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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-02-03 Daily Xml
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AUSTRALIAN ROAD RULES

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:46): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Road Safety a question about changes to the Australian Road Rules.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The minister claimed that a press release was flagged to publicise 99 changes to the Australian Road Rules gazetted on 25 September 2008. However, she said publicly that the press release was overlooked. When asked in the media for a reason, she said, 'For whatever reason.' The minister allowed the department to take the rap. However, in the week prior to the gazettal, and in the week after the gazettal, the minister remembered to issue several good news releases.

For example, on 18 September, the minister remembered to announce the graduation of 22 new correctional services officers; on 23 September, the minister remembered to announce 1.7 kilometres of fencing on Port Wakefield Road; and, on 1 October, the minister remembered to announce a new footbridge in Athelstone. On the other hand, perhaps the minister was distracted by some bad news at this time. The day before the changes were gazetted, a Newspoll survey was released that showed that Liberal support was up 5 per cent and that a record 45 per cent of South Australian voters were dissatisfied with Premier Rann. My questions are:

1. Did the minister or the minister's office receive a draft press release on the 99 changes to the Australian Road Rules prepared by the Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure?

2. Was the act or omission that led to the press release not being issued an act or omission of the minister or of her office?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Gambling, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:47): I am just embarrassed for the honourable member opposite. As I have been reminded, members opposite claimed victory before they actually knew the results. It is one thing for our daily newspaper (and we have only one in South Australia) to selectively quote from an interview, and it is certainly another for the honourable member to stand up in this place and also selectively quote and not say the rest of what he obviously read, when I said 'For whatever reason'. I am the minister, and I take responsibility. I need to place that on the record. He is obviously being mischievous—

An honourable member: Again.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: Again, yes—and I do not think that is appropriate. As I have said in all my interviews, 'For whatever reason, this oversight occurred. I am the minister, and I take responsibility.'

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: There are some in this chamber who may be interested in the Australian Road Rules and how they have come about, and I think it is important that the member who asked the question should know. The Australian Road Rules came about in 1999, and the custodian of the Australian Road Rules is the National Transport Commission.

There is a very firm process whereby states send representatives, and we send two: one from SAPOL and one from the Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure. The rules are maintained on a regular basis, and the committee involved is the Australian Road Rules Maintenance Group. As I said, it meets on a regular basis and changes, variations, modifications and sometimes new rules are brought to its attention (usually by SAPOL) because of experience in each state and sometimes because of judicial decisions that are made and the road rules need to be changed.

The road rules in question are part of the fifth and sixth package and, out of that package, I and ministers before me have pulled out the very significant ones we want to publicise to change the behaviour of the public. They are significant. For example, out of that package, we pulled out the responsibility of drivers to ensure that their adult passengers put on a seat belt; and we pulled out the issue of the mobile phone (and what better example in South Australia?) to ensure that people understand, and we have had to further clarify that matter since then. As minister, I went down the path of consulting all my federal colleagues, and we subsequently updated that rule, and we will very soon see the other states follow suit. I give those as examples of significant changes that have to be brought to the public's attention.

I will give the chamber another example I think is incredibly important, namely, the rule in relation to child restraints. With the seventh package, which is yet to be introduced, last year I joined with the RAA and we publicised the fact that in the second half of this year we will bring in new regulations that will see children restrained by age-appropriate sized restraints.

So, was I provided with a press release? As I said, for whatever reason it happened, I take responsibility. If the honourable member specifically wants me to answer that, the answer, of course, is no, because I do not lie. Even though people opposite might imply that, I do not lie. So, if I could go back to the road rules, these were minor variations, minor clarifications and minor modifications. Some of them apply to our state; some do not.

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