Page 2703 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 26 September 2007
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Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, Mr Pratt also mentioned that I was twisting facts to suit my argument. Mr Pratt, they are facts, in black and white. What is not in black and white is Mr Pratt’s continued cynical view of P-plate drivers. Mr Pratt just spent 10 minutes justifying why P-plate drivers are no good and should be punitively dealt with. He has continued to ignore the facts.
One other point, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker: Mr Pratt believes that I only want to provide advanced driver training for the young. I am not talking about advanced driver training; I am talking about further educational programs for all ages. Mr Pratt did quote from an interview between Ross Solly on the ABC and a surgeon from the Royal Australian College of Surgeons, who, to my knowledge, is not an expert on road safety or driving instruction, but a surgeon. Mr Pratt says that the surgeon has indicated that females and males do not reach full mental maturity until they are 23 and 25 respectively.
Is Mr Pratt implying that further education or education full stop for our young is useless, or that they should not be allowed to undertake teachings that will make them further aware of the dangers on our roads? The only relevant source Mr Pratt quoted to support his diatribe on younger drivers that directly affects the ACT is an interview from a single surgeon. My facts, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, come directly from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, an independent Steer Davies Gleave report and the Auditor-General’s report. Mr Pratt, what you have is the word of a single surgeon.
Moving on, Mr Pratt mentioned that I was misleading the public. I have not misled the public on the opposition’s position—I quoted directly out of their press releases. So either you agree with what you say in your press release statements, Mr Pratt, or you are back-flipping on your previous press statements.
Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I want to bring this debate back to the point at hand. Clearly, Mr Pratt has not listened to what I had to say, as he has made no mention of older drivers in his little rant. His whole speech was focused just on P-plate drivers. As I said before, and I will say it again, approximately 70 per cent of accidents and casualties in the ACT are caused by people over the age of 25. For Mr Pratt’s benefit, and others here today, I will reiterate what I said earlier: we as a responsible Labor government have to ensure that the workplace for those that are continually using our roads—the drivers of taxis, buses and hire cars, and couriers et cetera—is as safe as possible, and by improving the mental and physical skills possessed by our road users, regardless of age, we can make their work environment safer.
Today I am proposing that the ACT government provide incentives for road users to raise and maintain their road craft and driving/riding skills. Yes, I am offering the carrot instead of the stick. What I am proposing is to reward drivers and riders who undertake continuing educational training by giving them additional points on their licences.
There are, of course, many driver and rider awareness programs already available to ACT road users. The Transport Industry Skills Centre on Sutton Road provides
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