MOTOR VEHICLES (HISTORIC NUMBER PLATES) AMENDMENT BILL

Introduction and First Reading

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (10:34): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Motor Vehicles Act 1959. Read a first time.

Second Reading

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (10:34): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The legislation pertaining to historic numberplates currently requires the registrar to offer rights to a historic numberplate only at a public auction. If a historic vehicle with an original numberplate changes ownership, even within the same family, or is not registered for a period—for example, if the vehicle is in storage or under restoration—the plate is forfeited.

When the owner seeks to reregister the vehicle or a change of ownership is undertaken, the existing or new owner has to bid for the numberplate at public auction, even if it can be proven that the vehicle had that numberplate originally, often since it was manufactured. As a vintage car enthusiast myself, I have come across many examples of families that have lost rights to a historic numberplate as they have changed legal ownership of the vehicle, usually within the family, and they cannot afford to go to public auction and bid for the plates.

Can I say at the outset that I declare that I have three motor vehicles on historic plates which I have paid for, but not at public auction. Many years ago I think I paid $300 or $400 for one and a maximum of $700 for the other, which I think is a reasonable amount to keep a plate. I do declare that. I am doing this for the enthusiasts, not for myself, because I do not intend to put any more cars on, even though I have quite a few more cars.

This issue really has caught the thousands of enthusiasts across the state. This bill then seeks to rectify this situation by amending the Motor Vehicles Act 1959 to allow historic numberplates that have been with the vehicle since it was manufactured to remain with the vehicle at a minimum fee. Currently, some of the plates at auction are contested for by dealers, and prices for a sixties numberplate can be as high as $3,500 to $4,000.

We saw a story in the paper the other day where a lad went to buy back a numberplate from his father's old Valiant—which I would not class as a historic vehicle, but it is old—which had an important meaning for him. He went to get the plate back again after taking it over from his father. He went to the auction to buy it and he bid $3,200 for it. He was told that the reserve price for that plate was $3,500. That is absolutely greedy, and I am appalled. The numberplate meant nothing to anybody else but him, so he is forced to pay. It is $3,500; apparently, that is the reserve price.

On 20 May this year, the Sunday Mail covered this story about Mr John Gale when he paid the $3,500 for this plate, because the car was given to him by his father. When he transferred the car to his name, he was forced to hand the numberplates back to the department. The article quotes Mr Gale as saying:

They said I could not change the ownership of the vehicle without redeeming them, so I had to pass the plates in. I then went through the process of finding out how I could get plates so when they came up for auction I bought them back. I bidded $3,200 but they said it hadn't reached the reserve so I had to pay $3,500 to get the plates that had been on my father's car since [it was new in]1966.

As I said, that is $3,500 for six-digit plates that are of no significance to anybody else but this family. I do not know Mr Gale, but this is exactly the type of situation this bill seeks to rectify.

I did circulate this information to members a couple of weeks ago; I hope you all got it. I included a photograph of a Mr Collins from Naracoorte and you can see that he had this wonderful car. The same article contains comment from a spokesperson from auctioneers Evans and Clarke, Leo Capurso, about the reasons people buy plates at public auction:

A lot of Asian people are attracted to plates with the number eight in it because they believe that it brings good luck. There are actually people who make a living out of buying and selling plates.

One is a friend of ours and is well known to me. Mr Stewart Kay, historic plates proprietor, was reported in The Advertiser in December last year as saying:

People buy them from their self managed superannuation funds, they've bought them to leave to their grandchildren in their wills...and some just buy them to put on cars.

Well, that is what I thought they were for. So, you can see that it has become a business where people can trade and make money on them. It really is very unfair that, if a vehicle changes ownership, even within the same family, they have to go through the public auction system and compete at the public auction with vintage numberplate dealers and those who might want a specific plate for some other reason.

As I said earlier, I met a gentleman, Mr Eric Collins of Naracoorte, who has this 1929 Oakland—this is the photograph I sent to all members of this house. His father bought this car new in 1929, and it remains in original condition in every way, except for the numberplate. I have seen it, and I took that photograph. Mr Collins could not afford to go to the auction to purchase the numberplate when the ownership of the vehicle was transferred to his name, and the vehicle now has a most inappropriate modern numberplate. As I said, I have circulated the photograph to members, and you can see that it is a lovely car and you can see Mr Collins, who is a lovely man, but he obviously is not happy as he has the original plates in his hand.

The vintage and veteran car fraternity in South Australia comprises—and members would know this—over 100 clubs throughout the state, with over 10,000 members and affiliates. I have had personal contact and have liaised with all of these clubs regarding this issue. I have received much support for this amendment bill. I have presented a petition on behalf of many South Australian vintage car clubs supporting the proposition that cars be able to carry original registration plates without the burden of people having to go to auction to retain them if ownership is transferred or the vehicle is unregistered for a period of time.

I want to say here that I have not included hotrods and I have not included people who just want to keep family numbers; it has to be the vehicle with that number. You cannot just transfer a numberplate from car to car, as some people want to do. I have said no because it is going to be difficult enough to achieve this, and I do not want to complicate the issue any further. So, I have excluded deliberately hotrods and anything else, even though there are those who would love them to be included.

We really fostered the vintage car fraternity in South Australia with a wonderful historic vehicle registration process, which was brought in by the government, under minister Laidlaw, in 1994 or 1995. It has been hugely successful—so much so that it has been mirrored all over Australia now. Minister Conlon might say, 'Well, we're getting cheap registration.' All I can say is that, in this instance, I have about seven cars with historic registration, and in the last two years I have driven two of them. So, who is making the money? I registered them so that I have the opportunity to go down to the shed and get into them and take them for a drive. It is a pretty high price to pay, even at the historic registration rate.

To say that this is being abused, it is not. It can be abused. If someone is using a daily driver on historic registration, I can tell you that the clubs will find out and, when the club finds out, that member will be banned. It is up to the clubs themselves to keep an eye on that, and they do. They protect very tightly that privilege to be able to have historic registration.

The current legislation gives no consideration to the genuine car enthusiast wanting to keep the original numberplate with their historic vehicle. Authenticity is most important to vintage car enthusiast, and the numberplate, which is very visual on the front of the vehicle, is a vital component of its authenticity.

I did circulate this bill to members, and I do hope that members read it. Really, I do not think it will be a negative thing for the government's budget, because very few people in the vintage car fraternity are buying these numberplates at these exorbitant prices. Most of the people who do up these cars are ordinary, working-class people who have one car, which they have inherited from the family. It really gets up their nose that they have to pay three and a half thousand purely to get the numberplate that was on that car, which can be easily proven. To me, it is just not fair, and really it is just plain greedy.

I hope that members will see this is as being constructive and helpful. I know that all members would know various enthusiast within these clubs who are lovingly restoring a car. The final thing is to put it back on the road, and then they have to put a crappy white plate on the front; it looks grossly out of place. In the photograph, you will see that Mr Collins is holding in his hand the original numberplates, and they have put these crappy white plates on the car. It does not look right, and I do not think it is fair.

This bill has been a couple of years in the making, and I hope that the government will support it. I have not had any indication from the government at all whether they will or will not, and I did not want to push the issue. I hope that you will be fair because there is no politics in this. I hope fairness and equity will seize the day. I ask members to support the bill.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mrs Geraghty.