I speak in support of the Road Transport Legislation Amendment (Automated Seatbelt Enforcement) Bill 2023 and I thank the Minister for Regional Transport and Roads for bringing the bill to Parliament for our consideration. I note that the Minister is in the Chamber. In her second reading speech, the Minister said:

The impact of road trauma is real for so many in our communities. In fact, it would be almost impossible for someone alive today to not have been impacted by some significant trauma from a road fatality or serious incident.

This is a key motive in presenting the bill to the Parliament: to save lives and stop families being torn apart with grief by losing a loved one in a road accident whose life could have been saved simply by wearing a seatbelt. Last Sunday I joined the Minister at Grace's Place to commemorate the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims hosted by the Road Trauma Support Group. Other government agencies, including Transport for NSW and the police, were present, joining with the many family members who have been devastated by the loss of a loved one and who continue to honour their memory by attending the service.

The bill is designed to amend road transport and related legislation to introduce automated detection and enforcement mechanisms for camera-detected seatbelt noncompliance in New South Wales. In July this year the New South Wales Government outlined its 2026 Road Safety Action Plan to achieve better safety outcomes on our roads. Increasing seatbelt compliance is a common-sense step to accomplish this. Seatbelt use was made mandatory in New South Wales in 1971—52 years ago. A major cultural shift was required to make people wear seatbelts. There was a time when cars did not have to have seatbelts fitted retrospectively. Some members in the Chamber may remember that. Growing up, our family HT Holden had bench seats in the front and back and the kids rolled around on the back seat with no seatbelts when the car swerved. In 1988 I recall hiring a car while on holiday in Fiji. As Australians, we had been indoctrinated about wearing seatbelts. The person I leased the car from told me, "Don't worry about seatbelts. Police are only out on Tuesdays and Thursdays." It was a Wednesday we did not need to worry about wearing a seatbelt. However, being good Australians, we wore the seatbelts.

Thankfully, times have changed dramatically. Today the minimum fine for a driver or passenger found not wearing a seatbelt is $387 and three demerit points. However, there are still people who do not buckle up and this puts them at a completely unnecessary and unacceptable risk on our roads. Seatbelt noncompliance was a factor in about 15 per cent of vehicle occupant deaths on our roads between 2018 and 2022. Even worse, the percentage of vehicle occupant fatalities when an available seatbelt was not worn has been consistently high: 13 per cent in 2019, 19 per cent in 2021 and 16 per cent last year. Additionally, regional communities are overrepresented in these figures: Seatbelt noncompliance was a factor in 84 per cent of fatalities and 67 per cent of serious injuries in accidents on country roads. High-speed crashes that occur on roads in country areas—which potentially are also poorly lit—can have particularly severe outcomes if the driver is not protected by a seatbelt.

Evidence shows that a person is twice as likely to survive a car crash if they are wearing a seatbelt. Independent modelling estimates that camera enforcement of seatbelt compliance could save between 17 to 26 lives and prevent 41 to 62 injuries over a five-year period. The social benefits and monetary savings for families, workplaces and society from saving lives and reducing injuries will be massive. There is absolutely no logical reason that anyone would oppose such legislation. In 2022 there were 292 road fatalities compared with 1,300 in the early 1970s. To achieve the greater safety outcomes we all desire, no new offences are being introduced. Only minor road rule amendments are required so penalties that already apply to drivers for failing to ensure their passengers wear a seatbelt can be readily enforced if the alleged offence is detected by a camera.

Amendments will also be made to clarify when medical exemptions apply. The Government is designing a process that allows people with exemptions to avoid receiving camera-detected infringements. We now know that the majority of road users are deterred from risky behaviour by the certainty of penalties being enforced. Automated enforcement will be delivered through systems and camera infrastructure that is already deployed for the mobile phone camera detection program. The bill also clarifies that photos taken by other road safety cameras can be used as evidence of seatbelt offences if they are capable of detecting those offences. This is consistent with the existing legislation regarding mobile phone cameras. As with other road offences, operator onus provisions will apply and will enable registered operators to nominate the driver of the vehicle at the time of the offence

Unlike the former Government, the Minns Government is not about senseless revenue raising through fines. This reform is designed with road safety as its one and only priority. Enforcement will be preceded by the issuing of warning letters for a period and a large-scale awareness-raising campaign because the Government wants to ensure that motorists have ample time to do the right thing. As with speeding, red light camera and mobile phone detection camera fines, every cent raised from fines for camera-detected seatbelt offences will go directly into the Community Road Safety Fund to be used to deliver a broad range of road safety initiatives such as outlined in the 2026 Road Safety Action Plan. This is exactly the sort of innovation we need to achieve the Road Safety Action Plan. I thank the Minister for Regional Transport and Roads as well as the Minister for Roads in the other place for their commitment to ensuring maximum safety on New South Wales roads. I commend the bill to the House.