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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 5014 ..

MR KAINE (Minister for Urban Services) (8.59): I am astonished at the duplicity of the people opposite. This is not the first time that we have implemented the double demerit points system. It has been highly publicised on the occasions that we have done it, and we have never heard one peep out of Mr Whitecross until now. It is obvious that today, at the death knell, those opposite have to make a big issue out of something and try to get a point or two for the election, because they have not done too well this year yet. They are making a last-ditch stand on this issue. By resisting what we are doing, they are putting public safety at risk.

I have spent almost a year now working assiduously on trying to develop an awareness of a system in which people can drive safely on our roads. The competency-based driving test is designed to convince our young people that when they go out on the roads they need to be aware of where they are, they need to be competent and they need to know what they are doing. We changed the penalty regime so that when people lose their licence because of drink-driving, irresponsible driving, excessive speed and the like they do not get their licence back easily.

I have put in place a series of things to attempt to convince people on the roads that they have a responsibility to drive safely and to have some regard for the other people on the road with them. This is just one more piece in that mosaic. It is to drive home to people more strongly than on normal days on the year that if at periods of high risk, when there are higher than usual traffic densities on the highways, when people have a tendency to drive faster because they have further to go for Christmas and family meetings and the like, when they are inclined to drink and drive because it is the festive season, they do these things and place other people's lives at risk an additional penalty will apply. That is what it is about.

I take that very seriously, Mr Speaker. This is not just a political toy to kick around whenever the Labor Party feels that it is a good free kick. I am concerned about the safety and wellbeing of Canberra drivers when they get out on the road over the holiday period. Mr Whitecross may think that is a bit of joke. He comes here and tries to knock something off the books without a moment's thought, because it suddenly strikes him: "Boy, have I found a gem here". If that is his "responsible" approach to dealing with the catastrophe that occurs on our roads and the trauma that occurs on our roads at holiday periods, then all I can say is that I feel very sorry for him.

It is not something that I take lightly, and it is not something I do just on whim. It is not something I do because Mr Carr says I should do it. It is something that I have done under the power that I have under the Motor Traffic Act to forcefully bring home to people that they do have responsibilities and that if they transgress not only will they pay the normal penalties but at these special times of the year, as a special deterrent measure, they will pay double. I have no qualms about that. I do not feel guilty about it. I am going to be out there driving on the roads during that period, and I do not want some drunken sot writing me and my family off. I do not want somebody driving at 140 kilometres an hour and writing me and my family off. If Mr Whitecross wants to take the risk, good luck to him. I do not want to do that, and I do not want any of my friends to do that. I do not want anybody in Canberra to come home after the holiday period

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