Page 3962 - Week 09 - Thursday, 25 August 2011
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I want to commend the government for undertaking a considered approach to this issue of road safety so far. I understand that it ran a steering committee on the issue of point-to-point cameras and road safety. My office spoke to the NRMA on this issue. The NRMA said that it had been very satisfied with how the process was run and its opportunity to participate. As I mentioned, the government also commissioned the consultant AECOM to investigate point-to-point speed camera technology and how it could apply in the ACT.
Having made clear our in-principle support for road safety and for the role of point-to-point cameras in achieving that goal, I need to raise a specific issue with this legislation which I have discussed with the minister. I reiterate that it is the Greens’ intention to cooperate on this issue, and to find a good way to progress this legislation in the interests of the community.
In the view of the Greens, the bill as presented raises two quite separate issues. We believe that these issues must be distinguished and approached separately.
The first issue is the allowing of point-to-point cameras for the enforcement of real-time traffic offences—that is, speeding. This is the standard use that everyone expects. This has been the context in which this bill has been discussed in the Assembly, the media, and the explanatory statement. As I said, the Greens are supportive of point-to-point cameras being used for this typical and expected purpose.
But the bill has a second, very important element. This is not immediately clear, even after an examination of the bill and accompanying material. Mr Coe has addressed these issues in his speech today, I will note. This second element is the collection and retention of a large amount of data specifically for the purpose of the police accessing it for later law enforcement purposes. The data that is intended to be stored includes a picture and time information for every vehicle that travels through a point-to-point camera. This is every vehicle, not just vehicles that are detected to be speeding.
We acknowledge that there are advantages in this in terms of law enforcement. However, the Greens want to make the point very clearly that sanctioning a new surveillance technology for the purpose of law enforcement is distinctly different from sanctioning the use of cameras to detect speeding drivers in real time.
This broad image storage power is a discrete aspect of the legislation. My understanding is that it is not required for the detection and enforcement of standard traffic offences such as speeding. The storage of images of non-offending vehicles is specifically for future general investigative purposes.
This issue of collecting information and using it for extended purposes must be given due consideration as an issue separate from the main purpose of the current bill and current debate. If the bill was passed in its current form, I believe there would be a strong argument that the Assembly had approved a new technology and a new, potentially controversial use without giving due consideration to the broader issues, including privacy and human rights.
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