Page 4241 - Week 11 - Thursday, 17 Sept 2009
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class 5 oxidising substances, class 6 toxic substances, class 7 radioactive material, class 8 corrosive substances, and class 9 miscellaneous dangerous goods.
There are a number of offences in the proposed legislation. The bill creates a range of offences for unlicensed or unsafe transport of dangerous goods. Clause 28 creates the offences for the unlicensed transport of dangerous goods. If regulations require that the transport of dangerous goods be licensed, you commit an offence if you are a prime contractor or a driver and you transport the good. There is also an offence if you consign dangerous goods to a vehicle you know or ought to have reasonably known is unlicensed.
Significant concern has been expressed about the strict liability nature of the offence in subclause 28(1). It is a strict liability offence and the maximum penalty is 500 penalty units or two years imprisonment or both. Given the nature of the offence and the severity of the penalty, the opposition believes that this particular offence should not be a strict liability one, and I will move an amendment to that effect shortly. I will move an amendment to remove the strict liability for the offence in clause 28(1).
Under clause 29, a person commits an offence if they have someone transport dangerous goods and they are not licensed. There are some goods that are too dangerous to be transported by road and if these are transported you commit an offence under clause 30. The goods that are too dangerous to be transported are those including unstable chemicals, those with violent reactions, certain explosives, dangerous toxic emissions or corrosive or flammable gases. A more serious offence in clause 31 applies to the conduct to which clause 30 applies, but then causes death or serious injury when it is either intentional or reckless about causing it.
Clause 33 provides that if you are transporting dangerous goods you are committing an offence if you fail do so safely. A defence is provided within clause 33 if a defendant to a clause 33 charge did all they could, as far as practicable, to ensure the goods were transported in a safe way. The defence also applies if someone over whom the defendant has no control brings about the offence.
The opposition supports the remaining amendments that have been circulated by the Minister for Transport. The omission of proposed section 59(1)(c) will address the concerns raised relating to the potential for self-incrimination from this provision. Amendments 3 through to 5 amend various provisions to require “satisfied on reasonable grounds”. This will ensure that the power is better exercised and that officials should ensure there are reasonable grounds under these provisions. The opposition supports the minister’s amendments and will support the bill.
MS BRESNAN (Brindabella) (5.31): The Greens will be supporting this bill. It is, in effect, a companion to the recently passed Road Transport (Mass, Dimensions and Loading) Act, which, like this bill, is part of the National Transport Commission reform project. This bill is modelled on the commission’s model legislation, with quite a number of amendments that take into account the particular circumstances of the ACT, such as our Human Rights Act. It is a modernisation of the national scheme which reflects recently updated United Nations regulations. It is consistent with the New South Wales scheme, more or less, which, of course, makes sense given the ACT’s location.
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