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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 4 Hansard (29 March) . . Page.. 1144 ..

Mr Smyth: Check with Dave. I did not say that.

MR BERRY: I accept that there is some disagreement about exactly what the minister said, but I think it is fair to say that the minister understands that he is regulating to impose a disadvantage; the minister knows that. That is where we part company on this issue. There are no good reasons why we should impose that disadvantage on people who are having financial difficulty. There are no good reasons to impose that disadvantage on people who are interested in registering hobby cars or on retired people who, as a matter of convenience, register their cars past the nominal expiry date.

The main excuse that the government uses is that 16 per cent of the registration renewals are paid up to one month late. I think that they assume, or they seek to create the impression, that the full 16 per cent of unregistered vehicles are being driven on the roads. I have not seen any figures that would confirm that. Even if there were figures to confirm that, I do not think that that is a justification for regulating to impose a disadvantage on people who are not abusing the system. Why should those who are going to be disadvantaged by this regulation pay the price because there are some law-breakers? That is an obscene suggestion.

Mr Speaker, it is not a strong enough argument for the government to say that it wants to catch that 16 per cent. If it were, why are they using three months as a measure rather than one month? I just think that that logic is barren. The issue here is that there are questions of convenience for people who are motor enthusiasts and there are economic considerations for a whole range of other people-retired people, people on low incomes and single parents-who are able at this point to make a decision about how they use their money. They can delay paying the rego on perhaps a second car for 11 months and use it for some other purpose. It may be used as part of their school fees or for some other purpose. It might be, as I said earlier, that they need to get some parts for the car or to do some repairs and cannot afford to do it just yet.

Mr Speaker, I think that this move to rule out the government's regulations on these issues-in particular, the amendment I have moved, which ensures that the status quo will remain-ought to be supported by members. There are lots of people out there who will be disadvantaged if we go down the government's path. It is not something that I can, in good conscience, do in respect of those people who will be disadvantaged and who might have financial reasons for not wanting to register their car on the dot or within three months. I do not want to see them disadvantaged any further.

There is no reason to impose this disadvantage on motor car enthusiasts. It will affect their commitment to the maintenance of historic vehicles on full registration. I just think that it would be wrong for us to do that; there is no point in doing so. The only thing that I can see as the hidden driver is that the government thinks that it will get more cash out of it. I just do not think that that is a good enough reason. Mr Speaker, I urge members to support my amendment.

It being 45 minutes after the commencement of Assembly business, the debate was interrupted in accordance with standing order 77.

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