Page 2292 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 4 August 2021

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Roads—speed limits

MR PARTON: My question is to the Chief Minister. Last Friday morning on Chief Minister’s talkback on local ABC Radio you said that thousands of warnings had been issued to the motorists exceeding the 40 kilometre per hour speed limit in the new speed restriction areas in Civic. Chief Minister, had thousands of individual warning notices been issued to motorists exceeding the new speed limit prior to 5 July?

MR BARR: I do not have direct responsibility for that.

MR PARTON: No, I understand, but it is based on your—

MADAM SPEAKER: The minister responsible can answer the question. Ms Cheyne.

MS CHEYNE: Sorry, could you repeat the question?

MR PARTON: It was in its entirety to the Chief Minister. I said, “Last Friday morning on Chief Minister’s talkback on local ABC Radio you said that thousands of warnings had been issued to the motorists exceeding the 40-kilometre-per-hour speed limit in the new speed restriction areas in Civic. Chief Minister, had thousands of individual warning notices been issued to motorists exceeding the new speed limit prior to 5 July?”

MS CHEYNE: The short answer to that is no. From 5 July until 26 July—that is the latest data that I have—18,437 infringement notices have been issued. However, in the two-week grace period there was a considerable communications campaign, and I will go into the detail of that communications campaign. That followed nine items had covered the new 40-kilometre-an-hour zone before the grace period; 11 media items covered the grace period; and since then there have been at least seven media items. Variable messaging signs have been used in the area between May, June and July. We have also had radio ads across multiple time slots and either side of the news during peak hour to alert motorists to this change.

I note the change came into place in March. We did not start enforcing until July. There was a very long lead period. We had the grace period to alert as many Canberrans as possible. We had a social media post on our own ACT government channels, and I note they have been on other channels, including Canberra Notice Board Group and including on Reddit, where there have been 1,400 comments just on an ACT government social media account alone. But to send individual warning letters—(Time expired.)

MR PARTON: To whoever wants to answer it: why did the Chief Minister tell the public that thousands of warnings had been issued if that was, in fact, not the case?

MR BARR: My understanding was that there had been communication, extensive communication, from the time the speed zones changed in March to when infringement notices were issued. If I made an error, I apologise for that. Obviously in the context of Chief Minister talkback there are potentially thousands of issues that


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