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10 proposals, I do not believe that it has been finalised. There are still some months before that aspect needs to be finalised, although it should be dealt with early. He spoke about the package of controls that may need to be considered. He did say that we were approaching this legislation in a piecemeal fashion. I can assure him that, if we were able to introduce everything in the ideal way, we would. But there are many considerations. Some of the possible controls that the government will need to address - and certainly they are being addressed at officer level at this present time - are the following: limiting the size of the vehicles, no peer group passengers without adults, no night-time driving, no alcohol to be present on the breath, parental consent to obtain licence - and this will be implemented administratively because I would expect parents of 16-year-olds to accompany them to the Motor Vehicle Registry - and increasing penalties for driving without licence or 'L' and 'p' plates when required, Remarks were made about the country drivers versus the city drivers and the need for defensive driving. Certainly, I would say that country drivers are far out in front - whether they obtained their licences on msin roads or not even before they get to a city situation. There should be no fears about that. The honourable member for Millner mentioned 14-year-olds being licensed in California. That is for the express purpose of young working people, mostly on rural properties. Most kids whom I know who work on stations or around farms are well equipped to drive vehicles even before they get to the cities. I take the 837 DEBATES - Thursday 25 August 1983 member for Nightcliff'spoint on board about the defensive driving aspect. I believe that this should be given more consideration in Student Driver Education programs or at the private level in driving schools. We will take that matter on board. Mr Deputy Speaker, I commend the bill. Motion agreed to; bill read a second time. Mr STEELE (Transport and Works)(by leave): the bill be now read a third time. Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that Mr SMITH (Millner): Mr Deputy Speaker, I was most interested in the comments of the honourable minister'and would like to make a couple in return. First of all, I would have to disagree most strongly with him about competence in driving on the farm. I think it is of only limited use in determining competence in driving on main roads in built-up urban areas. The skills are quite different. There is the ability to judge where you are in relation to other cars moving along the same stretch of road, particularly where there are 2 or 3-lane highways, the ability to judge the speed of oncoming traffic to determine if you can overtake safely and a whole range of other skills which cannot be developed on the farm. I would again urge the minister to put his confidence in farm-taught drivers to the test by making sure that the tests they undertake to get their licences are as stringent as the tests urban people presently undertake. That is all that I am asking. Although the formal requirements are no different now, I think it is common knowledge that it is easier in some places to get licences than in others. There are good reasons for it but we have to tackle those reasons and overcome them and make sure that we develop stringent tests. The second point I want to make is that I would urge the minister to be very careful before accepting any recommendation to ban night-time driving for 16-year year-olds because quite a few 16-year-olds have jobs that require them either to go to work or come home from work at night. For example, I know one who is a baker. He starts work at 2 o'clock in the morning. It is only a suggestion but I hope that he will look very seriously at it before accepting it. The third point I want to make is to state once again that it is much more desirable to have these controls in place before we issue drivers' licences to 16-year-olds than to develop the controls after the licences have been issued. Certainly, I think that is most important and, if the minister wants help in putting that message across to the bureaucracy, he can calIon me at any time. Motion agreed to; bill read a third time. LOCAL COURTS A~ND~ENT BILL (Serial 318) RECORDS OF DEPOSITIONS APENDMENT BILL (Serial 316) INSTRUHENTS AMENDHENT BILL (Serial 317) Continued from 1 June 1983. Mrs O'NEIL (Fannie Bay): Mr Deputy Speaker, these bills are aimed at permitting the prescription of fees through regulations and rules. Currently, the fees are specified in the principal acts so that they must be reviewed by way of legislative amendment. We agree that it is inappropriate that they be dealt with in that way. The accepted approach in respect to the prescription of 838 DEBATES - Thursday 25 August 1983 standard fees of this nature is to set them out in regulations or rules where they can be more conveniently reviewed from time to time. The opposition agrees with this approach. As a member of the Subordinate Legislation and Tabled Papers Committee, I can only endorse what the member for Nightcliff has said from time to time. As you well know, Sir, that committee has an increasing workload. We take these onerous responsibilities most seriously although they take up a lot of our time. Nevertheless, the opposition supports this practical way of dealing with the question of setting fees under these acts and we also welcome the Attorney-General's assurance that these amendments do not foreshadow an imminent increase in the fees under the acts. We support the passage of the bills. Motion agreed to; bills read a second time. Mr ROBERTSON (Attorney-General)(by leave): the bills be now read a third time. Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that Motion agreed to; bills read a third time. ADJOURffiv1ENT Mr ROBERTSON (Attorney-General): Assembly do now adjourn. Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that the Ms LAWRIE (Nightcliff): Mr Deputy Speaker, the honourable member for Nhulunbuy drew my attention to a letter to the editor in the paper tonight regarding the recent case of incest which was heard in Darwin. The writer of the letter complained bitterly that not only was the name of the guilty party suppressed but also those of witnesses. I have some sympathy for the writer of the letter, and with good cause. I appreciate that the name of the guilty party should be suppressed to protect his daughters, with whom he was found guilty of having committed incest. However, I agree with the contention that it was unfair to suppress the names of witnesses and yet give their occupations, one of which happened to be politician'. Mr Deputy Speaker, I received 2 very abusive phone calls the day after the first report of this case, and I had to say straight out that it was not me. Politicians form a pretty small community in the Territory. In completing such things as census forms, it is difficult to preserve any degree of anonymity. I

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