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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 9 Hansard (4 September) . . Page.. 3041 ..

Clauses 8 and 9, by leave, taken together, and agreed to.

Clause 10

MR WHITECROSS (11.11): Mr Speaker, I seek leave to move amendments Nos 4 and 5 together.

Leave granted.

MR WHITECROSS: I move:

Page 7, line 35, after proposed subsection 26AD(2) insert the following subsection:

"(2A) A person is not eligible to be appointed as an authorised examiner if the person is a dealer within the meaning of the Sale of Motor Vehicles Act 1977.".

Page 11, line 11, proposed paragraph 26AG(3)(ab), after proposed paragraph 26AG(3)(a), insert the following paragraph:

"(ab) the applicant is a dealer within the meaning of the Sale of Motor Vehicles Act 1977.".

Mr Speaker, these amendments deal with what I consider to be a problem with the current Bill, given that we are maintaining a system of inspections on transfer of ownership - not Labor's preferred position, but the position of the Government. The regime that has been established by the Government is one where motor vehicles in the ACT will be inspected only on transfer of ownership, and that inspection can be conducted by an authorised examiner on authorised premises in the private sector. In fact, the examiner could be a dealer who is selling the very vehicle we are talking about, or could be an inspector operating on premises from which the vehicle is being sold.

When we are inspecting vehicles on average only every five years, as we are with this system, I do not believe it is appropriate that the person carrying out those inspections is a person who is engaged in selling vehicles, or the premises from which those inspections are being carried out are premises from which vehicles are being sold. It seems to me that there is a pretty clear risk of conflict of interest. If we are going to go down this path of testing vehicles only on change of ownership, I believe that for the integrity of the system it is important that we ensure that the people testing the vehicles are at arm's length from the people selling the vehicles. My amendments Nos 4 and 5 would not have been necessary if we had had the system of inspections that I proposed, because there would have been a break in the nexus between the selling of the vehicle and the inspection of the vehicle; but when you are inspecting and selling at the same time you should not have the same people inspecting as selling. Mr Speaker, my amendments are designed to ensure that that does not happen.

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