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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-11-23 Daily Xml
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LABOR GOVERNMENT

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (15:31): We stand here, as members of parliament, not representing the government or the opposition, not the Greens, not Liberal or Labor. We stand here, we vote here, as representatives of South Australia—its people, environment, values and aspirations. People are diverse and have a range of opinions—belief in God or gods, corporations or unions, socialism or capitalism, or in Kevin Foley's heartless, gutless, reprehensible 'rack 'em, pack 'em and stack 'em' policy for people who have been sent to gaol.

It is actually easy to break the law. There was a driver in the South-East whose car had passed its roadworthy test one day, but the next day he was fined and given demerit points on the very same car, which had not been touched or changed in any way, because the police found a reason to declare it defective. Luckily, this man had the resources to pay his fine, otherwise he would have gone to gaol—racked, packed and stacked in Labor's South Australia.

An elderly man was fined hundreds of dollars because the seatbelt in his sedan was frayed. A woman was fined hundreds of dollars because the lens on her rear indicator had faded. A farmer was fined because his car had a muddy numberplate. This was in country South Australia during one of the wettest winters in recent history.

In a blitz on common sense, the Labor government made almost $1 million in fines on South Australian country roads during Operation Rural Focus late last year. Police from Adelaide and other areas late last year descended en masse on Yorke Peninsula, the Riverland, South-East and other parts of rural South Australia. One woman was fined for having an unsecured load on her back seat. She had been shopping. It was some groceries. The operation destroyed the culture of trust and respect that people have in the bush for our South Australian police.

I am not blaming the police. The police commissioner himself, appearing before a parliamentary committee, admitted he was not satisfied with the outcome. He was not comfortable with the zero tolerance approach. Police have targets they have to reach. They are not targets which cut the number of crashes. Their targets are growing the number of drivers they have to arrest and fine.

Operation Rural Focus was a government plan using police to raise money. Figures obtained under freedom of information reveal that nearly 3,000 country people were nabbed in this million-dollar sting. Cabinet wants to raise an extra $44.8 million over three years in speeding fines. It needs motorists to break the law to meet that target.

The Sustainable Budget Commission, which has no role in road safety, recommended that Labor make still more money from expiation notices. Not many South Australians know it, but police get a proportion of the fines they collect. South Australians who we, in parliament, represent paid more than half a billion dollars in fines since Labor stole office in 2002. South Australian police were allowed to keep more than half of this—$260 million. Labor is addicted to the revenue from traffic fines.

There is a financial disincentive for the Labor government to make road safety a priority. At the same time, the government is neglecting rural roads. Some country roads are so badly maintained they will soon be beyond repair and will need complete reconstruction. Labor's cut to the speed limits in regional South Australia is a consequence of its own mismanagement—a direct result of Labor's backlog in road maintenance and safety improvements.

We have had a very sensible 100 km/h speed limit since before some ministers in Labor's cabinet even had a driver's licence. Our state road network is deteriorating to such an extent that it is no longer safe to drive at a speed that was perfectly legal to do 20 years ago.

Former Barossa road safety committee member Kim Michelmore says that many crashes in his area are caused by the lack of infrastructure, guards, guard rails and barriers. For real road safety we need safe roads, attractive rest areas and driver education. I have seen good suggestions for road safety education to be brought in across the whole curriculum, starting from preschool right through to year 12, culminating in practical driving.

The government wants people to break the law. The opposition wants a more sensible approach. We would like to see the number of expiations fall through people sticking to the road rules. I am reminded of the words of Benjamin Franklin, 'The strictest law sometimes becomes the severest injustice.' As members of parliament, we have a duty to the people who employ us, who pay our salary; that is, every South Australian. We need them to respect the law, to respect the police and to respect the lawmakers; that is us, every one of us in this parliament.

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