Page 3782 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 8 November 1994
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Truck Parking - Residential Areas
MR MOORE: Madam Speaker, my question is directed to Mr Lamont as Minister for Urban Services. I wonder whether the Minister would inform the house of his intentions, if he has any, of addressing the problem of commercial trucks, particularly those above three tonnes, parking in residential neighbourhoods.
MR LAMONT: Madam Speaker, I am sure that Mr Moore is raising this question as a result of some correspondence he has recently received from a constituent, as well as a number of complaints - in particular, an expose on Trevor the truckie and his neighbour on one of the national television programs.
Mr Kaine: I do not even own a truck.
MR LAMONT: It could be said that you look as though you had, Mr Kaine.
Mr Berry: No; he does not.
MR LAMONT: No. In fact, you do not look as though you did. Madam Speaker, the question is one of considerable concern to transport regulation in the ACT, as well as to the Office of the Commissioner for the Environment and the EPA within the Department of the Environment, Land and Planning, because it is not just a question of the break-up of urban infrastructure, which has occasioned calls from my departmental officers for restitution works to be undertaken by the owners of such vehicles - and that is a continuing problem that has been identified - but also a question of breaches and noise pollution associated with the use of such vehicles.
The question as to how the prohibition would work is one that is causing some difficulty in arriving at the necessary regulatory framework, Mr Moore. As you would understand, there is a view that a person who may be conducting a business in the transport industry has a right to park their vehicle on their own property, if that is all that they are doing. Where they attempt to undertake a business from such premises, they are required to go through a process under the leasing arrangements. That includes, I would suspect, cooperation from their neighbours to allow them to do so.
The matter of a single truck parking in a driveway, as an example, is extremely different from, say, the circumstances outlined in the Trevor the truckie incidents, where you allegedly had a transport business in all of its forms being conducted from a private residence in a private residential area. The transport regulation review which is under way, and the report of which will be released shortly, attempted to address some of those issues. I was, again through representations from constituents, concerned that it did not address the issues. I am seeking now to have the issue addressed specifically in terms that will allow for the legitimate parking of a vehicle where that is the purpose, without it unduly impacting upon the neighbours; and to prohibit the undertaking of a business where it is a repair, service or maintenance business, in a heavy machinery sense, in suburban areas. That is the great difficulty that we have. In fact, from information from around Australia, it is a problem that exists in every major metropolitan city in Australia.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .