Page 779 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 29 March 2006
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take the position to vote against this motion. So I am really in some confusion as to why Mr Pratt has an issue with this, except perhaps that we did not vote for his bill and now he is having a sulk. That could be it.
I will just go through some of the comments that were made. I should say that I first raised this issue before the Christmas holidays, and of course I did not bring it back on until this week. The reason for that is that between now and the next time we sit will be the Easter break, including the school holidays. So that is the reason that I have brought it back on now, because I think it is important that we urge everybody who uses the roads to exercise care in the upcoming holidays.
Lots of people travel and lots of people have young children at schools and take the time when they are off on an Easter break to travel down to the coast, to Sydney or elsewhere. All I am saying with this is: wake up, pay attention, take breaks, take responsibility for your own actions, do not get carried away, et cetera.
I thank the minister. He gave an elucidation of the tactics that we are employing here in the ACT in an attempt to reduce road deaths. Dr Foskey asked the question: how much effect will it have here? She was a bit sceptical that there might be any effect from this motion. We could say that about any of the motions that get discussed in this place. But it is about debating the issue here in this place and it then leading to the outside world. It does make an impact. It may only be small, but there is a small impact.
Dr Foskey also talked about mobile phones being used in a dangerous fashion. I certainly would not disagree with that and I am sure that there are issues there that could be taken up. I think it is important for us to remember that, if we have a mobile phone and we do not have a hands-free kit, we should not be using it, or doing our hair, while driving—doing any of those things—
Ms Porter: Shaving.
Mrs Dunne: Make-up.
MS MacDONALD: Thank you. We should not be doing any of those other things while we are driving. We do have a responsibility to pay full attention to this, because vehicles can and do end up being instruments of death, unfortunately. Mobile phones are one problem, and there are, of course, others. I know that the police and the government—in fact, I think we all—take it as a serious issue. If we see people out there who are misusing their mobile phones, or doing other things, maybe we should consider keeping in mind their number plates, if we can, and making a report. I am not saying that there should be any citizen’s arrest; I would hate for people to start calling me Greg Cornwell.
I have already referred to some of the issues that Mr Pratt raised, but he started out by saying that this motion and the government were putting it all back on the drivers and saying it was all the drivers’ fault. No, Mr Pratt, that is not what this motion says. What this motion says is that it is a shared responsibility. In fact, I think Mr Mulcahy, in his follow-up speech, did say something along the lines of that roads were a public resource and a shared responsibility. And that is exactly what this motion says, Mr Pratt. That is exactly what this motion is about, Mr Pratt.
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