Driving Offences

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (14:57): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, representing the Minister for Road Safety, a question regarding driving offences and associated fines in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: A Family First survey of commonly incurred driving offence penalties—such as speeding, failing to wear a seatbelt, running a red light, etc.—revealed that South Australian motorists pay some of the highest fines for exactly the same offence anywhere in the country. Indeed, in most cases it was the highest fine. For offences between 10 and 29 km/h over the speed limit, our drivers pay the highest fine in the country. For instance, driving between 20 and 24 km/h over the speed limit costs South Australian drivers $620 but just $150 in Tasmania. The fine for running a red light is the highest in the nation as well, at $416 compared to $140 in Tasmania and $150 in Western Australia.

Another significant finding from the survey we conducted was that if the government's proposed change to driving unregistered to a $1,000 penalty and driving uninsured to $1,500 goes ahead, we will have by far the highest penalties for those offences as well. The combined $2,500 penalty for the two offences stands in stark contrast to the $400 penalty in Tasmania and $560 in Queensland for exactly the same offence.

The state government's proposed increase in penalties for these offences has an unclear status, with the government planning to go ahead late last year but then, after driver protest and media attention in the shadow of the election in March, the government declared that this increase was under review. My questions are:

1. What road safety research does the government possess to confirm that having the highest penalties in the nation for these offences actually saves lives and improves road safety? Why should we pay more for the same offences than interstate, when clearly those states are also focused on road safety?

2. Is there any correlation between the fact that the offences I have listed are all the offences that can be picked up by camera in an automatic setting rather than by resource-demanding active policing—that is, a police officer pulling over a driver?

3. Importantly, can the minister confirm for the motoring public the official government position on the status of the offence of driving unregistered and uninsured, given that the review that was promised should be completed by now?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (15:00): I thank the honourable member for his most important question and will refer it to the appropriate minister in another place and bring back a response.