Mr DEAN ( Windermere ) - Mr President, I think at the time of the suspension I was referring to the pamphlet that was put out by the Tasmanian Motorcycle Council Incorporated. That was an initiative of that council and they provided, I think, some figures on the production of that document which, from memory, was $2 000 for about 10 000 copies of it, and that has had wide circulation. I want to refer to one or two points in it. When one reads through that document there are a number of issues that they refer to that would provide assistance to people motorcycling in this State. It is a very good pamphlet, in my view. It refers to speed, it refers to approach on certain roads, and I guess a good point in that pamphlet is that it identifies a number of roads and areas, and it identifies not just kilometres between those places but is expressed in time. I think that is a very good way to do it.
I was travelling in New Zealand recently, and others obviously have done that, too -

Mr Aird - A bit of travelling - Taiwan, New Zealand. It's a wonder you can stay in Launceston long enough to get a vote.

Mr DEAN - I did not say when that trip to New Zealand was, but it was interesting that everything there is expressed in hours. I looked at some distances between certain places and I would find out it was 100 kilometres but it would take two hours in time, and it was expressed as a two-hour trip. After I had traversed those areas, of course I realised then why it was a two-hour trip, up and down and around corners all the way. But that, to a motorcyclist, is a very handy pamphlet, I would suggest.
It is interesting that the Government will spend some of the funding provided through the $15 levy, as I understand it, on producing another pamphlet or a safety documentation, or whatever it might be. I understand it is going to be significantly more than the TMC have paid to put this pamphlet out. The TMC raised that with me and other members at the time when they spoke to us. They have some concerns about the levy; there would be an over-expenditure on the production of a pamphlet that would mirror a lot of the issues that they have put in theirs, and at a considerably higher cost, Mr President.
I want to refer to a couple of other points. I refer to this document, Motorcycle Safety Strategy 2005-06 , which all members would have. It is an interesting document, a very good document. I have read through it and it identifies where we are going and what we are doing. I read with interest the single-page document that came with it, and I refer to a couple of points there. I refer to the penultimate paragraph which reads:
'Implementation of the strategy and a range of safety measures will be funded through a $15 safety levy each year for five years, payable by fully licensed motorcyclists.'
It is a little presumptive, I would have thought, to say that it will be funded by this $15 levy that will be paid by motorcyclists. I think perhaps the Government has probably forgotten, in the production of that document, Mr President, that this Chamber has 10 independent members.

Mr Parkinson - Oh, you can't take that to be a slight on the Chamber.

Mr DEAN - I am simply saying that it will be a decision, I would suggest, of this Chamber. I do not know how they are likely to vote; it may well get up but I would have thought that was being a bit presumptive. I want to refer to this document, which is a good document; it clearly sets out a number of strategies, and I suspect other members have read that document.
I want to refer to the briefing that we were given yesterday. It was a good briefing and I thank the members for providing that to us, and I thank them also for providing a copy of the slides that were shown to us at that time. I did refer to the number of unregistered motorcycles that might now be on our roads, and I referred to that this morning. One of the comments made in this document is that there are more than three times the number of motorcycle licence-holders than there are registered motorcycles. That may well mean that there are a lot of dormant licences out there but I would suggest that it also may well identify that there are a lot of unregistered motorbikes out there as well, so it is not just dormant licences.

Mr Parkinson - But it is indicating the risk factor.

Mr DEAN - Yes. Another point that was made was the increase in the minimum age for getting a learner motorcycle licence from 16 to 17. When the TMC raised the issue with us I think they were opposed to that strategy. They are saying that they would like to see it remain at 16 years. They give a number of reasons for it and I am inclined to agree with the position that they take on this. At 16 years of age if a person wants to ride a motorcycle I think they are going to ride a motorcycle, and this may well cause a number of views. Sixteen is an age when they are going to college, to TAFE, where they are completing part-time work and a lot of those other things that they are currently doing and so a lot of young people would very much want a licence to ride a motorcycle at that age.

Mr Parkinson - It puts them in the same boat as motor vehicle drivers and again that is because of the risk factor.

