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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 4 Hansard (30 March) . . Page.. 1115 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

understood right from the start that these rules may need to be finetuned. The national maintenance group of the Australian Transport Council has been charged with overseeing the national road rules and reviewing them as necessary - hardly on the run. We were aware right from the start that they would need some finetuning.

The throwaway lines that we hear from Mr Hargreaves and the shocking comments that he has made in a Canberra Times article this morning are just an indication that this is simply a case of opposition for opposition's sake. I asked my people to take the concerns of Canberra residents to the national maintenance group when it first met in the middle of March. There were three issues, of which this law was one. In fact, all the other States were quite happy to leave it as it was, but have accepted that perhaps there is an ambiguity there, and what I have put forward will remove that ambiguity.

Mr Hargreaves made some surprising claims. I think we should start with the animals left inside vehicles. Animals should not be left inside vehicles. Animals left in a vehicle that is locked up and totally sealed become distressed very quickly, so it is ridiculous to suggest that this law somehow is anti-animal. According to the article, Mr Hargreaves said:

An extraordinary claim that he makes earlier in the article is worth putting on the record. The article reads:

I guess that Mr Hargreaves is claiming that the Australian Transport Council - the ministerial council which, at last count, had, I think, five Liberal and four Labor members - has somehow colluded to collaborate improperly with insurance companies to help them to reject legitimate car theft claims. If there is evidence of that, I would like to see Mr Hargreaves present it. I think that is an extraordinary statement. It is just one of those glib throwaway lines that we all come to expect from John Hargreaves - anything to get his name in the paper. If he knows of any improper activity, if he knows of this supposed collaboration and which law it has violated, perhaps he should bring it to the attention of the authorities. I am sure that the Attorney-General would like to know about improper collaboration that seeks to deny people of their property rights.

I would like to bring to the attention of the Assembly a case some two years ago. Mr Hargreaves claims that the only people who lose if they get their car stolen are the people themselves and that is their problem. That is not so. That is quite wrong. I bring to the attention of all members of the Assembly an incident in Newcastle two years ago when a stolen car being driven at high speed killed two young doctors. Mr Hargreaves would say that only the owner of the car suffered in that case. The reality is that

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