Page 3021 - Week 09 - Thursday, 21 September 2006
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know that too from the level of correspondence that you are getting, given the stuff which has been sent to your office and cc-ed to me. The level of correspondence over the last three or four years about hoon driving, reckless driving, tailgate driving has increased.
Mr Hargreaves: It has dropped.
MR PRATT: No, it has not dropped. The bulk of the complaints I receive about speeding come from residents who are sick of cars speeding and doing burnouts along suburban streets. There remains the question of how much this government—this current liberties first, community safety second government—has watered down the laws in relation to burnouts and other improper driving behaviour with the introduction of Mr Stanhope’s pet human rights legislation. The provisions in this legislation for the forfeiture of cars are weak.
Let’s remember that this is a government that has had to be brought kicking and screaming even to think about the issue of random roadside drug testing for drivers, that this is a government that has allowed the number of drink driving tests to drop by half during its time in office, and that this is a government that has seen a doubling of road fatality and serious injury rates from motor vehicle accidents in the last two years. This government will not introduce important road safety initiatives such as random drug testing because it does not want to infringe on people’s human rights or the right perhaps to take drugs recreationally regardless of the impact that that behaviour might have on the safety of the rest of the community.
This government says, “Let’s put the onus back on drivers to look at their own behaviour but let’s at the same time brag about what a good job we as a government are doing to help out by putting in an extra speed camera or two, even though we are not really doing anything overall to attack the problem. Rather than tightening the laws around confiscation and forfeiture of cars in this legislation that we are looking at today, let’s brag about how many extra police we have not put on the road and how much notice we have not taken about the safety of on-road cycle lanes.”
That is a pattern that has been clear over a couple of years, but I must say, minister, that I have seen a fairly significant increase in the presence of motorcycles and patrol cars on our streets in the last couple of months. I hope that you will sustain that. If you sustain that, I will come back here in about four or five months and give you a massive bouquet.
Mr Hargreaves: Janine Florist.
MR PRATT: Thank you very much. How much?
Mr Hargreaves: About 100 bucks.
MR PRATT: It would be worth it. In terms of community safety, minister; that contribution would be worth it. Mr Speaker, this community has real concerns about hoon driver behaviour and this amendment bill is not even the start of what is needed to be done to sort out these problems. I would say to you that the government has missed the opportunity not only to amend the bill to make it fairer in terms of the 90-day provision but also to toughen the legislation around forfeiture. Forfeiture surely is
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