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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 8 Hansard (24 October) . . Page.. 1947 ..

Mr De Domenico: On the ABC.

MR CONNOLLY: On the ABC, describing a movie where the producer and the writers clearly were attempting to say something quite positive about people living through a mental illness and relationships. No doubt it is a fine movie, but to hear the arts commentator describe it as a film involving two charming or delightful fruitloops certainly made me spill my late night cup of milo. Again, as the Chief Minister said, much has been achieved in raising awareness of mental health issues, but much more remains to be done.

Debate (on motion by Ms Tucker) adjourned.

MR DE DOMENICO (Minister for Urban Services): I ask for leave of the Assembly to make a ministerial statement on Australian Road Rules.

Leave granted.

MR DE DOMENICO: Mr Speaker, I wish to bring members' attention to progress being made on developing and implementing national traffic and road rules legislation as part of the road transport reform agenda of the National Road Transport Commission. The NRTC was established in 1991 to develop a national package of transport laws that improve transport efficiency, enhance road safety and reduce costs of administration. At present, each State and Territory has its own driver, traffic and vehicle legislation. In addition, the Commonwealth has legislation for the Federal interstate registration scheme. This non-uniformity of legislation imposes a considerable cost on the road transport industry and creates unnecessary complexity and confusion for the motorist travelling or moving interstate.

For the first time, a specific process is in place to implement national road transport legislation. As a consequence of agreements made between heads of government on 30 July 1991 and again on 11 May 1992, and between the Commonwealth and the ACT on 19 November 1991 and 27 August 1992, once it is agreed by a ministerial council of transport Ministers the Commonwealth will make model or template road transport legislation for the ACT. Other jurisdictions have agreed to adopt this model legislation. The Legislative Assembly agreed to this process by passing a motion put by the then Chief Minister on 6 August 1991. The Assembly specifically consented to the making by the Commonwealth of the model legislation for the ACT.

The Australian Road Rules will be established in regulations under the Road Transport Reform (Vehicles and Traffic) Act, passed by the Federal Government in 1993. There are a number of additional regulations being attached to this Act which I will briefly itemise to demonstrate the scope of the national road transport reform that is presently being progressed. The Vehicle Standards Regulations will address the construction and performance standards applied to all motor vehicles and trailers, as well as ongoing roadworthiness requirements. They will include general safety requirements such as

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