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RIDERS WIN!
A bit of cheerful news from the far side of the world!
Tasmania is the southern island state of Australia. What is below here was addressed to our locals.
Guy Stanford
Chairman
Motorcycle Council of NSW
www.mccofnsw.org.au
The Tasmanian Government has proposed that every motorcycle license holder in the state be charged a levy of $15 per year to pay for implementation of the Tasmanian Motorcycle Safety Strategy.
The Rider Levy Bill passed through the lower House of Tasmania on the party numbers that control the lower house, albeit with some savage debate.
Today, Thursday 13 October 2005, the Upper House defeated the Bill.
The Tasmanian Levy is dead. Social justice is alive in the Tasmanian Upper House.
We heartily applaud the Tasmanian Opposition!
Congratulations to the Tasmanian Motorcycle Council and Motorcycle Riders Association of Tasmania for lobbying, preparation of briefings and credible representation to government. Job well done.
Hobart Mercury story : http://tinyurl.com/aev7w
No other road user group in Australia is required to pay a levy for basic road safety programs. We don't charge pedestrians a levy to change the light bulbs in the "Don't Walk" signs, or charge bicycles a levy for the cycleways, or charge trucks a levy for the signs to tell them to not use a particular street. But hey, this didn't stop the Tasmanian Minister for Transport, Brian Green from ambushing Tasmanian motorcycle riders.
Tasmanian motorcyclists, working through the Tasmanian Motorcycle Council (TMC) and the Motorcycle Riders Association of Tasmania (MRATas) developed a safety strategy in conjunction with the DIER (Govt body that deals with road safety).
It's a good basic strategy, even if it only targets motorcycle riders and fails to include any motorcycle awareness programs directed to other road users. A complete absence of ANY motorcycle safety programs in Tasmania was ready to be addressed.
Riders were shocked when the Minister for Transport, Brian Green told them that the Strategy would not be implemented unless they paid for it. Minister Green then introduced legislation that would allow the Tasmanian Government to extract $15 from every rider in Tasmania.
This would have set a dangerous precedent, singling out one road user group to pay for their own safety programs.
Passage of the Tasmanian Motorcycle Levy through parliament may be followed by reading Hansard.
The mechanism here is instructive to all involved in motorcycle lobbying.
The Tasmanian Minister for Transport, instructs that legislation be drawn up that permits the government to charge every holder of a Tasmanian motorcycle license, an annual fee of $15 in addition to normal license fees.
This proposed legislation was called the "VEHICLE AND TRAFFIC AMENDMENT (MOTOR CYCLE SAFETY LEVY) BILL 2005 No. 46) " First it went to the Lower House and copped a fair shellacking from the Opposition parties who spotted the unfairness and identified the ambushing of the TMC and MRATas. Some excellent political gamesmanship by the opposition prevented the legislation from going to vote, thus allowing more time for House members to research and review the issue.
Thursday 25 August 2005 http://www.hansard.parliament.tas.gov.au/isysquery/irl295f/2/doc
When Parliament resumed, the debate was incomplete. Further information showed the Government was planning to use the rider levy to pay for administration, not for actual safety programs. The Bill passed, on the numbers controlled by the Tasmanian Labour government.
http://www.hansard.parliament.tas.gov.au/isysquery/irl295f/1/doc Then it had to be passed by the Upper House, in
Tasmania called the Legislative Council. This is the "house of review" that finally determines whether legislation approved in the Lower House will actually be approved and made law.
Thursday 13 October 2005 http://www.hansard.parliament.tas.gov.au/isysquery/irl2974/1/doc
At the time of writing, the afternoon Hansard has not been posted to the Tas Parliament website, but will be added in due course later today or tomorrow.
That's what Upper Houses are for (Like the Senate and Legislative Councils at a State level) Just goes to show that you need a check and balance to keep the government in line from time to time.
Queensland abolished its Upper House in 1922 and Victoria had a system that meant that meant that basically, whoever won the lower house won the upper house as well- which is pretty pointless.
Tasmania, NSW and South Australia have Upper Houses that better reflect the voting pattern of the public.
Ed:
A big thank you to Motorcycle Council New South Wales for this article.
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