Page 3042 - Week 08 - Thursday, 15 August 2019
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I will go to a couple of other areas in my portfolio. This year we have provided additional funding to the Human Rights Commission to strengthen oversight of health workers by implementing the national code for unregistered health workers.
There is money in the budget in the road safety space to continue the operations of the Canberra Hospital’s fitness to drive medical clinic. This clinic provides complex medical assessments for older drivers to ensure their fitness to drive. This is very important from two perspectives. For those people who are fit to continue to drive, it maximises their independence, and I think people really value that. But for those for whom, perhaps because of the ageing process, being on the road as a driver is no longer safe, we need to make challenging but clear decisions about that, so that we minimise the risks there.
We do see an over-representation of older drivers in our road crash statistics. I do not want to make generalisations about that. Having a service like this enables us to make rational and evidence-based decisions about people’s fitness to drive in a way that is objective. Hopefully, although it can be a difficult moment, people will find it to be a fair and evidence-based decision.
We have also, in this year’s budget, committed money to implement reforms to the graduated licensing scheme that will provide a staged approach to driver licensing, with restrictions and sanctions that are reduced as experience is gained. Again this is reflected in the fact that we see over-representation of younger drivers in our crash statistics. In trying to take an evidence-based approach to this, we have sought to reform our graduated licensing scheme so that drivers are able to come through in a way that maximises their safety and that of other road users. Age is simply a reflection of when people get their licence. It is really about experience, and we are trying to give people an experience-building process in the driving system, so that they become as safe a driver as possible. It is an important reform for road safety, and one that will make a difference over the coming years.
Outside my direct portfolio responsibilities, I would like to take this opportunity to commend my colleagues on our government’s ongoing and obvious commitment to reducing recidivism and tackling crime in new and innovative ways. We have heard comments from two other ministers about that today, and I thank them for that.
In particular, this year’s budget brings the drug and alcohol court closer to operation. It is a key parliamentary agreement item for this Assembly. I know that a number of ministers, led by the Attorney-General, have been working on this project, in partnership with members of the judiciary, to bring this really important project to fruition. This will serve as an essential new forum for an offender’s substance use to be considered as part of their broader health and support needs, and proactively help them engage with treatment and rehabilitation.
I look forward to the formal commencement of that project. I am pleased to see the appointment of former Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker as the justice who will be in charge of that court. Her passion and commitment for that sort of work will be very critical to the success of the court. These courts rely on having members of the
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