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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 4 Hansard (8 May) . . Page.. 1118 ..

MR OSBORNE (11.16): Mr Speaker, I must admit that I am very reluctant to support this. Mr Moore said that there is no firm evidence one way or the other and that the Social Policy Committee could perhaps come up with some and we could have a look at some data. I do not need any of that. In 1994 I had signed to play football in England and I was doing some extra training just prior to going, riding my bike. Going down Erindale Drive, I think it was, I rode over a gutter and went headfirst over the front of my bike and landed on my head. I was wearing a helmet, thank God. I was certainly dazed; I had to get my wife to pick me up. I took my helmet off and there was a crack right through the helmet. If I had not been wearing that helmet, I doubt that I would be here today. I am very comfortable with the thought of wearing a helmet.

I see that Ms Tucker is trying to send the reference across to the Legal Affairs Committee. I would like to say from the outset that neither I nor Mr Wood on the Legal Affairs Committee wish to look at this issue. As I said, with my own personal experience, I find it very hard to be unbiased about it. If we place any doubt in people's minds about wearing helmets - I know how hard it is for me to get my three young children to wear their helmets when they ride their bikes - I think we are heading down a very dangerous path. My personal experience has shown me that I am lucky to be alive because I was wearing a helmet. I am very reluctant to support this, and I look forward to hearing the rest of the debate.

MR KAINE (Minister for Urban Services) (11.19): Mr Speaker, I do not have any particular objection to the inquiry Mr Moore wants the Assembly's committee to take on, but there are some matters I should note from the Government's viewpoint before they do that. First of all, Mr Moore has made the point that in 1989 the question of requiring helmets to be used by cyclists was introduced right across Australia as a result of an agreement between the Commonwealth and all the States. A law was enacted here to put that requirement into place, so it is not something that I believe should or could be disturbed easily. However, Mr Moore argues that there is not sufficient information to justify that decision. I do not know whether there is or not. I certainly do not have a great deal of information available to me, but I am certain that there is a good deal of information about it. Perhaps the committee can serve the useful purpose of drawing it all together so that we can satisfy ourselves that it was a good decision and that it is a legitimate law.

I do have some statistics on what has happened in the ACT in terms of bicycle users since 1989. It may be of interest to people to know that, upon the compulsory introduction of helmets, the number of cyclists on 20 selected cyclepaths on which measurements were taken - I do not know how accurate these numbers are, but I assume they have some fairly accurate measurement technique - fell from 11,460 to 7,141. However, by 1994 the figure had increased again to 9,766. I do not have figures beyond that, but the implication is that people stopped riding their bicycles on cyclepaths for a while after the compulsory introduction of cycle helmets, but since then they have been gradually going back and riding their bikes and wearing helmets, presumably. I do not think there is any great argument that says that people are no longer riding bicycles and no longer engaging in the healthy activity because they have to wear a helmet.

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