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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-02-02 Daily Xml
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South Eastern Freeway Expiation Notices

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:31): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Treasurer representing the police minister and the transport minister about the fate of speeding fines and prosecutions on a section of the South Eastern Freeway, from Crafers to the Toll Gate.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: As many are aware, from May 2019 new laws introduced by the previous Labor government came into effect on that stretch, following an inquest into a deadly crash involving a small truck and several cars at the bottom of the freeway. This bad piece of legislation has had enormous and devastating consequences. Hundreds of unsuspecting drivers of small trucks and commuter buses over 4.5 tonnes that were never intended by the Coroner to be covered by this harsh law were caught by speed detection cameras and hit with huge fines and automatic suspensions of licence of six months, or face 12 months if they chose to be prosecuted in court, where there no longer was judicial discretion.

One driver, Mr George Bobos, was caught four times in a day and stood to lose his licence for up to eight years. Another business operator, Mr Dallas Coull, was to pay a $25,000 fine for one of his drivers to avoid a licence loss. SA-Best introduced legislation to remove harsher aspects that were amended by the then transport minister, Stephan Knoll, in late 2019, who, with SAPOL, refused to make the changes retrospective because it was too hard. The police commissioner also had discretion to waive these fines, yet, despite many representations, he chose not to exercise it. Police have withdrawn more than 200 fines, while suspending others pending further inquiry, because most of them had already passed the time limit for prosecution.

The Legislative Council last year passed another of my amendments to that legislation to remove small buses of under 14 seats from the law as well as to return judicial discretion. It now sits in the other place and I urge the transport minister to seriously consider it as a matter of priority. The reason for that is that it has now come to my attention that, one week out from the first trial to challenge the fines and test the controversial law, SAPOL is contacting the lawyers of dozens of drivers prepared to contest the matter in court, telling them that charges are being dropped and that they will pay costs. One of the lawyers is Karen Stanley, who has an imposing track record in successfully challenging traffic matters. SAPOL has not disclosed the reasons for the discontinuance of all charges.

The PRESIDENT: The member ought to bring this to a conclusion.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: Mr President, I am getting to that. This is an embarrassing mess, and my questions to the—

The PRESIDENT: I would be grateful if you can keep opinion out of it and I ask you to bring it to a conclusion soon.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: I'm bringing it to the conclusion, Mr President. Thank you for the indulgence. My questions to ministers Tarzia and Wingard are:

1. For what reason is SAPOL discontinuing all charges before the court?

2. Does this have anything to do with the recent decision of Woolmer v Police, where the Supreme Court found that the red-light cameras had not been tested in compliance with statutory requirements?

3. Do the cameras on the South Eastern Freeway comply with statutory requirements?

4. Will SAPOL now consider refunds to those who have already paid fines and returned licences for those currently under suspension?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:35): I am very happy to refer those questions and the very considerable explanation to the ministers and bring back a reply.

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