The Hon. PENNY SHARPE: I direct my question to the Minister for Education and Training, and Minister Assisting the Minister for Finance. Can the Minister provide an update on the Government's initiatives during Youth Week to inform young people of the importance of responsible behaviour on the State's roads?

The Hon. JOHN DELLA BOSCA: I thank the member for her ongoing interest in important issues relating to young people and road safety. Reinforcing road safety messages among young people is a year-round priority for the Government and the Motor Accidents Authority, one of the agencies under my ministerial control. Youth Week provides an ideal opportunity to get the message across to people aged 17 to 25 years who are overrepresented in road accidents. About 100 young people in that age bracket die on roads in New South Wales every year. A further 7,000 are seriously injured, with many needing long-term care.

The New South Wales Motor Accidents Authority, through its Arrive Alive youth road safety program, is a major sponsor of Youth Week 2008. Arrive Alive sponsored two key Youth Week activities to reinforce responsible behaviour by young people in motor vehicles and on the roads. The Iemma Government has provided grants to fund Arrive Alive shuttle buses, which will help get young people safely to and from various Youth Week events throughout the State. By the end of Youth Week the Arrive Alive shuttle buses will have travelled more than 8,000 kilometres along busy streets and sometimes long country roads, picking up young people from designated stops and, on occasions, even farm gates.

Buses carrying the Arrive Alive banners will help young people attend about 60 Youth Week events all over the State. The buses will follow the return journey so that young people arrive home safely. The Arrive Alive shuttle buses are not only safely transporting many thousands of young people; they are also ensuring that young people get the Arrive Alive message, which is "Celebrate safely during Youth Week." Councils have been placing the logo on their promotional materials about Youth Week events and the Arrive Alive website is heavily promoted through banners, signs and on the Youth Week website.

The Hon. Duncan Gay: Who is paying for this?

The Hon. JOHN DELLA BOSCA: The Deputy leader of the Opposition asked a silly question. Arrive Alive is paying for it, and that is the whole point of my answer. Competitions are run through the Arrive Alive website to draw young people online to our road safety messages.

[Interruption]

I know that the Deputy Leader of the Opposition was trying to help me. The other high-profile Arrive Alive initiative is sponsorship of YouthRock, the premier music competition for young school bands, which this year is celebrating its twentieth year. Arrive Alive promotes online voting for a band to gain wildcard entry at this year's YouthRock grand finals. It is estimated that the Arrive Alive website will receive more than 20,000 hits by the end of the competition. The Arrive Alive sponsorships of YouthRock and the shuttle buses are part of the Motor Accidents Authority's long-term involvement with Youth Week. These sponsorships provide an important focus on promoting road safety messages and better on-road behaviour by young people.

These initiatives are designed to reduce motor accidents involving young people, but also will assist to drive down the price of compulsory third party green slips. In real terms, the average green slip cost in New South Wales has decreased by more than $200 since reform of the scheme in 1999. That success has enabled us to introduce historical improvements in benefit. For the first time in New South Wales, all catastrophically injured motor vehicle accident victims who have suffered brain or spinal injuries now receive the care and support they will need for the rest of their lives, regardless of who was at fault.

The scheme covers an injured person's medical treatment costs, and guarantees day-to-day practical services, including assistance with personal care, such as feeding, drinking and personal hygiene; domestic services, such as cooking, cleaning, shopping and home maintenance; and nursing care. Before we introduced these reforms, catastrophically injured people had to rely on their families for support, which was an immense financial and emotional burden for those families, often led to family breakdowns and resulted in a loss of any support at all for the victim. That is why so many 17-to-25 year olds and their families will benefit to the greatest extent from the Government's Lifetime Care and Support Scheme. [Time expired.]