Page 2313 - Week 06 - Thursday, 10 May 2012
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address that as well. So recommendation 12 looks at the whole notion of vision zero and suggests that the government place a greater emphasis on achieving vision zero within the transport system.
As in all committees, there was a lighter side to one of the committee hearings. Those that were participating asked us when they thought the report might be tabled. When we suggested June might be the likely date, one of the witnesses mentioned that it was her birthday. Her companion then mentioned that her birthday was also in June. So Cecilia Warren of the NRMA, congratulations! You won the birthday committee lotto. We table this report today on your birthday. Congratulations, Cecilia.
Mr Speaker, it is a good report. It is a very balanced report. It is a sensible report and I look forward to the government’s response. I hope that the government takes the report in the way that it has been delivered. There need to be some modifications to processes and some patience in regard to the effects of the 2008 reforms. Let us have a focus and a greater emphasis on road safety.
If people genuinely want to pay lower premiums, the best way to pay lower premiums is for us all to drive safer and take responsibility when we are out on the roads. We as MLAs and, indeed, as governments must ensure that the legislation is there to ensure the police have adequate resources to patrol our roads as a deterrent. But we must also design better roads. We as individuals must take responsibility for our part in what happens. They are not motor vehicle accidents. These are not accidents. These are crashes and in the main we know the cause. The cause in so many cases is human error.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Minister for Health and Minister for Territory and Municipal Services) (10.26): I will speak briefly to the committee’s report as the minister at the time who was responsible for the development of this important legislation. I have to say, and I will read the committee’s report in detail, that I am disappointed with the report today. Based on the recommendations, it takes a sit-on-the-fence approach to compulsory third party and the issues that are faced by the community who are all affected by the scheme as it operates today. I was just looking at the rego fees for an average Canberra car and—
Mr Hanson interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Hanson!
MS GALLAGHER: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I listened to other members in silence. I know Mr Hanson finds it impossible to do that. But when you look at the registration fees for a 12-month period for an average car, the registration fee is actually $227.50. There are a couple of other small charges of $16 and $2. Then there is the compulsory third-party insurance component, which makes up almost two-thirds of the rego. In fact, it would be two-thirds of the rego of $526 that every Canberran who drives a car pays. That has gone up by over $100—I think by over $120, $130—in the last couple of years. There are no signs that those costs will abate. So that is what we are dealing with here.
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