❓ Ms. Quirk asks about the Road Traffic Amendment Bill, focusing on comparisons to other states and its impact on road safety. The Minister responds by highlighting the bill's overdue nature and criticising the previous government's inaction on impaired driving penalties.
AnsweredQoN 855Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ROAD TRAFFIC AMENDMENT
(IMPAIRED DRIVING AND PENALTIES) BILL 2019
855. Ms M.M. QUIRK to the Minister for Road Safety:
Minister, good answer. I refer to
the McGowan Labor government's reforms, introduced today, that will
target drink and drug–driving in Western Australia.
(1) Can the minister update the
house on how these laws compare with laws implemented in other states?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house how these reforms will help improve road safety in Western
Australia?
(IMPAIRED DRIVING AND PENALTIES) BILL 2019
855. Ms M.M. QUIRK to the Minister for Road Safety:
Minister, good answer. I refer to
the McGowan Labor government's reforms, introduced today, that will
target drink and drug–driving in Western Australia.
(1) Can the minister update the
house on how these laws compare with laws implemented in other states?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house how these reforms will help improve road safety in Western
Australia?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Girrawheen
for her question, and for her very long-term commitment to road safety.
(1)–(2) I
certainly can give the member some comparisons with other states. A number of
the measures introduced in the legislation I brought into the house today
should have been put in place years ago, if we had had a minister in the former
government who was committed to road safety. The fact of the matter is that
this legislation implements an immediate 24-hour driving ban for a driver who
tests positive at a roadside drug test. You would think that that seems pretty
logical, and most other states, once they introduced drug testing, in the same
way that alcohol testing was put in place, moved to put those immediate bans in
place. Who wants to think that someone who has tested positive for
methamphetamine can drive away after they have tested positive? Legislation
like that was introduced in New South Wales in 2006, in South Australia in
2006, in Victoria in 2007, the Northern Territory in 2008 and the Australian
Capital Territory in 2010. Over 10 years ago, most of those states actually put
that ban in place. We have had a real anomaly here, one that was drawn to the
attention of the former government and one that it chose not to act on.
I know that the other key amendment
in this legislation is one that the member for Girrawheen feels quite strongly
about, because I well recall the excellent report that the Community
Development and Justice Standing Committee did in 2015. Recommendation 8 in
that report stated —
That the Minister for Police
introduces amendments to the Road Traffic Act (1974) to:
� establish an offence for the combined use of alcohol and illicit
drugs;
What was the response from the
government of the day? The response was —
The Road Safety Commission will be
conducting a review into drug driving legislation, in conjunction with police
and other key stakeholders.
Nothing
happened. In a couple of years since that was pointed out, did anything happen?
No. Victoria moved on that, and it is the Victorian model that we are
looking to in the legislation that we have brought forward. It was an excellent
report, titled ''Are we there yet? How WA Police determines whether
traffic law enforcement is effective''. What was pointed out in the
committee report, and what is well known and well researched, is that where
there is a combination of drugs and alcohol, the risk goes up exponentially.
These kinds of changes are very necessary.
The other thing that the former
Minister for Road Safety sat on her hands about was the penalties for drink and
drug–driving. They lag so far behind other states. The member for
Girrawheen asked for the comparison. For example, this is where they currently
sit: a blood alcohol content of 0.05 per cent in Western Australia attracts a $500
fine, compared with $1 000 in South Australia, $1 828 in Queensland, and $3 223
in Victoria. It lags at only $500 here. These are some of the things that we
are now moving to address because we had a previous Minister for Police; Road
Safety who took no interest in road safety, showed no leadership and did
nothing, just like she did not do anything about the calculation of breath
tests. She said she was looking into that in about 2014 or 2015, but she did
nothing there either. By comparison, we are moving ahead. It is sad that we are
having to play catch up with other states, but the problem is that we had a previous
minister who did nothing and did not show any leadership.
for her question, and for her very long-term commitment to road safety.
(1)–(2) I
certainly can give the member some comparisons with other states. A number of
the measures introduced in the legislation I brought into the house today
should have been put in place years ago, if we had had a minister in the former
government who was committed to road safety. The fact of the matter is that
this legislation implements an immediate 24-hour driving ban for a driver who
tests positive at a roadside drug test. You would think that that seems pretty
logical, and most other states, once they introduced drug testing, in the same
way that alcohol testing was put in place, moved to put those immediate bans in
place. Who wants to think that someone who has tested positive for
methamphetamine can drive away after they have tested positive? Legislation
like that was introduced in New South Wales in 2006, in South Australia in
2006, in Victoria in 2007, the Northern Territory in 2008 and the Australian
Capital Territory in 2010. Over 10 years ago, most of those states actually put
that ban in place. We have had a real anomaly here, one that was drawn to the
attention of the former government and one that it chose not to act on.
I know that the other key amendment
in this legislation is one that the member for Girrawheen feels quite strongly
about, because I well recall the excellent report that the Community
Development and Justice Standing Committee did in 2015. Recommendation 8 in
that report stated —
That the Minister for Police
introduces amendments to the Road Traffic Act (1974) to:
� establish an offence for the combined use of alcohol and illicit
drugs;
What was the response from the
government of the day? The response was —
The Road Safety Commission will be
conducting a review into drug driving legislation, in conjunction with police
and other key stakeholders.
Nothing
happened. In a couple of years since that was pointed out, did anything happen?
No. Victoria moved on that, and it is the Victorian model that we are
looking to in the legislation that we have brought forward. It was an excellent
report, titled ''Are we there yet? How WA Police determines whether
traffic law enforcement is effective''. What was pointed out in the
committee report, and what is well known and well researched, is that where
there is a combination of drugs and alcohol, the risk goes up exponentially.
These kinds of changes are very necessary.
The other thing that the former
Minister for Road Safety sat on her hands about was the penalties for drink and
drug–driving. They lag so far behind other states. The member for
Girrawheen asked for the comparison. For example, this is where they currently
sit: a blood alcohol content of 0.05 per cent in Western Australia attracts a $500
fine, compared with $1 000 in South Australia, $1 828 in Queensland, and $3 223
in Victoria. It lags at only $500 here. These are some of the things that we
are now moving to address because we had a previous Minister for Police; Road
Safety who took no interest in road safety, showed no leadership and did
nothing, just like she did not do anything about the calculation of breath
tests. She said she was looking into that in about 2014 or 2015, but she did
nothing there either. By comparison, we are moving ahead. It is sad that we are
having to play catch up with other states, but the problem is that we had a previous
minister who did nothing and did not show any leadership.
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