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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 3 Hansard (25 March) . . Page.. 855 ..
MR OSBORNE (continuing):
I don't think we should undermine the significance of vehicles with roadworthy defects contributing to crashes.
That can vary from things like brakes to tyres. And we are finding more and more vehicles have less attention to lights and cracks in windscreens and wipers.
The newspaper article then went on to explain that annual roadworthy inspections were already required in Victoria for buses and taxis and that extending this practice to all vehicles more than three years old will bring the State into line with New South Wales, which has had annual tests since 1939. Minister, my question is: Do you support the sentiment of your Victorian Liberal ministerial colleague in regard to vehicle safety, and are you even just a little bit concerned that the jurisdiction upon which we modelled our new system seems to think that they may have got it wrong?
Mr Hargreaves: Good question.
MR SMYTH: It is a good question, because the issue of road safety, I know, is of concern to all members of this place. I thank Mr Osborne for his question. I am aware that around the country there is always talk of the best system to ensure that motor vehicles are roadworthy 365 days a year. I believe our current system in the ACT is the most effective to deliver roadworthiness. We say that your vehicle must be roadworthy every day of the year, not just the day of inspection. At this stage we have no intention of changing our system.
MR OSBORNE: I ask a supplementary question. Minister, although you were not here in the previous Assembly, I believe your predecessor, Mr Kaine, set a target of something like 50,000 inspections per year. Could you tell us how many inspections have been carried out since we moved away from annual inspections in 1997 and how many vehicles were subsequently issued with defect notices?
MR SMYTH: I think the targets set were 35,000 last year and some 50,000 this year. That is a combination of on-road inspections by our random vehicle testing units, which I am sure everybody has seen with their lovely magenta lights, and inspections carried out in car parks. As to specific figures, I think we are on target to carry out the guaranteed number of inspections. I will check on the defect rate for you.
MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, my question is to the Minister for Justice and Community Safety. It has two connected components, each referring to police activity and the means by which that activity is reported. Minister, in answer to a question on notice that you have just sent me, I have been told that the police attended Mugga Lane tip on 22 occasions between 1 January 1998 and 30 November 1998 and have done so on many more occasions since, though the police cannot say how often because of changes to police IT systems since 1 December. The answer states:
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