Legislative Assembly

14067 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Wednesday 23 February 2005 ______ Mr Speaker (The Hon. John Joseph Aquilina) took the chair at 10.00 a.m. Mr Speaker offered the Prayer. INDEPENDENT COMMISSION AGAINST CORRUPTION ACT JUDICIAL REVIEW Personal Explanation Mr BARRY O'FARRELL, by leave: Yesterday during question time the Premier misrepresented me when he claimed that, as a member of this Parliament's Committee on the Office of the Ombudsman and the Police Integrity Commission, I have supported findings by Mr McClintock, who conducted a review into the Independent Commission Against Corruption [ICAC] that would take members of Parliament out of the scope of the ICAC. The Premier's words were: That is not what you said when you were on the committee. You said the reverse. The committee's records and files will demonstrate that that is not true. The committee circulated a draft submission on the draft report to members on 5 January. That report highlighted for Mr McClintock's benefit that the recommendation in relation to members of Parliament had not come from the committee but had in fact come from independent submissions of Australian Labor Party members of this House. In response to that draft I sent an email message to the committee on 7 January 2005 indicating that I welcomed its clarification because I opposed Parliament being taken from ICAC's scope. Once again the Premier has given a strong and detailed misleading to this House. PARLIAMENTARY ETHICS ADVISER Appointment Motion, by leave, Mr Carl Scully agreed to: That: (1) the appointment of Mr Ian Dickson as Parliamentary Ethics Adviser, which expired on 22 February 2005, be extended on a month-by-month basis until superseded by further resolution of the House; (2) any extension be for a maximum of 12 months; and (3) a message be forwarded to the Legislative Council requesting that it pass a similar resolution. MARINE SAFETY AMENDMENT (RANDOM BREATH TESTING) BILL Second Reading Debate resumed from 8 December 2004. Mr PETER DEBNAM (Vaucluse) [10.03 a.m.]: At the outset I indicate that the Opposition will not oppose the bill. However, I will bring to the attention of the House a couple of issues that warrant a response from the Minister during his reply. The object of the bill is to enable random breath testing of persons operating vessels, to prohibit persons under 18 years from operating vessels while they have any alcohol present in their blood, and to increase the penalties for offences under the Act involving the presence of certain prescribed concentrations of alcohol in the blood of persons operating vessels in line with the penalties for offences involving prescribed concentrations of alcohol under the Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Act. It is fair to say that no reasonable person would have any objection to this bill. Obviously it is designed to improve marine safety. However, while increasing penalties is all very well—it is standard action from the 14068 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 23 February 2005 Carr Government whenever it is trying to achieve a change in public behaviour—I again suggest to the Government that such a policy has little impact if there are no resources to apply to policing the legislation. In the end result, the effectiveness of this bill will depend on whether the Government applies resources to educating the public about it and enforcing the legislation. While I acknowledge that the fundamental purpose of the bill is to implement random breath testing, I am not sure how that will operate on waterways. It will be interesting to hear an explanation from the Government about how it intends to implement the bill. The provisions state that a person who is operating a vessel, or who was operating a vessel, will be able to be breath tested. However, if the vessel is moored, berthed or at anchor, persons on the vessel will not be subject to testing. I am not quite sure what that means: I assume a police officer will have to see the person operating a vessel before the person is tested, even if the vessel is moored, berthed or anchored by the time the police officer gets to it. That matter warrants some explanation from the Government. Having said that, I again observe that aspects of the legislation will be difficult to implement. I conclude by expressing surprise that this legislation was not introduced earlier, given that it is intended to improve marine safety. I look forward to the Minister's comments in his reply. Mr ALAN ASHTON (East Hills) [10.06 a.m.]: I welcome the support of the Opposition for the Marine Safety Amendment (Random Breath Testing) Bill, which emanates from the Alcohol Summit that was held a couple of years ago. The summit recognised that although governments of all persuasions have taken steps to control inappropriate drinking and the effect of alcohol consumption on our roads—a matter that is being debated in newspapers in relation to P-plate drivers—there has not been a breath testing regime for waterways. It is great fun for people to participate in boating and water skiing. I live near the Georges River and daily I see people enjoying themselves in fast pleasure craft such as jet skis and in rowing boats and kayaks, particularly on weekends, and sometimes I observe behaviour on the waterways that is inappropriate. While that behaviour may not be caused by the consumption of alcohol or at least consumption that is not over the limits that have been set for people who are in control of a vessel, that is not the issue—stupid behaviour by motorists who have not consumed any alcohol at all is often observed. However, statistics reveal that since 1992 more than 25 per cent of all boating fatalities reported by the New South Wales Maritime Authority involved alcohol, and in a quarter of the deaths in which alcohol was a factor a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 per cent was found. Even low levels of alcohol consumption can impair the ability of a person to control a vessel on rivers and other waterways with dramatic effect. The Government's intention is to ensure that anyone who is piloting, steering or exercising control over a vessel, or a person supervising a juvenile in control of a vessel, can be subject to random breath testing. I have been on boats when a person has said, "Let's give the young bloke a go. Let him take control and steer us towards East Hills or Lugarno on the Georges River." That is not normally a problem; it is how young people learn to navigate and operate a watercraft. It becomes an issue when the supervising adult, who has an alcohol reading of 0.08, tells the young bloke, "I know you are aged 9 or 10 but just drive this 60-foot cruiser back to the berth or the mooring." That would be totally inappropriate. A person in control of a vessel must not tell a person under the age of 18, "Just take it in, look after it and see how you go." A person supervising a juvenile is in control and could be random breath tested. People in control of boats that are towing bigger boats, or people on waterskis, aquaplanes or paraflying devices, and people acting as observers for safety reasons, can also be breath tested. There is not much point in the person navigating the boat being completely sober when the observer is under the weather. It has been found that in some major accidents in Australia's maritime history allegations were made about captains of boats that may have been subject to— Mr Peter Debnam: They are ships. Mr ALAN ASHTON: We always have this debate. A big, big boat is a ship. I do not want to involve the navy in this debate but 40 years ago allegations were made about accidents involving some of our major ships that were controlled by navy officers. The incident involving the Voyager and the HMAS Melbourne is one example. In other incidents people have sailed ships into bridges in Melbourne and Hobart. Those examples are extreme. In this bill the Government is responding to what has been an issue for some time. Some of the boats I see going past where I live are literally travelling faster than cars are allowed to travel on the roads. Pleasure craft can literally go faster than the speed at which cars are allowed to travel on the roads in the area where I live, and they travel up the Georges River at speed. I want to know that the people in control of those vessels are sober at all times. 23 February 2005 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 14069 The bill provides for the random breath testing of observers on vessels when towing is involved. The role of observers is to watch the person being towed and to report all matters affecting them to the operator of the vessel. Observers are also required to tell the driver about other vessels approaching from behind, and they must be familiar with the standard hand signals associated with on-water activities. They must remain alert and keep a constant lookout by sight and hearing. Together with the master of the vessel, the observer is responsible for the safety of the boat and the persons being towed. Therefore, excessive alcohol consumption would diminish the observer's judgment, compromise the safety of not only those on board the vessel and the person being towed but others on the water. Given the important function of observers, it is considered appropriate that they be subject to the same random breath testing requirements as the operator of the vessel.

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