Last week’s announcement that new drink driving laws giving NSW police the power to issue an immediate three-month licence suspension notice and fine for novice, special or low‑range drink‑driving offences has been justified by the NSW Government on the basis they will reduce the pressure on the state’s court system.

However, low-range PCAs make up only 1.9 per cent of all Local Court matters and our concern is that the new laws will only serve to increase the burden on the Local Court, with urgent applications for appeals against the licence suspension expected to significantly increase, resulting in two hearings rather than one.

These new laws for low-range PCA offences, which come into effect on 20 May 2019, appear to be contrary to the Government’s 2017 reforms which were aimed at reducing the length of disqualification periods.

We are concerned that an automatic licence suspension for low-range PCAs will result in an increase of driving while suspended offences, snowballing into further periods of disqualification. This will impact on people’s livelihoods, particularly in regional and rural areas that lack public transport options and where courts sit on a part-time basis.

The automatic suspension of a licence effectively undermines the court’s discretion, because it is likely that if a person court-elects on a penalty notice they will have already served their suspension period by the time the matter is listed in court. We believe the effect of court election should be to stay the process of the immediate suspension.

Ultimately, we believe the reforms will decrease deterrence and instead increase offence and recidivism rates. As we know, there is a genuine deterrent factor for first-time low-range PCA offenders in going to court. The experience and shame of having to appear before a Magistrate, undertake a traffic offender program, and be warned of the consequences of further offending may well have a significantly greater deterrent effect on future offending than a penalty notice, fine and suspension.

On another subject, this week is National Law Week, with events, expos, workshops, and open court days being held around the country to promote public understanding of the law and its role in society.

Law Week events are an important way of bringing information to the public about the legal system and ultimately increasing the community’s access to justice. More details about events happening in your local area can be found on the 2019 Law Week website and I encourage members to get involved.

Elizabeth Espinosa, Law Society President

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