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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 9 Hansard (2 September) . . Page.. 2733 ..

MR HIRD: I ask a supplementary question. How has the Government reached conclusions different from those of the NRMA in interpreting a recent study of random vehicle testing inspections within the Territory?

MR KAINE: The NRMA study, of course, is interesting and it is of value; but it is not the only information available to the Government. Several Australian and overseas studies have attempted to determine the safety effect of periodic motor vehicle inspections. Lack of adequate data is a significant difficulty encountered in all of those studies. The evidence to date does not support large-scale periodic vehicle inspections. For example, in a study of over 200,000 vehicles in Norway the author concluded that neither annual inspection nor inspection every third year has any effect on the accident rate in that country. The comment that periodic motor vehicle inspection could have a negative net impact on the number of injuries in road accidents by prolonging the service life of cars was also included in the discussion in the report on the relationship between technical conditions and accident rate.

The NRMA has noted that a system depending solely on random inspections must have a minimum target of 15 per cent of the fleet per year to obtain adequate data coverage and to influence motorists to maintain their vehicles. The ACT target is 50,000 vehicles in random inspections, which equates to 25 per cent of the fleet. I think that we have more than met the target that the NRMA has decided is a reasonable one. The government inspection station at Dickson and a number of private sector providers who will soon begin carrying out inspections will also perform about 40,000 full vehicle inspections each year for vehicles that are being registered for the first time in the Territory, those having registrations that have expired for more than 12 months, heavy vehicles of greater than 41/2-ton gross vehicle mass, public vehicles such as taxis, hire cars or buses, and vehicles over six years of age on transfer of registration from one owner to another.

The primary responsibility for the condition of the vehicle continues to rest with the owner and driver of that vehicle. Vehicle inspections in whatever form are only one small part of the effort to reduce the road toll, and the cost-benefit of large-scale periodic vehicle inspection has not been established. Driver attitude and driver error remain the greatest causes of road trauma. Having considered all of the information available to the Government, including the report of the NRMA, I think the Government is on the right track.

MS TUCKER: My question is to Mrs Carnell as Minister for Health. It is about the movement of residents from Watson Hostel and Hennessy House out into the community. Could the Minister please inform the Assembly whether the people who have already moved out were given the benefit of the presence of an advocate at all interviews that occurred about the move and also whether other residents yet to move will have an advocate present at their interviews?

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