❓ Ms. Hamilton asks about the reopening of the Joondalup licensing centre and initiatives to increase practical driving assessment availability. The Minister responds with details on the Joondalup centre, online booking improvements, and efforts to improve learner driver preparedness.
AnsweredQoN 809Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
JOONDALUP DRIVER
ASSESSMENT CENTRE
809. Ms E.L. HAMILTON to the Minister assisting the Minister
for Transport:
I refer to the Cook Labor government's
efforts to clear the backlog of practical driving assessments.
(1) Can the
minister outline to the house how the upcoming reopening of the Joondalup
licensing centre will allow for more learner drivers to sit their assessments?
(2) What further
initiatives is the minister pursuing to ensure more practical driving
assessments are available across the state?
ASSESSMENT CENTRE
809. Ms E.L. HAMILTON to the Minister assisting the Minister
for Transport:
I refer to the Cook Labor government's
efforts to clear the backlog of practical driving assessments.
(1) Can the
minister outline to the house how the upcoming reopening of the Joondalup
licensing centre will allow for more learner drivers to sit their assessments?
(2) What further
initiatives is the minister pursuing to ensure more practical driving
assessments are available across the state?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I thank the member for Joondalup for the question
and for her strong interest in practical driving assessments, particularly as an advocate for the reopening of the Joondalup facility. The
member is quite right that there continues to be a lot of demand in the system
for practical driving assessments. That is something this government has been
working very hard on over the last year or so. I want to talk today about three
fronts where we are doing more to make sure learner drivers can get their
licences. We are opening up more opportunities for driving tests—practical
driving assessments—making it easier to book a test, and we are
ensuring that learner drivers taking the test are suitably prepared. As the
member knows, the newly designed Joondalup driver assessment centre will open its
doors, with a focus on PDAs for novice drivers and overseas licence holders who
are converting to a Western Australia licence. The Joondalup centre will
initially conduct business on Mondays to Saturdays between 7.00 am and 6.00 pm.
As we grow staff numbers and capacity at the centre, we are going to look at
the possibility and viability of perhaps even opening on Sundays. We have also
been working hard to improve accessibility of PDA bookings online. Firstly, is
something I know that has been called for for a while. From 18 November,
overseas driver's licence holders
will now be able to securely book a PDA on DoTDirect using an online account.
Previously , they had to attend or ring up and use that system. They will
now be able to do it online. Secondly, I would like to update the house on the outcome of the trial in which we
disabled the driving instructor portal swap system. I think the Minister
for Transport had to deal with the bots six to 12 months ago. Prior to April
this year, driving instructors had the ability to swap PDA bookings online. The
intent of the function was obviously to
allow instructors to swap a booking if one of their clients was not ready to
another client who was ready.
However, we found that the system was being abused and some tests were being
sold for financial gain. Bots were active within the driving instructor
system, making hundreds and sometimes thousands of bookings using learner
permit numbers. The trial to remove the driving instructor PDA swap function has made the system fairer and more equitable so
the Department of Transport will now permanently disable the swap
function. The third area we are focusing on is the preparedness of novice
drivers. In the late 1990s when I sat my
licence near Warwick Police Station, the first time, I think in the member for
Kingsley's electorate, I may have frightened the assessor, who
asked me to turn right and I turned left.
Several members interjected.
Mr D.R. MICHAEL : Obviously!
In the second one, I think in the member for Carine's electorate, some
bollards at Carine regional open space got a fright when I was reversing. I did
not get my licence the first time and I did not get it the second time! It was
excessive nervousness, apparently. I did get it the third time and have been
pretty good since. In the past financial year, only 40 per cent of candidates
passed their first test, and because 60 per cent were not ready, they then had to make another booking, which is costly
to them and takes extra time and extra slots in the system. The Department
of Transport will be running an education campaign across social media and
other channels to keep encouraging candidates to prepare more thoroughly,
keeping their costs down, including for their families,
and easing demand on the system. We will continue to work on this. The
Department of Transport continues to recruit more instructors and more
staff to run the centres we have. We are looking at other innovative ways to
make practical driving assessments more accessible and have many more in the system,
as we were doing at the end of the month in Joondalup.
and for her strong interest in practical driving assessments, particularly as an advocate for the reopening of the Joondalup facility. The
member is quite right that there continues to be a lot of demand in the system
for practical driving assessments. That is something this government has been
working very hard on over the last year or so. I want to talk today about three
fronts where we are doing more to make sure learner drivers can get their
licences. We are opening up more opportunities for driving tests—practical
driving assessments—making it easier to book a test, and we are
ensuring that learner drivers taking the test are suitably prepared. As the
member knows, the newly designed Joondalup driver assessment centre will open its
doors, with a focus on PDAs for novice drivers and overseas licence holders who
are converting to a Western Australia licence. The Joondalup centre will
initially conduct business on Mondays to Saturdays between 7.00 am and 6.00 pm.
As we grow staff numbers and capacity at the centre, we are going to look at
the possibility and viability of perhaps even opening on Sundays. We have also
been working hard to improve accessibility of PDA bookings online. Firstly, is
something I know that has been called for for a while. From 18 November,
overseas driver's licence holders
will now be able to securely book a PDA on DoTDirect using an online account.
Previously , they had to attend or ring up and use that system. They will
now be able to do it online. Secondly, I would like to update the house on the outcome of the trial in which we
disabled the driving instructor portal swap system. I think the Minister
for Transport had to deal with the bots six to 12 months ago. Prior to April
this year, driving instructors had the ability to swap PDA bookings online. The
intent of the function was obviously to
allow instructors to swap a booking if one of their clients was not ready to
another client who was ready.
However, we found that the system was being abused and some tests were being
sold for financial gain. Bots were active within the driving instructor
system, making hundreds and sometimes thousands of bookings using learner
permit numbers. The trial to remove the driving instructor PDA swap function has made the system fairer and more equitable so
the Department of Transport will now permanently disable the swap
function. The third area we are focusing on is the preparedness of novice
drivers. In the late 1990s when I sat my
licence near Warwick Police Station, the first time, I think in the member for
Kingsley's electorate, I may have frightened the assessor, who
asked me to turn right and I turned left.
Several members interjected.
Mr D.R. MICHAEL : Obviously!
In the second one, I think in the member for Carine's electorate, some
bollards at Carine regional open space got a fright when I was reversing. I did
not get my licence the first time and I did not get it the second time! It was
excessive nervousness, apparently. I did get it the third time and have been
pretty good since. In the past financial year, only 40 per cent of candidates
passed their first test, and because 60 per cent were not ready, they then had to make another booking, which is costly
to them and takes extra time and extra slots in the system. The Department
of Transport will be running an education campaign across social media and
other channels to keep encouraging candidates to prepare more thoroughly,
keeping their costs down, including for their families,
and easing demand on the system. We will continue to work on this. The
Department of Transport continues to recruit more instructors and more
staff to run the centres we have. We are looking at other innovative ways to
make practical driving assessments more accessible and have many more in the system,
as we were doing at the end of the month in Joondalup.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.