Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 11 Hansard (12 December) . . Page.. 2899 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

The Government's approach to liquor enforcement centres on one principle. As a government we have a responsibility to ensure the framework is right to promote the responsible use of alcohol. We will do this by promoting the responsible sale of liquor by licensees, sanctioning those who set out to make profits at the expense of being responsible traders and, secondly, we will promote a greater awareness among the Canberra community of the dangers of irresponsible use of alcohol but reinforce the message that there is nothing wrong with socialising and responsibly enjoying liquor.

Members will be aware of an exercise conducted by the Australian Federal Police to target drink-drivers in the Civic area over the last weekend of September. The exercise was a response to a perceived problem with drivers ignoring warnings not to drink and drive. That weekend some 3,222 drivers were tested in a variety of locations around the city area, including Dickson, Civic, Manuka, Mitchell and Kingston. Eighty-nine drivers were apprehended for being above the legal limit of .05. Of these, alarmingly, one driver was apprehended with a reading of .245. Another, on a special licence issued by the court for a previous offence, recorded .235 - nearly 12 times his legal limit. Another driver was apprehended twice within 90 minutes. He was first apprehended with a reading of .195. Ninety minutes later he walked out of Civic police station, got into his car and drove off. He was again apprehended and recorded a reading of .165 - still more than three times the legal limit. Two drivers aged under 18 were apprehended for being over the limit while on P-plates.

While accompanying officers on the Friday and Saturday nights of that weekend, I made several observations which I would like, firstly, to share with members and, secondly, to move to address in this statement. Since that weekend I have pursued some horrifying facts about drink-driving. In the period 1 July 1995 to 22 November 1995 inclusive, some 20 accidents with injuries on the ACT's roads were a result of alcohol. In addition, three fatalities involved alcohol. In another frightening incident, at 2.30 am on Sunday, 12 November, police apprehended a driver in a Civic car park who allegedly ran down a pedestrian. His blood alcohol reading was .115. After being charged and then released, it appears the alleged offender returned to the city, continued to drink and then drove home. He was stopped on Northbourne Avenue at 6.10 am and recorded a reading of .110. So less than four hours after being detained the first time he again offended.

Each time an offender is detained, a significant amount of police resources is devoted to processing that single offender. Firstly, one officer is required to drive the offender to the police station in order to conduct a breath analysis, while another officer is then required to drive the offender's vehicle to the police station. That takes two officers out of the system for often up to an hour to process an offender, and one of those, having driven the offender's vehicle back to the station, is often left at a loose end while the other processes the offender. That is not an efficient use of police resources.

I also found that a good number of offenders were not overly concerned about the situation in which they found themselves; that they were not convinced they had done anything seriously wrong. They did not regard the penalties as a significant deterrent to offending, especially when they were faced with the decision about whether to drive

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .