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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 5011 ..

Motion (by Mr Whitecross) agreed to, with the concurrence of an absolute majority:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent Mr Whitecross from moving the motion to disallow Subordinate Law No. 26 of 1997 (in accordance with the Subordinate Laws Act 1989) that he has delivered to the Clerk, forthwith, and that this motion have precedence over all other business until any question relating to the motion has been resolved by the Assembly.

MR WHITECROSS (8.49): Madam Deputy Speaker, I move:

That, pursuant to the Subordinate Laws Act 1989, Motor Traffic Regulations (Amendment) (Subordinate Law No. 26 of 1997) be disallowed.

I apologise to members for the lateness of moving this motion; but this motion was prompted by a regulation which was tabled by the Minister at about 4 o'clock today. So, unfortunately, there was not a whole lot we could do about it. The regulation concerned relates to the practice of penalising motorists with double demerit points if they commit an offence under the Motor Traffic Act during a prescribed holiday season.

Mr Hird: That is what your mates do in New South Wales.

MR WHITECROSS: I will come to that in a minute, Mr Hird; have no fear. The practice relates mainly to speeding offences, although additional demerit points are deducted from motorists in relation to other offences under the Motor Traffic Act if the offences occur at a particular time. Today, at around 4 o'clock - it might have been a little after that - the relevant Minister tabled a regulation to declare a period of something like two weeks over Christmas and new year as a holiday period for the purposes of this subordinate law. The subordinate law itself was actually tabled only last Tuesday, although it was applied at the October long weekend. So, even though it was used in October, it was not actually tabled until the December sittings.

Madam Deputy Speaker, put simply, the Labor Party does not believe that this is an appropriate approach to law-making. The Labor Party does not believe that a given offence ought to be penalised in a different way according to the time of the year when it is committed. If exceeding the speed limit by 30 kilometres an hour is an offence - and, of course, it should be an offence - then it should be punished in the same way whether it is committed in October, in December or in February. It is just as dangerous

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