MPs' vehicle fines revealed, as safety advocates call for politicians with traffic offences to fess up

Updated

Australia's parliamentarians must disclose their speeding and other serious traffic offences, according to road safety advocates including a current Coalition MP.

Key points: Exclusive investigation reveals the MPs who have accrued the most vehicle infringements

Road safety advocates are now demanding MPs reveal their driving record

The national road toll has started to increase again after many years of decline

Read more about where we found this data

The call follows the revelation — exclusively documented below — that MPs have accrued more than 1,000 toll, parking and traffic infringements on their taxpayer-funded leased vehicles since 2010.

MPs have paid the fines, and reimbursed the Commonwealth for the administration fees, but Llew O'Brien, the LNP member for Wide Bay in Queensland and a former country police officer, said lawmakers, judges and senior police officers should "absolutely" have their traffic history made public.

"The perception that surrounds traffic offences is nowhere near where it should be in terms of shame," he told the ABC.

The national road toll has been trending down for decades, but has recently started to plateau and even increase.

The president of the Australasian College of Road Safety, Lauchlan McIntosh, said everyone, including MPs, should be open about their own driving record.

"Many companies of course require staff to declare their driving records, as the road is their workplace," he said.

"Publishing driving offences for politicians may, by naming and shaming, encourage a greater interest, just as it would for others closely involved — commentators, reporters, researchers etcetera."

However, Mr McIntosh emphasised that blaming drivers could be a cover for not acting on other solutions, like building a system with safer cars, safer infrastructure and post-trauma care.

Hundreds of infringements revealed

Records of infringement notices collected by politicians' taxpayer-funded vehicles are buried within the thousands of PDF documents published on government websites.

They have been collected and analysed by the ABC for the first time, and number 1,372 since 2010.

However, they do not reveal whether an infringement is a toll penalty, parking fine, or a more serious traffic offence, nor whether the MP or one of their staff was driving.

Only current and former MPs with infringements are listed. Some MPs do not use a taxpayer-funded private vehicle.

This new information, which comes to light during National Road Safety Week, reveals the MPs with the most vehicle infringements.

The ABC sought comment from the five current and former MPs with the largest number of fines accrued.

Deputy Nationals leader Bridget McKenzie has collected 53 infringement notice fees since 2011, the most of any MP during this period. She declined to comment to the ABC.

Minister for Law Enforcement Angus Taylor, who accrued 38, reported the "overwhelming majority" of his fines were the result of a faulty toll tag.

Former Liberal MP for Lindsay in Western Sydney Fiona Scott recorded 35, including nine on a single day in 2015. She also blamed a faulty toll device.

From Labor, environment spokesman Tony Burke also had 35. His spokesman told the ABC: "Like most people, Mr Burke has received the occasional parking and on rare occasions a speeding fine and has always paid them immediately."

Mr Burke's spokesman said a "significant number" of the infringements for which fees had been paid happened when the car had mistakenly been left without a charged e-tag inside.

He added that all road rules — including the requirement to have a fully charged e-tag — were "there for a reason and should be observed".

Fellow Labor MP Michael Danby accrued 49, but denied any were for speeding.

"Like most people, I have had the occasional parking fine and toll infringement which I have promptly paid," he said.

Data revealed as road toll increases

Deputy Prime Minister and the minister responsible for road safety, Michael McCormack, whose entitlements reports do not include any infringements, said "no-one is above the law" but stopped short of calling for greater transparency over MPs' offences.

"I expect all road users to act within the rules," he told the ABC.

"When you meet with victims and families of road incidents, like I have, you can see the hurt and heartaches that follow accidents.

"Peoples' lives forever changed, often in a fraction of a second. Poor behaviour has consequences which can be devastating."

The 1,270 national road deaths in the year to March were a 3 per cent increase on the previous year, according to the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics.

An independent review of the National Road Safety Strategy is currently underway and will be submitted to the Government in the first half of this year.

Mr McIntosh said there were many factors that could help make roads safe in addition to driver behaviour, including:

ensuring roads are upgraded to a safe standard

requiring employers to provide safe cars to staff

mandating new collision avoidance technology

creating a national road safety research project

encouraging telcos and car companies to introduce mobile phone blockers.

Mr O'Brien worked as a traffic accident investigator for four years in the early 2000s and has dealt with anxiety and depression partly due to this experience.

He said there was a degree of vetting by political parties to identify those MPs that may have issues with their driving record.

According to Mr O'Brien, the absence of a disclosure regime means some MPs might not be taking road safety seriously.

"If there's a pattern of behaviour with a person who is a member of Parliament, it could speak to their attitude towards road safety," he said.

He added that staffers or partners should be excluded from any disclosure regime.

About the infringements

These records were collected from thousands of entitlement reports published since 2010.

The reports do not detail whether each infringement is related to a toll, parking, or other offence such as speeding.

A spokesperson for the Department of Finance confirmed to the ABC the only way to get a breakdown of the offences would be by approaching the offices of individual parliamentarians.

When an MP receives a traffic, toll or parking fine on their private-plated vehicle, they are required to pay the fine and reimburse the Commonwealth for the administration fee charged by the Government's lease provider. The fee charged by the fleet provider changed from $25 to $15 in 2013.

Only records of the administration fees are disclosed in the entitlement reports.

If an MP can show an infringement was "not a result of an action by the driver" according to the guidelines, they do not have to pay back the fee.

The ABC has published only infringement records specifically tagged as a reimbursement.

Since the second half of 2016, no fees have been recorded due to a change by the lease provider.

The Department of Finance confirmed to the ABC it was "continuing to work" with the provider on a new process for the collection of administrative fees.

Topics: death, road, safety-education, health-policy, road-transport, transport, federal---state-issues, government-and-politics, business-economics-and-finance, australia

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