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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 3 Hansard (10 April) . . Page.. 910 ..

MS HORODNY (continuing):

instructor asking for payment in cash before entering the car. All the lessons were conducted on quiet suburban streets and never on busy roads. Only after she had failed her fourth test did she overcome her embarrassment and comment to the examiner about the instructor's inadequate instruction and seek instruction elsewhere.

In another case a particular instructor had insisted on concluding each driving lesson with a young female client with a progressively more animated hug or cuddle. This was to culminate in what he described as a present if she passed her driving test the first time. This woman had 12 lessons and was reluctant to make a fuss because her mother had devoted a large proportion of her weekly budget to pay for the lessons. It was only after the mother happened to observe this end of lesson ritual that she took to teaching her daughter herself.

Another instructor told his 18-year-old female student after a test - you will have to excuse the language here, but it is a direct quote from what I was told - "Let's go, well, let's go. Do you want to go inside and take a piss or scratch your arse before I drop you back at work? You're lucky, you know, because if you didn't pass this time I was going to squeeze your tits". One instructor had stretched a one-hour lesson to nearly 21/4 hours, during which he directed her to drive around the Cotter area. He commented that she should keep her mistakes to a minimum and that he would - I quote again - "smack her bottom" if she made an error. A few minutes later she did make an error, at which he said - and again I quote - "Well, we both know what that means". Fortunately, this lady was able to put him in his place, but she was certainly frightened by what could have happened in this isolated area.

Not only is sexual harassment common, but also physical harassment. Another instructor has been observed hitting his young students, a number of them being of Asian background, with a ruler after a failed test and calling them "f...wits". I have also heard of instructors turning up late for lessons or being drunk, or both. In some cases they have been late in picking up students for their driving test, thus causing them to lose their booking fee and to have to wait for the next available testing time, which could be some weeks away.

The roadworthiness of instructors' cars has also been of concern to some people. Some lessons have been conducted in cars that are unregistered or unroadworthy, for example, by having bald tyres, which was only pointed out to students by an examiner at the start of their test. (Extension of time granted) Some of these situations could have resulted in the student not being covered by third-party insurance in the event of an accident.

Such actions indicate to me that there is definitely a need to regulate the driver instruction industry and to continue to have independent driver testing, and to not give driving instructors free rein to test their own students. The system that the Government has proposed is unproven and allows vested driving instructors an effectively unfettered power over potentially vulnerable people. There is a potential for corruption and extortion, and it will lead to inconsistent standards of instruction and testing.

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