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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 5016 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

It lists a number of subordinate laws and says:

Subordinate Law No. 26 of 1997 being the Motor Traffic Regulations (Amendment) made under section 218 of the Motor Traffic Act 1936 amends the Motor Traffic Regulations by the insertion of a new regulation 33 which concerns demerit points during a holiday period.

Mr Whitecross prattled on about educating people. He prattled on also about Mr Carr being wrong in introducing double demerit points. Mr Carr is right. We tried this in October of last year. You did not have a problem then. You now have a problem. Mr Whitecross, deterrence does work with a lot of people. It is one of the basic tenets of human nature.

Mr Whitecross: You believe in move-on powers.

MR STEFANIAK: I certainly do and I have no qualms about that. Because of your stupidity, you got rid of them in 1993. They were a very sensible, commonsense measure. Mr Whitecross, you are pathetic. You are running the same arguments you ran in defeating our attempt to bring in prevalence of offence in sentencing, something that three out of the four judges in the ACT want. Your pathetic idea that if you do not have any deterrence, if you have weak penalties, you are somehow going to deter people and ensure that people obey the law is absolute garbage. It defies the very tenets of human nature.

You can have all the police you like out on the road but if the penalties are not particularly severe it is not going to have much effect.

Mr Whitecross: You do not know what you are talking about.

MR STEFANIAK: You do not either, Mr Whitecross. You are a little bit young, Mr Whitecross. You were born in 1961 and maybe you do not realise the extent of carnage on the roads before governments started getting serious about enforcing traffic laws. Cast your mind back to the late 1960s and early 1970s - you might remember this - and some of the crazy acts of driving one might have seen then. Compare that with now. Since those times, governments have become more serious about prosecuting. Putting police out on the road and having sensible, strong penalties is about the most effective form of education you can have with some people, Mr Whitecross. That is something you forget.

Just have a think about it. The concerted measures governments have taken in the form of stronger traffic penalties for drink-driving, greater police presence and more sensible legislation have resulted in a drop in fatalities. These measures work. You should pay a little bit of attention at what happens over the border in a Labor State. Mr Whitecross, if it is good enough for Mr Carr, it should be good enough for you people. In this instance, he has a much greater appreciation of what is appropriate than you do.

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