Bills

Motor Vehicles (Number Plates) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 30 August 2023.)

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (10:35): The government opposes this measure by the member for Narungga for reasons I want to articulate to the house, if I may. I understand what the member for Narungga is attempting to do. A number of people feel very nostalgic about their black numeric numberplates. They also have a value. What, in effect, this bill is doing is creating a property value for people who have paid no consideration to the government for these plates. There are a number of people who have bought at auction numeric plates who, for all intents and purposes, own a freehold right on these plates.

For the government, through this legislation, to then award these people the plates, simply by purpose of registration or expired registration on their vehicles without paying a value for them or a market value for them, would be inherently unfair on people who have bought them at auction for considerable amounts of money.

I am not sure how much of the house follows the media, but you would have seen recently that the number 8 has become available. That will fetch, in my opinion, well past $1 million in value. This legislation would give people who have paid no consideration for these numeric plates a property right that automatically gives them a dramatic windfall gain. These plates are the property of the people of South Australia. They are not the property of the people who have registered their motor vehicles or had them registered on their motor vehicle. They were simply assigned these numbers; they have not purchased them.

I know it is difficult and I know what the member for Narungga is attempting to do. I have tried to find a way through this. This is a very difficult situation. I know former ministers have tried to look at this. One aspect that I did think of doing was having a range of auctions for all categories of numeric plates, from single digit, double digit, three digits, four digits, five digits, up to six digits, working out the average cost of those plates and then offering people who wished to have them, who have had them on their vehicles, to pay the average market value for those plates.

That would be unfair because it would not be put to the test at an auction where someone else might have an affinity to that number. So I do not know a way through this other than to say these are owned by the people of South Australia and they should be auctioned in a free contest to allow people to purchase them as they see fit. I know it is emotive. I thank the member for Narungga for bringing this to the attention of the house, but the government cannot support it.

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (10:38): I would like to start by thanking the government for forming a position on this bill and, in so doing, I acknowledge what the minister has said. The earnestness with which he has attempted to solve the problem has been appreciated. Likewise, before him, we had meetings with previous ministers from a former government who also appeared willing to solve the problem but were unable to find a means by which they could do so. I thank the minister and would like for the Hansard to show that he has considered this issue with an earnestness to endeavour to try to solve the problem but, as it currently stands, has been unable to chart a course through that.

I sincerely hope that as we progress forward, the government will continue to consider this issue and, hopefully, come up with a way in which they are able to grant those people who go to great lengths to restore historic cars the ability to purchase or procure the numberplate with which that car is associated. That is to say that a car that can be proven to have had an original numberplate might have easier access to that numberplate so as to maximise the historical value of that car.

I think in this case, in my personal view—and it does not appear to be the majority view of this parliament—the historical value of those numberplates and the restoration of that car should outweigh the benefits that the state receives by selling what have become quite valuable numberplates to private citizens. I hope that there will continue to be work done on this issue. I hope that there will be an answer soon for those people in my electorate and around the state who confront this issue in trying to restore historical cars, and I hope that we will be able to make it easier for them to access them.

Before I finish closing the debate, I want to bring particular attention to one constituent of mine from whom this idea originated. I have talked about him in this place before. Peter Donaldson has owned a family truck for generations. He has a 1964 tipper truck that has never left his family's possession and has been on his family's farm for the entirety of its life with that same numberplate attached to it. It is a six-digit black-and-white numberplate, number 506129. Unfortunately, when Peter's parents passed on and they bequeathed to him in their will that truck and that numberplate and he then tried to register it in his name as a result of that bequeathment, he was unable to do so. Service SA prevented him from doing so and asked that he register it with a new numberplate.

That truck has been on their farm for the entirety of its life, that numberplate has been attached to that truck for the entirety of its life and it was the subject of a will that bequeathed it to Peter, but somehow he is unable to attach it to that truck for the next part of its registered life. I find that tremendously disappointing.

That is one of the problems that I have attempted to solve with this bill. I know it might not be perfect, but I had hope that we might be able to amend and alter it to find a workable solution. Alas, that does not appear to be the case. I hope that people like Peter, in a situation as I have just outlined where they physically have the truck and physically have the numberplate but are not permitted to re-register that truck, might be able to have that problem solved in the future.

Making it all the more painful for Peter is the fact that, at the same time in the same will, he was bequeathed a different car. This was a 1966 Ford sedan with the same black-and-white six-digit numberplate of 592156. He was able to transfer that numberplate to his ownership for $200. So on the one hand we have this 1964 tipper truck on the farm with a numberplate attached, but he is unable to register that numberplate in his name despite it being bequeathed to him in a will, and on the other hand we have this Ford sedan from 1966 with the same numberplate and he was able to transfer it for a mere $200.

So we have these two situations which are difficult to reconcile, and I do not quite understand the finer details of why one was able to be done and the other was not, but I would like to think that there is a solution to allow Peter to keep that numberplate on that truck so that he can continue to use it as it has been used for the entirety of its life on his farm. He has proven ownership of the truck and plate over generations, actual possession of both and evidence of the testament to documentation of its bequeathment that Peter can point to.

Here is hoping—I will continue to take up Peter's issue even after this bill fails today. I do intend to call a divide for the purposes of completeness, but I would like to reiterate my thanks once again to the minister for the earnestness with which he entered into his attempt to try to find a solution that was workable for Peter and the other constituents for whom I have been trying to advocate.

The house divided on the second reading:

Ayes 13

Noes 23

Majority 10

AYES

NOES

PAIRS

Second reading thus negatived.