Page 3795 - Week 13 - Thursday, 18 October 1990
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MOTOR TRAFFIC (AMENDMENT) BILL (NO. 3) 1990
Debate resumed from 20 September 1990, on motion by Mr Duby:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
MRS GRASSBY (11.19): Mr Speaker, at the outset let me state that the Labor Party will support the two Motor Traffic (Amendment) Bills which are before the Assembly today. I note that the Standing Committee on Scrutiny of Bills and Subordinate Legislation has criticised this wasteful exercise of having four Bills that could have all been incorporated into one Bill. I hope that we never again see such a waste of time on these Bills, which really could have been done, as I say, in one act.
As for Mr Duby's comment about whose Bills they were or whose they were not, I would just like it to be read into the Hansard that most of these Bills were mooted by the Labor Party when it was the Government.
Turning to the particular piece of legislation - amending Bill No. 3 - let me say that this Bill will require all vehicles being registered in the ACT to conform with the Australian Design Rules which set out the national design standards for vehicle safety. These standards are developed through the Australian Transport Advisory Council, of which the ACT is a member. It is obviously important that the ACT conforms to these Australia-wide standards. I am pleased to see that the new section 7A(5) will ensure that only vehicles registered after the commencement of the legislation will have to meet these current design rules. No extra expense will be suffered by the motor vehicle owners as they have already had enough increase in expenses such as petrol tax, and other taxes, that have been put on in this last budget. I am pleased to see that this will come into force only on new vehicles being registered.
I am also pleased to see that the new section 7C will give motor vehicle owners the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal if the registrar refuses to register their motor vehicle or trailer under this legislation. It has long been Labor Party policy to ensure that people's rights are protected by such appeals and provisions. May I say that these Bills are long overdue; these changes to the Act are long overdue; and it only goes to prove every day more reason why we needed self-government to bring us into line with the rest of Australia. As I said, the Labor Party will be quite happy to support these two Bills that are coming before the house today.
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