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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 1 Hansard (20 February) . . Page.. 293 ..

MR OSBORNE (6.38): Mr Speaker, I move:

That the resolution of the Assembly of 5 December 1996, relating to the referral of the Motor Traffic (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) 1996 to the Standing Committee on Legal Affairs for inquiry and report, be rescinded.

Last December the Assembly referred the Motor Traffic (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) 1996 to the Standing Committee on Legal Affairs. This Bill changes our current procedures for the examination of learner drivers wishing to obtain a provisional licence by introducing a continuous assessment approach to the competency-based licence testing scheme, which we all know people are advertising already. After initial discussions amongst committee members, it was clear that the committee was interested not only in the Bill but also in the broader issue of road safety, in particular the 17- to 24-year-old age group. Consequently, the committee expanded its inquiry to include the education and assessment of driver attitudes, the level of involvement of high schools and colleges in driving training, and having different speed limits for learners and provisional drivers.

Soon after advertising for submissions to the inquiry, the committee received a letter from the NRMA-ACT Road Safety Trust about the development of their novice driver safety program. The letter explained that the trust was considering a $2m grant to the Department of Urban Services to develop the program and that the program itself would complement the proposed continual assessment approach through state-of-the-art education, focusing on driver attitudes and behaviour, for inclusion at high school and/or college level. As the committee had previously been unaware of this proposal, it asked for and received a very comprehensive briefing from the department on the competency-based licence testing scheme and the novice driver safety program. I believe Mr Whitecross and Mr Kaine received briefings on that.

On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank Jane Wolfe and Keith Wheatley from the department for their assistance to us at the time, because it was over the Christmas break and there was a timeframe involved. The committee also received advice at that time from the then Minister for Urban Services - the much loved by the Liberal Party, Mr De Domenico - on the scope of the project. As a result of those briefings, the committee has satisfied itself that most of the issues that were to be examined through the inquiry can be more readily examined during the development of the novice driver project. The committee also believes that those issues which will not be included as part of the novice driver project, namely, the differing speed limits and the suggestion of retaining the current mandatory departmental practical driving test, can be resolved by the Assembly during the debate on the detail stage of the Bill. Consequently, the committee decided on 30 January that the inquiry does not need to proceed and that I present this motion and statement to rescind the Assembly's original decision on 5 December 1996 to refer this Bill to the Legal Affairs Committee.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

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