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| Mr McCARTHY (Transport): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill now be read a second time. The bill I introduce today will implement another important measure under the government’s strategy of Building Safer Communities. During 2008, the government introduced a range of initiatives aimed at increasing the safety of Territory road users. These included introduction of drug-driving penalties, public transport passenger safety legislation, alcohol ignition lock legislation, and greater emphasises on road safety education in remote areas. However, it is apparent with our rising road toll that not people are getting the message, and our young people are particularly at risk. The incidence of antisocial driving, or hooning as it is most commonly known, has being recognised as a significant concern for all Australian state and territory governments. The recent review undertaken clearly identified that the demographics most likely to be involved in hoon driving behaviour are young males between 17 and 26 years of age. In this House, we have also heard calls to increase the penalties for those who carry out this behaviour. Recent figures from police indicate that, between the commencement of the anti-hooning legislation in November 2004 and the end of December 2008, 391 infringement notices have been issued and three vehicles have been impounded for 48 hours. Of these, approximately 27% of all persons apprehended for hooning offences were aged between 16 and 20 years, and approximately 35% of people apprehended were 21 to 25 years old. We have heeded these calls and now introduce legislation that delivers harsher penalties to those people who continue to hoon and present a danger to others on the road. This bill provides additional powers to police, including: ● the power to immediately impound or immobilise an offender’s vehicle for 48 hours when they commit an offence; ● allowing police to act on a written complaint from a member of the public and impound a vehicle for 48 hours and issue a traffic infringement notice; ● the provision of a court imposed penalty of a minimum of three months impoundment to a maximum of six months when a person found has been guilty of a second offence within a two year period. ● a provision for the court to order the forfeiture of a vehicle upon the conviction of a third offence when a person has been found guilty of a third offence within two years of the first offence. If the court believes that severe hardship will be caused by the forfeiture of the vehicle, it can, in lieu of forfeiture, order a minimum of three months impoundment to a maximum of six months if it is satisfied that the hardship will not be severe if the offender is only temporarily deprived of the use of their vehicle. Under the Sentencing Act, the court also has the option to impose a community work order to adult offenders if it considers impoundment would also cause severe hardship. ● making offenders responsible for all costs associated with the removal, transport and storage of their impounded or immobilised vehicle, whether it is a result of a police action or a court imposed penalty; ● a process of review by senior police officers of a 48 hour impoundment direction to ensure the grounds to impoundment are sound; ● providing for a vehicle to be immobilised by wheel clamping or some other means as an alternative to storing the vehicle in a secure yard; ● allowing orders for vehicle impoundment or forfeiture to be made by the Court of Summary Jurisdiction as part of the sentencing process rather than requiring a separate civil application to be made to the local court; ● making it an offence to sell, strip or otherwise dispose of a vehicle used in a prescribed driving offence before an impoundment or forfeiture order is made by the court; ● authorising police to direct anyone responsible for excessive noise associated with the use of a vehicle, be it engine noise or the car stereo, to immediately abate that noise; ● creating an offence for failing to comply with a noise abatement direction that can be dealt with by way of a $200 traffic infringement notice; and ● preventing the Registrar of Motor Vehicles from cancelling or transferring the registration of a vehicle that has been used by an offender to commit a second or subsequent prescribed hooning offence, pending the offender being charged and the hearing of that charge so that the vehicle cannot be disposed of before the court can consider an application for an impoundment, immobilisation or forfeiture order. Providing police with the ability to immediately impound a vehicle for 48 hours without having to apply for a court order will mean that offenders will pay for the consequences of their actions at the time they commit the offence. While the period is not lengthy, it does cause inconvenience and, in addition to being deprived of their vehicle, the offender will also have to meet the costs associated with the impounding. The additional court-imposed penalties of between three and six months impoundment for a second offence, and forfeiture for a third offence within two years, also strengthens the regime for dealing with these types of offences. Transition provisions have been included to make it clear that prescribed hooning offences, committed before the legislation comes into force, will be taken into account when determining whether an offence committed after the legislation commences is a second or subsequent offence. This bill delivers on this government’s commitment to increase the penalties for hoon driving behaviour. It ensures that a person who repeatedly abuses their driving privileges pays the price. It targets young people, currently over-represented in our road toll, and makes the roads safer for us all. I commend the bill to honourable members. Debate adjourned. |