Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) — I move:
That the Council take note of the report.
The reference for this inquiry came from Mr Purcell, who asked that the committee investigate the impacts of lowering the probationary driving age in Victoria, including assessing the link between the driving age of 18 and youth unemployment in regional areas, and the correlation between a lower probationary driving age and the road toll. The committee was also asked to review the adequacy of transport infrastructure and services available to young people in regional Victoria.
We received over 100 submissions from a broad range of stakeholders, including government departments, road safety research and academic agencies and not-for-profit organisations, but most importantly young people shared their views and experiences with the committee. We held a number of public hearings in secondary schools and tech colleges. This was particularly interesting in the border town of Wodonga, where the school carpark appeared full of cars with New South Wales number plates.
From the outset there was a clear tension in the evidence. Some wanted to keep the driving age at 18 or even raise it, while others felt that bringing the licensing scheme into line with other states would have a significant benefit on young people’s lives and their transition to adulthood. The committee came to the conclusion that licensing is a gateway to mobility for many young people in non-urban areas, and that mobility is essential for young people to access opportunities for their future. The central recommendation of this report is therefore that the probationary driving age in Victoria be lowered to 17 years. I understand that there is a minority report to this recommendation that Mr Eideh may speak on at a later date.
Highlighted throughout the inquiry was the success of Victoria’s graduated licensing scheme. It is recognised as one of the most comprehensive in the world, although the committee believes it can be strengthened further and recommends a number of additional requirements, including increasing the requirement for supervised night driving from 10 to 20 hours, changing the peer passenger restriction from one passenger to no passengers for the duration of a probationary 1 licence and restricting P1 drivers from driving between 10.00 p.m. and 5.00 a.m. unless it is for employment, study or other authorised purposes.
Each of these changes reflect widely supported models of best practice. We made a number of other recommendations to assist and enhance young people’s transport mobility, be it in their own cars or through other community transport initiatives. It is a broad suite of recommendations that we believe will enhance the transport mobility of young people while introducing new complementary safeguards to ensure Victoria maintains its high standards of road safety.
I would like to thank the chair, Geoff Howard, the member for Buninyong in the other place; our deputy president, Khalil Eideh; and Murray Thompson, Martin Dixon and Natalie Suleyman, the members for Sandringham, Nepean and St Albans in the other place. Thanks also for the great work from the committee secretariat: Yuki Simmonds, Christianne Andonovski and Natalie Lilford. I also thank the staff who left during the inquiry: Andrew Homer, Sarah Terry and John Aliferis. I commend the report to the house.
Motion agreed to.
