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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 4 Hansard (29 March) . . Page.. 1143 ..

MR BERRY (11.27): Mr Speaker, I move:

After "(2A)" insert "and clause 12 which inserts new regulation 68A".

At the outset, I need to say that I am the owner of a vehicle that is sometimes described as classic, but often described in terms that could not be repeated in here because they would be unparliamentary. It is not registered at the moment; it might be one day when I get the time.

Mr Speaker, this debate is about an issue which affects ordinary people quite seriously. There are car enthusiasts who register their cars to suit the seasons and to suit their own particular needs. They choose times when they will allow the lack of registration to drag on and pay their registration fees for reasons of convenience. It makes sense to do that when you are an enthusiast and operate a vehicle which is of particular interest to an enthusiast.

But there is an important issue here for people who run out of money. For example, if the old family car has a breakdown and you have to find the money for a new gearbox or new engine or to fix up a few dents in the car, you quite properly should be able to manage your affairs by sitting down and saying, "The arrangements in the ACT allow me to let the rego drag on for a while. I will rake up the money to fix the engine, get it back together and then pay the registration and it will be prospective for 12 months," or less if that is what they choose to do.

The government is setting out to make it harder for those people to pay for their vehicle's registration. For example, if people are having difficulty because they are ill, have had a breakdown with the car or are having some financial difficulties and cannot afford registration, under the current arrangements they can allow their car to run for less than 12 months, save up the cash, get the car fixed and pay the registration and get prospective registration. I think that is fair enough. I do not see any difficulty with that. I cannot for the life of me work out why the government would want to regulate to impose a disadvantage on those people.

Why regulate to impose a disadvantage? There is no valid reason to impose a disadvantage. Just because it makes it easier for somebody to register a vehicle is not a good reason to impose a disadvantage. Is it just because the government wants to ensure that it collects more cash off people and therefore there is more cash in the system? That could be a reason from an economic rationalist government that wants more cash. That might be a reason that they would be prepared to endorse, but it is not one that I am prepared to endorse because there are a significant number of people out there who will be disadvantaged by this process.

Mr Speaker, I have received a number of pieces of correspondence in relation to this matter, as have many other members. I have heard it stated in this place that it was said that the minister had asked why the government should make particular decisions because people cannot manage their finances.

Mr Smyth: I did not say that.

Mr Hargreaves: Yes, you did say that.

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