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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 4766 ..

MS HORODNY (7.10): I seek leave to move my amendment No. 11.

Leave granted.

MS HORODNY: I move:

Page 11, line 22, after proposed section 150ZB insert the following section:

"Cessation of existing operator's certificate on change of address

`150ZBA. If the holder of an existing operator's certificate ceases to reside at the address specified in the certificate under subparagraph 150X(b)(v), the certificate ceases to have effect.'.".

Under the Bill, once an existing operator gets a certificate, they will be regarded as an existing operator indefinitely, and so will continue to be able to get exemptions from the code of practice even after they move house to another location. This defeats the whole purpose of the Bill, because existing operators, who are the ones causing the problems now, will be hardly affected by the new rules, and the number of existing operators is likely to change only very slowly over time as existing operators leave Canberra, retire or get other jobs. We believe that an existing operator must be regarded as a new operator if they change address.

From a resident's point of view, an existing truck operator and their truck moving in next-door is certainly a new situation that has no relationship to where the operator previously lived. Truck operators who move house must realise that, wherever they move to, they will be affecting a whole new set of neighbours who had no expectation that they would have to put up with a truck in the neighbourhood. Operators therefore need to adjust their truck operations accordingly and not expect further exemptions. This is a very sensible amendment, and I would urge members to support this one, if no other.

MR DE DOMENICO (Minister for Urban Services) (7.11): The Government will not be supporting this amendment. At present the Bill - - -

Ms Horodny: Tut, tut! Shame!

MR DE DOMENICO: You can tut-tut as much as you like, but at present the Bill is structured on the basis that obtaining existing operator status is not linked to where the vehicle is actually parked. To move from this basis would require significant redrafting of the whole legislation, Ms Horodny. It is unreasonable, in my view, for an operator to lose existing operator status merely by moving address.

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