Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches

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TRAFFIC AMENDMENT BILL (NO. 2) 2003

(This an uncorrected proof of the daily report. It is made available under the condition that it is recognised as such.)

Bill presented and read a first time.

Mr VATSKALIS (Transport and Infrastructure): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.

The principal purpose of this bill is to amend the Traffic Act so that certificates relating to blood alcohol levels can be used as evidence in proceedings under section 154 of the Criminal Code Act for dangerous acts or omissions, and to convert the designation of all penalties under the Traffic Act from dollars to penalty units. There are also some minor amendments to other sections of the Traffic Act, and I will address each of these amendments respectively.

Section 154 of the Criminal Code creates the offence of doing a dangerous act or making a dangerous omission. Subsection (4) provides:

If at the time of doing or making such an act or omission he is under the influence of an intoxicating substance he is liable to further imprisonment for four years.

The thrust of this is that dangerous act charges are, as often as not, accompanied by a circumstance of aggravation provided by subsection (4). Frequently, section 154 cases arise from the driving of a motor vehicle on a public street, although the charge is used in a wide variety of circumstances. In a motor vehicle context, a charge under section 154 is at the upper end of the scale and includes driving without due care and attention and driving in a manner dangerous. Often, this offence is overlapped by various drink-driving offences created under the Traffic Act.

Part V of the Traffic Act provides police with comprehensive powers to obtain evidence in drink-driving cases by way of breath analysis or blood test. Part V also provides for that evidence, if properly collected and subject to safeguards, to be presented in court by way of certificate. The difficulty is that Part V only applies to drink-driving offences under the Traffic Act; it does not apply to section 154 offences and the certificate procedure cannot be used. Given the important role of section 154 in the administration of justice in the Northern Territory, this gap occasionally creates a loophole for what are, in fact, the most serious cases. This amendment will allow certificates relating to blood alcohol levels to be used as evidence in any proceedings in a court, and this includes an offence under section 154 of the Criminal Code. There is also a consequential amendment to section 28 consistent with the amendment to section 27.

A new section 29A is added to allow the certificate procedure to apply equally to committal proceedings. A new section 23(2A) has been added to create an offence where a person fails to comply with a direction given by a member of the police force to stop their motor vehicle for the purpose of either undergoing a breath test, breath analysis or both.

The amendment to convert the prescribed penalties under the Traffic Act from dollars to penalty units will allow the Penalty Units Act to apply with the consequence that future reviews of monetary penalties can be implemented in a relatively simple way.

The next amendment I will address is the reference to the operator of the motor vehicle. Under the Motor Vehicles Act, the owner of a motor vehicle can nominate a person to operate that vehicle. This ability to nominate an operator is not confined to heavy vehicles; however, the majority of nominations come from the owners of heavy vehicles. If an offence under the Traffic Act is committed by the operator, this amendment will clearly identify the nominated operator as the offender and not the owner, but only where the owner has taken the step to nominate the person to be the operator of his or her vehicle.

The final amendment is a relatively minor one. Under the Traffic Act an unregistered motor vehicle is deemed to be registered in certain circumstances. To use one situation, if an unregistered motor vehicle is driven by the shortest practicable route to the nearest office of the Registrar or police station for the purpose of registration, it shall be deemed to be registered. The simple fact is that in most cases, it is safer and more convenient for a driver to travel to a repair workshop that is in close proximity to his or her residence than it is to travel to a police station or an office of the Registrar. You only need to consider how this currently affects some of our remote communities to understand the difficulties faced by motorists who may be forced to travel long distances to a police station or office of the Registrar to have the vehicle inspected, when a repair workshop may be much closer. Quite frankly, most police stations are ill equipped to conduct inspections on motor vehicles in the first instance.

This amendment will allow the deeming provisions of section 33 to apply, provided strict conditions are met. I must emphasise that the unregistered motor vehicle must be driven by the shortest, most practical route to a repair workshop; the repair workshop must also be located within a reasonable distance in the circumstances; the repair workshop must have the services of an inspector appointed under the Motor Vehicles Act; and some prior arrangement for the presentation of the vehicle must have been made.

Madam Speaker, I commend the bill to honourable members.

Debate adjourned.

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