interesting is that, in relation to what was put up as a trivial matter - the riding of a bike within 10 metres of a shop - I have on a number of occasions received constituent inquiries about this. Elderly Canberrans in particular have said that this is a real problem and that things should happen about it. No doubt I will be delighted, when dealing with future constituent inquiries, to respond saying that we tried but the Liberal Party rejected the increase in penalties. I think that will be grist for many a ministerial letter going out in the future.
As I say, without trivialising the matter, an opportunity was taken when this matter was before the Assembly to review penalty provisions. While there are specific penalty provisions, the general penalty has been sitting there since the early 1980s. We thought it was too low. While there may be some cases that seem trivial, there are more substantial matters. I was particularly drawing attention to failure to stop in the case of an accident and failure to stop when called upon by a police officer to do so. The matter that was raised by Mr Moore as a trivial matter is really, I think, a matter of some substance. In cases where the person on a bike may cause real concern or alarm to an elderly pedestrian, I would have thought a $500 maximum would be appropriate for a court; but the matter is in the hands of the Assembly.
MR MOORE (9.38): I could not help having my attention drawn by Mr Connolly to the definition of "animal", which means any horse, cattle or sheep. That indicates to me a further inadequacy of the legislation. It would be expected in Australia that we include camels in the definition.
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