Mr DEAN - I can understand that. I think in the previous 12 months - and perhaps the Government will supply these figures - there were 300 16-year-olds who either went for or got their licences and in that group, I understand, there were six accidents. I wonder what the situation will be if this strategy is enforced and it becomes 17 years of age. Will the statistics be any less than that - 300 and six accidents? I do not know the extent or the seriousness of those accidents but I would think it highly unlikely that the numbers of accidents would decrease with younger drivers.
I am not sure of the statistical data that relates to motor vehicles in relation to the younger age group but I know that the younger age group are involved in accidents and I think the statistics say something like in the first year of driving a motor vehicle you are more likely to have an accident than at any other time in your driving career.
The member for Wellington raised this this morning and it was also referred to in the briefing we were given yesterday, Mr President, and I will just read the comment here:
'However there does not appear to be widespread community opposition.'
I take it that that comment relates to widespread community opposition coming from only those who are riding motorcycles or is that comment attributed to right across the whole spectrum of people, whether they be motorcyclists and/or motor vehicle drivers?

Mr Parkinson - There has been very little opposition from motorcycle riders and none from non-motorcycle riders.

Mr DEAN - This is the point I made and I made it when you were speaking, Mr Deputy Leader. The TMC act for just about all motorcycle riders and owners in this State.

Mr Parkinson - There are a couple of motorcycle associations and the TMC is one of them.

Mr DEAN - Yes, but the TMC certainly cover a huge number of people who own motorcycles and who are involved in riding -
Mr Parkinson - Not everybody is a member.

Mr DEAN - and therefore they are saying that there is a lot of opposition to it.

Mr Parkinson - No, they are not. They accept the strategy. They have welcomed the strategy.

Mr DEAN - I did not think that they had welcomed that strategy.

Mr Aird - Yes, they have.

Ms Thorp - They just don't want to pay for it.

Mr DEAN - No, we are talking about the $15 levy. Let us get it straight.

Mr Aird - Yes, okay. You get it straight and then we will.

Ms Thorp - You get it straight and then we won't get confused.

Mr DEAN - I had it straight all the time. I am referring to the $15 levy.

Mr Aird - You might not have done it on purpose but inadvertently you said 'strategy' instead of 'levy'. We understand.

Mr DEAN - That is good and I just want to make it very clear, Mr Leader, that the TMC act for a huge number of bike owners and riders and they are saying there is huge opposition to the $15 levy.

Ms Thorp - It wouldn't come as a surprise to you, would it, that an organisation would turn around and say, 'We don't want to pay.'? It wouldn't be the first time it has happened in life. 'We like your idea but we don't want to pay,' and this is the bottom line.

Mr DEAN - It would come as some surprise because these people are very much in support of these road safety strategies.

Mr Parkinson - They just want somebody else to pay for it.

Ms Thorp - Exactly.

Mr DEAN - They approve of it. They agree with it.

Ms Thorp - They probably want to take it out of dentistry.

Mr DEAN - You say they just do not want to pay for it, but I have already referred to that pamphlet which is a road safety strategy which the TMC took the money out of their own coffers to pay for and they are distributing it. You cannot say that the motorbike riders out there just do not want to pay or cough up anything for these road safety strategies. They do, and they have already proven that by the production of this document and the circulation of it, so it is not quite right and fair to say that, in my opinion.

Mr Harriss - Eighty per cent of the expenditure is just going to go into government processes, for goodness' sake, not anything to do with the strategy.
Mr Parkinson - No, that is not right. It will go to fund the strategy.

Ms Thorp - Where do you get this from?

Mr Harriss - It is your own information. Don't you read it?

Mr DEAN - I think the member for Huon raised the specific-purpose levies and I note in the briefing yesterday it was identified to us that specific purpose levies are paid by other organisations, Mr President, and this document identifies the number here. It has given a number of examples including the Victorian motorcycle safety levy - we heard about that, we know about that; the Tasmanian building and construction training fund levy, the Tasmanian private forest services levy, and the Tasmanian fishing industry levies. It is interesting that I do not see any levy being paid by any other member of the motoring public.

Mr Parkinson - This is a special strategy for a special group at high risk.

Mr DEAN - Do we not have special strategies in place for motor vehicle drivers?

Mr Parkinson - Too many of them are dying. Too many of them are suffering severe injuries and we want to knock it down. It is going to cost money to knock it down.

Mr Harriss - And you've got ESIF.

Mr Aird - Don't be stupid.

Mr Harriss - You have. That's not stupid. You know it's a social program and you can implement it tomorrow.

Mr Aird - You are being absolutely irresponsible.

