Community and Road Education Scheme

Mr O’FARRELL (Ku-ring-gai - Deputy Leader of the Opposition) [5.15 p.m.]: Yesterday I visited the Community and Road Education Scheme [CARES] at the former St Ives police driver training centre in the electorate of Davidson. I observed students from West Pymble Public School as they were taken through their paces at the centre by police officers. In 1991 CARES was established by the former Coalition Government at Prospect, where it continues to operate, to better educate school-age children between nine and 13 years, about road rules, their importance for traffic safety, and the traumatic consequences of failing to observe road rules.

Principally, the program involves encouraging students in the safe use of bicycles. The program is supervised by police officers who take students through an assessment period in a classroom and show them a video. Students are then put on bicycles and sent around a simulated traffic area. The very high road trauma rate for young people is the motivation for conducting this road safety education program in the school system. At the start of the program, the road trauma rate was that one in six young people would be involved in a life-threatening accident at some time between the ages of 12 and 25, with young males in the 17- to 20-year age group having about 3½ times more involvement in accidents.

Clearly, this program is worthwhile and should be supported. I visited the program in the company of Jim Higgins, the principal of West Pymble Public School; Kerry Frost, the President of the West Pymble Parents and Citizens Association; approximately 100 students from years 4 and 6; Peter Wilkinson, Chairman of the Ku-ring-gai Police and Community Safety Committee; and John Watts, Chairman of the Road Safety Sub-committee.

It was indicated to me that during the period immediately before and after the Olympic Games police officers will be removed from that facility. I have no quarrel with police not being present at the facility during the two weeks of the Olympic Games and the two weeks of the Paralympic Games, if necessary. However, I suspect that what I observed yesterday is something that my country colleagues know about, that is the denuding of local police services in country areas during the Olympics. I am told that CARES at St Ives will be closed for three months over the Olympics period, and I do not understand why. During that period 60 school visits to the centre, and more than 5,000 students, will be denied this important road safety education in relation to bicycles.

I can understand why the facility must be closed during the Olympic Games, which coincide with extended school holidays next year. However, I do not believe it should be closed for as long as the Government has proposed. As evidenced by its success, the program educates young people about road safety generally, and, more importantly, children from nine to 13 years of age about bicycle safety. It is far too important to deny almost 5,000 students access to this scheme.

The program at St Ives caters for schools across Sydney, and as far away as the Cronulla and Sutherland shire - which raises the issue that most care facilities are in the west of Sydney or at St Ives. There is no care facility in the Liverpool electorate of Mr Acting-Speaker, although I understand that either the Lions Club or Rotary runs a similar scheme there. There is none servicing schools in the Sutherland shire, from which area there is a huge demand on the services of the St Ives facility.

Clearly, there is a need on a bipartisan basis to extend this scheme to the whole of Sydney. There is a need for it in southern Sydney, south-western Sydney and even the eastern suburbs, although the bicycles might be more expensive there. Ku-ring-gai local area command, headed by Superintendent Alan Clarke - who does a terrific job - provides the funding and two police officers for the program, which impacts on policing across the area command. This scheme is too important to be done on that ad hoc basis.

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CARES St Ives is charged $50,000 rent for the facility. That money does not find its way back to Ku-ring-gai local area command. This nonsense ought to be stopped. The scheme ought to continue and be given every support by the Government.