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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-03-24 Daily Xml
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SPOONER, MR NEIL

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland—Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister Assisting the Premier with South Australia's Strategic Plan) (14:03): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: I rise today to update the house on the matter of Mr Neil Spooner. Members will be aware of the circumstances in which Mr Daniel Raphael was tragically killed in a motor vehicle collision involving Mr Spooner on 1 June 2006. The unusual circumstances of this case understandably attracted considerable public interest and reaction, and, accordingly, I believe it appropriate to inform the house of further developments in this matter.

Following the incident, the Deputy Registrar of Motor Vehicles assessed Mr Spooner's fitness to drive and advised that he continued to meet all legal requirements to hold a conditional car class driver's licence. However, the Deputy Registrar of Motor Vehicles subsequently reviewed Mr Spooner's medical condition under the commercial standard, as empowered in the revised medical standards contained in the Gazette dated September 2010, and also considered Mr Spooner's driving and crash records.

As a result of that review, the Deputy Registrar imposed additional conditions on Mr Spooner's conditional licence, prohibiting him from driving between sunset and sunrise and restricting him from incurring any more than one demerit point. Mr Spooner applied for a review of the decision to impose these conditions on his licence, and the application was referred to the review committee as provided for in part 3E of the Motor Vehicles Act 1959.

I can advise the house that the review committee has set aside the decision of the Deputy Registrar to issue Mr Spooner a conditional driver's licence and has made the decision to permanently cancel his driver's licence under section 82 of the Motor Vehicles Act 1959.

Last night I spoke to Daniel Raphael's family to inform them of the review committee's decision which will take effect on 6 April 2011. Under section 98ZA of the Motor Vehicles Act 1959, Mr Spooner has the right to appeal the decision of the review committee to the District Court. On 8 February 2011, the State Coroner commenced an inquiry into the death of Mr Raphael. The Coroner has not yet reported on this matter. I do not intend to comment further on this in light of Mr Spooner's right to appeal this decision.

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