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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 4 Hansard (29 March) . . Page.. 1141 ..

MR QUINLAN (continuing):

Wee Jasper, Mr Rugendyke's weekend stomping ground, to raise the profile of the Variety Club and they hope to raise more money for charity.

Back to the subject, we have hitherto had continuous registration on that car because we do take it out from time to time to participate in events that support charities. We are involved in supporting all the charities for kids. We take it to the Woden Special School, the Children's Diabetes Foundation or wherever it will add to the occasion and add to the fundraising capacity of that occasion. In reality, that car is used seriously for about a week or so in a year. We take it out to the middle of the Tanami Desert or somewhere like that and, effectively, wreck it and we bring it back and take the rest of the year putting it back together again.

I think it would only be fair to allow an opportunity where that motor vehicle could be registered for a reasonable period-we could accept a month or two or something like that-and then be off the road and come back in a year's time. You could rest assured that the brakes would work, because our lives depend on them, and that it would be in absolutely roadworthy condition. We would be happy to run it over the pits if you wanted, but that would be a hell of a drag and a hell of a waste of administrative effort, given that this car is used for a specific period in a year.

I think that is the main thrust of what Mr Hargreaves has come forward and said. For God's sake, do not be so administratively anal as to say-

Mr Rugendyke: The Hopoate defence.

MR QUINLAN: Yes. Do not be that administratively rigid that you cannot allow for vehicles such as ours which are used only for a good community contribution. Let us disallow this rigidity and this simplistic and unthinking solution to what appears to be a minor administrative problem.

MS TUCKER (11.22): Mr Speaker, under current laws, a motor vehicle registration can lapse for up to 12 months and be renewed without the owner having to go through the process of reregistering the vehicle; that is, to get the vehicle tested, apply for new registration and get new number plates. The government is proposing to reduce this period to three months and then, even if the owner renews the registration during the three months, the registration is to be backdated to the date when the registration was previously due. In effect, the owner will be paying for up to three months registration even if the vehicle is not being used for this period.

I find these changes quite objectionable. From an environmental perspective, it is the use of motor vehicles that causes environmental problems, not the fact that people own vehicles. We should be making it easy for people not to use their vehicle, not penalising them. If somebody wants to keep their vehicle off the road and let the registration lapse, the government should not be charging them for the time that it is off the road.

There are a number of situations where people will be disadvantaged by this new scheme. I have been contacted by many people who restore cars as a hobby and who would have these cars off the road for some time. Under this scheme, they would still have to pay for the registration during the first three months, even though the vehicle may be undrivable. Similarly, people who put their vehicles into storage and let the

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