25 August 2012

Liberals vote for lawyers on CTP and Barr spits the dummy

| johnboy
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Treasurer Andrew Barr is expressing his displeasure after the Greens and Liberals teamed up to water down his CTP reforms:

The Legislative Assembly today passed the Government’s Road Transport (Third-Party Insurance) Amendment Bill 2011, however the Liberals and Greens combined to pass significant amendments that gutted the Bill.

It is disappointing that the Liberals and Greens have squibbed the chance to make genuine reforms to compulsory third-party insurance. Indeed, the Liberals actually pandered to the legal fraternity and proposed amendments (which were voted down) which would have wound back earlier reforms and massively increased legal fees, thereby leading to increased CTP premiums.

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JC said :

PantsMan said :

The Crimes has this little gem:

But opposition Treasury spokesman Brendan Smyth, who was advised in the Chamber throughout last night’s debate by Law Society President Noor Blumer, disagreed with Mr Barr

Would that also be Noor Blumer of Blumers Lawyers?

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/assembly-rises-as-bulk-of-rego-reforms-go-down-20120824-24sef.html

That is who that would be. Clearly a case of self interest here.

Bit like the ‘poor’ local supermarkets championing ‘competition”, so long as Coles and Woolies are nobbled and they get a free ride.

+1.

Perhaps our political masters could digest the proposed NSW system.

http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/green-slips-to-be-nofault-20130217-2eky5.html

Jethro said :

Mordd said :

Jethro said :

Not to mention you don’t even need to pass a test to get a license in the ACT.

Ok I shouldn’t feed the trolls…. but how exactly do you allege this is possible? I recently had to go through the Learner process as an adult in the ACT (never had my full licence, too many years of living in other cities w/ much better public transport) and I can tell you having to do the road ready course with a bunch of 15yr olds is painful, but there is most certainly tests involved and more to then get your P’s, and unless you are as old as me by the time you go to get your licence there is quite a number of hoops to jump through. Sure there are still lots of bad drivers in the ACT but last I checked it not possible to get your license here without having to go through the long road ready course process – if there is another way please enlighten me.

The log book method does not involve a pass/fail test at the end. There is a process, sure, but it is not a test.

Has it changed since the late 90s? There was definitely a test at the end of the logbook process then. It was hour long, covered everything learnt during the previous sessions, and if you failed any component of it you didn’t get your Ps.

Mordd said :

Jethro said :

Not to mention you don’t even need to pass a test to get a license in the ACT.

Ok I shouldn’t feed the trolls…. but how exactly do you allege this is possible? I recently had to go through the Learner process as an adult in the ACT (never had my full licence, too many years of living in other cities w/ much better public transport) and I can tell you having to do the road ready course with a bunch of 15yr olds is painful, but there is most certainly tests involved and more to then get your P’s, and unless you are as old as me by the time you go to get your licence there is quite a number of hoops to jump through. Sure there are still lots of bad drivers in the ACT but last I checked it not possible to get your license here without having to go through the long road ready course process – if there is another way please enlighten me.

The log book method does not involve a pass/fail test at the end. There is a process, sure, but it is not a test.

It’s a shame this debate has become so polarised. There’s actually some serious debate out there about how much some injuries are worth, and whether the NSW scheme (for example) is adequate. Also an issue is what effect (if any) the changes have had on insurance premiums.

Jethro said :

Not to mention you don’t even need to pass a test to get a license in the ACT.

Ok I shouldn’t feed the trolls…. but how exactly do you allege this is possible? I recently had to go through the Learner process as an adult in the ACT (never had my full licence, too many years of living in other cities w/ much better public transport) and I can tell you having to do the road ready course with a bunch of 15yr olds is painful, but there is most certainly tests involved and more to then get your P’s, and unless you are as old as me by the time you go to get your licence there is quite a number of hoops to jump through. Sure there are still lots of bad drivers in the ACT but last I checked it not possible to get your license here without having to go through the long road ready course process – if there is another way please enlighten me.

PantsMan said :

The Crimes has this little gem:

But opposition Treasury spokesman Brendan Smyth, who was advised in the Chamber throughout last night’s debate by Law Society President Noor Blumer, disagreed with Mr Barr

Would that also be Noor Blumer of Blumers Lawyers?

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/assembly-rises-as-bulk-of-rego-reforms-go-down-20120824-24sef.html

That is who that would be. Clearly a case of self interest here.

Bit like the ‘poor’ local supermarkets championing ‘competition”, so long as Coles and Woolies are nobbled and they get a free ride.

Smyth and the Liberals have lost every skerrick of credibility in this, having Blumers henchwoman dictating their every response during the debate.

This wretched opposition have nailed their colours to the mast of ensuring the legal ambulance chasers of this Territory are far more important than the mug CTP payers.

Smyth – You have single handedly ensured that your party has dropped below Labor in the electable stakes. Turkey!