Mr Harriss - No, that's not correct and you know it's not. You are being irresponsible.

Mr Aird - No, you are.

Mr PRESIDENT - Order. The honourable member for Windermere has the call.

Mr DEAN - Thank you, Mr President.

Mr Parkinson - What price for a life?

Mr PRESIDENT - Order. There will be no exchange across the Chamber.

Mr Parkinson - Through you, Mr President - what price for a life?

Mr DEAN - What price for a life? There is no price for a life as far as I am concerned.

Mr Parkinson - Well, some people in here, Mr President, are apparently putting $15 on the value of a life.

Mr DEAN - No, we are not. I am saying at this time, and I am still to listen to any other speakers, that this is a strategy that should be picked up by this Government. What I am saying is that a specific group should not be identified or picked out, as it were, to pay the safety levy. It is not imposed on other members of the motoring public.

Mr Parkinson - But it is targeted at a specific group.

Mr DEAN - Of course it is targeted at a specific group, as are some of the strategies that are in place for those who drive motor cars, who drive trucks. For instance, speed limits on trucks are reduced to that of some other road users and so on, but do they contribute to that? No, they do not.

Mr Parkinson - I think you will find they do.

Mr DEAN - I do not think they do.

Mr Parkinson - Through registrations and -

Mr DEAN - Of course they pay huge registrations, but so do motorcyclists. Motorcyclists pay huge registrations as well.
I had an issue raised with me during the lunch break in relation to these - and I have to get the terminology right here too; I got the motor scooter part right - but there are other little trikes now, zipping around on our streets with little electric motors in them. I understand they do not have to be registered at this stage because the engine capacity is not of the equivalent amount to warrant it. But it will be interesting to see where we go with that because there are a number of those little scooter things, the ones with a little electric motor in them, zipping around the streets all over the place and I can see again, with the way costs are going with fuel, that the use of those -

Mr Aird - It has been deemed nationally as part of the overall national road strategy not to register them or in fact have licensed riders.

Mr DEAN - I mentioned earlier, Mr President, that the cost currently to get a motorcycle licence is about $560 - that is if everything goes okay - and if one compares that with the cost of getting a motor vehicle licence, the cost can be as low as about $90 to $100 to get a motor vehicle licence, so there is a huge discrepancy between the ability to get a licence to drive a motor vehicle as compared with that to get a licence to ride a motorcycle. But it is interesting when we talk about engine capacities and sizes that, as I understand it, the law still identifies that a motor vehicle licence-holder as a learner driver or as a provisional licence-holder can get into any vehicle of any size and drive that vehicle.

Ms Thorp - And your point is?

Mr DEAN - My point is very clearly this: our road safety strategies ought to be going further than just concentrating on the motorcyclists at this stage, and we ought to also be looking at learner drivers and provisional licence-holders in the area of motor vehicles as well.

Mr Parkinson - We are; there is a whole strategy.

Mr DEAN - Concentrating on motorcyclists -

Ms Thorp - Through you, Mr President - there are well worked out, long-established, highly researched procedures involved in trying to eliminate the number of accidents with vehicles. I do not know if you are aware of the work of the Menzies Centre's Injuries Prevention Unit, but for a long time it has been identified that this is a specialised, isolated group that experiences incredible levels of fatalities when there are accidents. Something like one in 10 serious motorcycle accidents result in a fatality. If the members in this place cannot see that that deserves some particular attention, I am gobsmacked.

Mr DEAN - It certainly does, and I have not heard anybody in the second reading debate argue against the strategies, and one would be very foolish to do so, and I certainly have not done that. I am saying I strongly support the Government's position here that we need these further road safety strategies for motorcyclists. I support that.

Ms Thorp - Good; I hope to see you vote the right way.

Mr DEAN - From my previous background and position, of course I would support it. Why would I not support it?
I want to finally say this, Mr President. If this does not get up here today, I would hate to see a headline in the paper tomorrow saying, 'MLCs don't care about motorcycle safety'.

Ms Thorp - Then I suspect you shouldn't talk to the people over in that corner because we do not control that.

Mr DEAN - I just make that comment, Mr President, in conclusion, because they do. I certainly support the Motor Cycle Safety Strategy and I commend the people involved in putting all of this together, but I just do have concerns with the $15 levy. The other members of the Labor Party here will obviously speak on this bill and be able to give me some more direction in relation to the way I should see it, Mr President.