YAPA media release: 11 November 2010
MEDIA RELEASE
The peak organisation for young people in NSW has echoed calls from the NSW Government’s own youth advisors for a coordinated approach to young driver issues which stops ignoring the economic and social impacts of changes that have been consistently raised with the government by young people and their families.
Chief Executive of the Youth Action and Policy Association (YAPA), Reynato Reodica said today, “the government has shown over the past few years that it is incapable of considering the impacts of their policies upon the daily lives of NSW families”.
“For too long, ill-conceived approaches have been thrown at young drivers which create unnecessary barriers to their livelihood and severe inconvenience for their families. The Roads and Traffic Authority has a massive research budget, and yet we don’t know which of these changes, if any, has been worth the hardships they create for the families of young drivers”.
In a state where public transport is laughable in many regions, and particularly rural areas, this additional restriction has made life in some parts of NSW very difficult.
“The worst of these approaches has been the 120 learner hours requirement. This was policy made on-the-run, with no consideration, public consultation or support shown for the massive 140% increase in this burden on families.
The Keneally government has since made concessions to supervised driving requirements in late 2009, which were welcomed by youth advocates and young people.
However, Mr Reodica today stated that “allowing learners to have up to ten hours logged with professional instructors count threefold helps some, but mostly benefits driving schools and provides nothing to low-income and time poor families – who need help the most”.
“The calls yesterday from the NSW Government’s own Youth Advisory Council highlights the consistent frustration shown by young people and their families in relation to the government’s approach.”
As one young person states in a YAPA research project currently underway, “you’d think that getting your license would be something that every person needs to go through, but governments just made it to that point where no one can.”
YAPA believes the Roads and Traffic Authority in particular has been shockingly unaccountable in their approach to this issue. It has been two years since the Staysafe Parliamentary Committee expressed serious concerns over the social and economic impacts of the 120 hours on young people in NSW, particularly in rural areas where public and private transport needs generally have been ignored by successive governments.
In response, the RTA undertook to monitor the social and economic impacts of their changes, however none of this information has been made available to the public.
However, it is abundantly clear that this change has disproportionately damaged the lives of young people, with interim findings from YAPA research revealing that young people are restricted in their access to employment, education and social activities by these changes and are limited in the capacity to meet their family responsibilities.
“The message this sends to the families of young people is that the RTA and the NSW Government don’t care about the impacts their changes are having on your family schedules and the family budget.” Mr Reodica said.
Media contact
Reynato Reodica
02 9281 5522 ext 1