Not to mention you don’t even need to pass a test to get a license in the ACT.

bundah said :

pirate_taco said :

I’d like to see an attempt to reduce CTP costs by reducing the number of injuries on our roads.
Improved public transport is a Pirate Party ACT policy, which if successful would reduce the number of private trips, leading to a reduction in accident rates, and by extension CTP claims.

I also think that there needs to be a massive increase in the quality of driver training, probably with periodic retesting/retraining.
Too many people on our roads have no concept of roadcraft at all, and it is barely mentioned unless you also go for a motorbike license.

Good luck with that. Guvments have never been serious about introducing measures which would increase driving standards to more appropriate levels resulting in fewer collisions and injuries.Of course there is the other obvious problem ie. some of us are just simply more competent than others. Attempting to bridge that gap while desirable would be problematic and unpopular given people’s egos.

That’s why they should introduce lower standards for retesting. Many drivers would update/improve their knowledge and skills beforehand and only the worst of the worst would be likely to fail. Even a multiple choice theory test would be of benefit.

If you’ve ever seen the test that is done for older drivers it is very easy to pass. They come to your house and you drive your own car along a route that you are familiar with and park the way you normally would. I don’t think that specific skills such as reverse parking are tested at all.

There is good reason that drivers have to do that test when they get older but it is discriminatory that other drivers shouldn’t have to restest also.

All of this is becoming moot though. By the time the Government’s get around to introducing retesting and the tighten the minimum standards every five years or so, cars will be automated. People who want to manually drive their cars will have to pass a much more rigorous test like truck drivers or pilots…..

bundah said :

pirate_taco said :

I’d like to see an attempt to reduce CTP costs by reducing the number of injuries on our roads.
Improved public transport is a Pirate Party ACT policy, which if successful would reduce the number of private trips, leading to a reduction in accident rates, and by extension CTP claims.

I also think that there needs to be a massive increase in the quality of driver training, probably with periodic retesting/retraining.
Too many people on our roads have no concept of roadcraft at all, and it is barely mentioned unless you also go for a motorbike license.

Good luck with that. Guvments have never been serious about introducing measures which would increase driving standards to more appropriate levels resulting in fewer collisions and injuries.Of course there is the other obvious problem ie. some of us are just simply more competent than others. Attempting to bridge that gap while desirable would be problematic and unpopular given people’s egos.

If you want to see someone give it a shot, then vote Pirate in October.

Glen Takkenberg
Pirate Party ACT

The Crimes has this little gem:

But opposition Treasury spokesman Brendan Smyth, who was advised in the Chamber throughout last night’s debate by Law Society President Noor Blumer, disagreed with Mr Barr

Would that also be Noor Blumer of Blumers Lawyers?

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/assembly-rises-as-bulk-of-rego-reforms-go-down-20120824-24sef.html

bundah said :

pirate_taco said :

I’d like to see an attempt to reduce CTP costs by reducing the number of injuries on our roads.
Improved public transport is a Pirate Party ACT policy, which if successful would reduce the number of private trips, leading to a reduction in accident rates, and by extension CTP claims.

I also think that there needs to be a massive increase in the quality of driver training, probably with periodic retesting/retraining.
Too many people on our roads have no concept of roadcraft at all, and it is barely mentioned unless you also go for a motorbike license.

Good luck with that. Guvments have never been serious about introducing measures which would increase driving standards to more appropriate levels resulting in fewer collisions and injuries.Of course there is the other obvious problem ie. some of us are just simply more competent than others. Attempting to bridge that gap while desirable would be problematic and unpopular given people’s egos.

Indeed, as soon as people start viewing driving as a responsibility not a right we might end up with safer roads.

pirate_taco said :

I’d like to see an attempt to reduce CTP costs by reducing the number of injuries on our roads.
Improved public transport is a Pirate Party ACT policy, which if successful would reduce the number of private trips, leading to a reduction in accident rates, and by extension CTP claims.

I also think that there needs to be a massive increase in the quality of driver training, probably with periodic retesting/retraining.
Too many people on our roads have no concept of roadcraft at all, and it is barely mentioned unless you also go for a motorbike license.

Good luck with that. Guvments have never been serious about introducing measures which would increase driving standards to more appropriate levels resulting in fewer collisions and injuries.Of course there is the other obvious problem ie. some of us are just simply more competent than others. Attempting to bridge that gap while desirable would be problematic and unpopular given people’s egos.

I’d like to see an attempt to reduce CTP costs by reducing the number of injuries on our roads.
Improved public transport is a Pirate Party ACT policy, which if successful would reduce the number of private trips, leading to a reduction in accident rates, and by extension CTP claims.

I also think that there needs to be a massive increase in the quality of driver training, probably with periodic retesting/retraining.
Too many people on our roads have no concept of roadcraft at all, and it is barely mentioned unless you also go for a motorbike license.

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