Page 3731 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 23 October 2013
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I turn to some other areas in the Justice and Community Safety portfolio. The government made other commitments. Most specifically, we committed to putting more police on our roads. The government has delivered on that commitment. Eight additional police—
Opposition members interjecting—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mr Corbell, could you just resume your seat for one second. Could you stop the clock, please. Mr Hanson and Mr Coe, I have let a fair bit of banter go, but could you please pay a bit of respect to the current speaker.
Mr Hanson: My apologies, Mr Assistant Speaker.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER Mr Corbell.
MR CORBELL: Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker. We promised to put more police on our roads, and we have met that commitment in the most recent budget—eight additional police. There are four additional traffic patrol vehicles to tackle dangerous, illegal and hoon driving on our roads, to tackle the ongoing problem of the number of deaths and injuries on our roads and the concerns that come from the community about dangerous, illegal and hoon driving behaviour. That is $6.8 million over four years to employ the extra police and to provide them with the extra vehicles to tackle road safety in our city.
The government has also moved to support those with a disability when it comes to their ability to get around our city. We implemented the stand-alone wheelchair accessible taxi booking service as of December last year. This is all about improving the quality of life of people who are mobility impaired and who need to rely on services such as wheelchair accessible taxis. The centralised service model established in December last year incorporates strong management and monitoring of booking to achieve improved accessibility and an acceptable 24-hour-a day, seven-day-a-week service. Reporting to date shows that we are getting good results and seeing very few complaints as a result of the improved booking arrangements. That is another reform delivered by this government and committed to by Labor in the lead-up to last year’s election.
We are also sending positive signals to people on our roads who do the right thing. Drivers with clean driving records are now receiving a 20 per cent discount on the fees associated with their licence renewals. That is to the value of $4.4 million in revenue forgone over a four-year period. The discount came into effect on 1 August this year, and eligible licence holders are receiving that discount automatically when they renew their driver’s licence. We want to send not just disincentives for people who are doing the wrong thing on our roads but incentives and positive signals for those who do the right thing and keep a good and clean driving record. That is another election commitment delivered by this government.
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