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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (8 December) . . Page.. 4016 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

bones about it now. However, I initially thought that taking a car away from someone for 28 days if caught might have been a bit strong. Seven days might have been better, with three months for a second offence. I might have accepted that.

However, this legislation is based on what occurred in New South Wales, and in New South Wales it has had a very significant effect. This legislation has been proven to be effective legislation in our adjoining jurisdiction. I think there is a lot to be said for consistency between jurisdictions. The legislation was enacted by the New South Wales Labor Government, the Carr Labor Government, which, unlike the ACT Labor Party, does not seem to have too much of a problem with law and order issues. It enacts legislation which protects the community and which assists the police force to do its job. It gives the police force reasonable powers which it needs to do its job properly. I reject what Mr Berry says about their not catching anyone. Quite clearly, the facts in New South Wales indicate that virtually identical legislation has worked there.

I come to another point about young people who might be involved in burnouts. It is a dangerous activity. The people opposite - indeed, everyone in this Assembly - have indicated that it is an activity that we should not condone. They agree that legislation should be implemented to stamp it out because it is fundamentally dangerous. People can get killed. People might do it without malice aforethought, out of a sense of fun, but the fact is that it is dangerous and people can get injured. People have been injured by cars that have lost control, which is the very nature of it. It is something that needs to be deterred.

Mr Berry raised the issue of our having a go at young people. In my portfolio of education, we have a number of young people who sit on school boards. They sit on boards where sometimes their opinions are called into account, and they are asked how to deal with other young people who might be breaching the rules. A comment was made to me recently by a teacher that invariably young people are the hardest in those situations on their peers. I do not think young people expect to be treated with kid gloves.

I want to hark back to my experience in the courts - 91/2 years as a prosecutor and about six years in both New South Wales and the ACT defending people. That is a reasonable amount of time, especially in the criminal jurisdiction in which I specialised. In my experience, people expect there to be rules and regulations. Most reasonable people will probably transgress. We have all done things wrong, but most reasonable people when they do transgress and are punished accept that, and they do not necessarily come back. If there is no punishment, if there is no sanction for people who have done wrong, which is what this Labor Party would have us do, what is there to stop people and dissuade people from doing the wrong thing?

It is pointless being weakly merciful. From my experience in the courts, both prosecuting and defending, it has been shown time and time again that, if a court is weak, if a magistrate or a judge is weak, if they do not gaol anyone, they do not get any respect from the people they let out. They think they are an absolute joke. People need restrictions. People need to have some imposed self-restraint. They need some discipline. There have to be standards. There have to be parameters. Human nature dictates that people actually want that. People respect that. I think a lot of these young

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