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Speaker 1: We know. The Northern Territory government announced towards the end

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Speaker 1: of last week that they're going to be cutting red

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Speaker 1: tape through reforms to light vehicle roadworthy inspections. So from

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Speaker 1: the fifth of January next year, light vehicles less than

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Speaker 1: ten years old will no longer require periodic road worthy inspections.

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Speaker 1: They say it's in line with most other Australian states

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Speaker 1: and territories. Instead, inspections will only be required for light

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Speaker 1: vehicles over ten years old and in certain circumstances. Now

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Speaker 1: joining us on the line from AAENTNG it is Simon Matthias.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Simon, Katie. Are you yeah, really good?

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Speaker 1: Lovely to have you on the show, Simon? What's your

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Speaker 1: reaction to these changes?

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Speaker 2: AA and T is broadly supportive, Katie. We certainly support

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Speaker 2: the intent of making life easier for motoris and I

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Speaker 2: think this will do that. Will all be the MVR

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Speaker 2: and stuck in those long queues and then, you know,

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Speaker 2: had a roadworthy vehicle inspection for a relatively modern car

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Speaker 2: that you know, it kind of seems a little unnecessary

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Speaker 2: to have an inspection. So we are supportive, but of

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Speaker 2: course the big issue is is it going to compromise safety,

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Speaker 2: and we don't think it will. I've spoken to my

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Speaker 2: counterparts at other auto clubs who have got, you know,

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Speaker 2: very well resourced road safety research programs, and that some

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Speaker 2: of them have don't have looked into this because most

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Speaker 2: states have a similar set up now to what MT

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Speaker 2: is moving towards, and they don't believe that it's going

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Speaker 2: to adversely impact safety outcomes. Modern cars now have good

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Speaker 2: safety features and most come with a high end cap

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Speaker 2: safety lady. So you know, sometimes getting an inspection on

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Speaker 2: a car that's quite modern feels like a bit of

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Speaker 2: a box ticking exercise. And if inspectors are being deployed

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Speaker 2: to areas where you know there are genuine road safety

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Speaker 2: concerns such as heavy vehicles for example, then we consider it.

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Speaker 2: It's a good thing.

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Speaker 1: So I mean, by the sounds of it, it is

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Speaker 1: something that's happening in other states. Do you know if

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Speaker 1: it's happening in all other states or just a few

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Speaker 1: of them.

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Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure I can't say all states, but the

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Speaker 2: vast majority have now you know, well some of them

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Speaker 2: have never never had the compulsory roadworthy tests for vehicles

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Speaker 2: under ten years of age and don't forget. Also, they're

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Speaker 2: still going to happen here, but it's now only going

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Speaker 2: to occur when the vehicles being sold and they are

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Speaker 2: over ten years old, so they're still going to happen.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's not without some concern. You know, we're

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Speaker 2: interested to know what effect this is going to have

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Speaker 2: on law enforcement, because we don't want police now, you know,

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Speaker 2: being diverted to defecting cars more than they already are

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Speaker 2: and taking away from other areas of policing. So that's

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Speaker 2: something that will need to be monitored. MT is a

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Speaker 2: bit different in that, you know, we do have conditions

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Speaker 2: that cause wear and tear on cars, and they've got

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Speaker 2: long distances between destinations and so on. So that makes

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Speaker 2: us a little bit different from the rest of the

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Speaker 2: country or most parts of the country. So that's also

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Speaker 2: going to need to be to be looked at. And

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Speaker 2: we also you know, I know the MTA, the Motor

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Speaker 2: Traders Association aren't that's thrilled about it because they feel

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Speaker 2: it's going to well, it was done without consultation and

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Speaker 2: they feel it could have taken away you know, work

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Speaker 2: from mechanics and repairers. But I know that you know,

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Speaker 2: we exist to represent the interests of our members and

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Speaker 2: motorists and we think they can venience certainly going.

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Speaker 1: Well. And that's you know. When the Minister for Logistics

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Speaker 1: and Infrastructure, Bill Yan made the announcement, he said, the

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Speaker 1: reforms are about putting practical measures in place that maintain

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Speaker 1: road safety while reducing unnecessary costs for drivers. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it is something that can be costly if you're having to,

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Speaker 1: you know, to take your car through the m VR

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Speaker 1: to to sort of get it, you know, checked in

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Speaker 1: that way. The only thing that I sort of wonder Simon,

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Speaker 1: and please talk me through it if you can. I mean,

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Speaker 1: when you we know that one of the requirements is

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Speaker 1: that you are still going to need to to obviously

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Speaker 1: do that if you're transferring ownership, I guess you just

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Speaker 1: see lots of cars like sold you know online now,

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Speaker 1: like you know, on on Facebook and things like that

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Speaker 1: are on marketplace. I mean, I'm assuming that you're still

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Speaker 1: going to have to do all the right things and

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Speaker 1: follow the correct you know, rules and requirements. But is

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Speaker 1: there a worry sometimes it could sort of slip through

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Speaker 1: the gaps.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly, it's always a concern, and you know, there

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Speaker 2: is still the requirement, as I said, to get the

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Speaker 2: inspection done when you are transferring ownership of vehicles that

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Speaker 2: are over ten years old. But you know the purpose

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Speaker 2: of a road where the test is exactly that or inspection,

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Speaker 2: I should say, it's to tell you whether the car

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Speaker 2: is roadworthy or it's not. And ultimately it's car owners

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Speaker 2: that are responsible for the condition of their car. And

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Speaker 2: we think that you know, people still need to get

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Speaker 2: their car service, they need to maintain their car and

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Speaker 2: perhaps you know, they don't want to become reliant on

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Speaker 2: a vehicle inspector, you know, telling them that they need

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Speaker 2: you tires. We want to see motorists actually taking more

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Speaker 2: responsibility for the condition of their car and you know,

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Speaker 2: so that that is going to be a really important thing.

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Speaker 2: You know, we have to see vatorus keeping the maintenance

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Speaker 2: of their vehicles.

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Speaker 1: Up, which is definitely a great thing in theory, Simon.

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Speaker 1: But do you reckon everyone's going to do that?

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Speaker 2: Well, no, of course not. And there's going to be

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Speaker 2: things slipped through through the gaps, there's no doubt about that.

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Speaker 2: But getting getting your regular servicing is critical and yeah,

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Speaker 2: that's that's certainly not going to.

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Speaker 1: Change, Simon. Just on to another thing that you and

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Speaker 1: I talk about very often, and that is indeed the

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Speaker 1: road toll. And we are in the school holidays at

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Speaker 1: the moment. I know, there's lots of families out and

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Speaker 1: about going camping, heading off to different locations. I mean,

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Speaker 1: even late yesterday afternoon a friend of mine was sort

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Speaker 1: of sending through photographs and also video of care flight

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Speaker 1: having to land out near Acasia following on from a

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Speaker 1: car crash. I mean, we just continue to see issues

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Speaker 1: on our roads at the moment.

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Speaker 2: We do. And as you know, we had an absolutely

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Speaker 2: horrendous year in twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five

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Speaker 2: started off in a much better way. Acknowledgment of course

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Speaker 2: that any death is one too many, but we've certainly

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Speaker 2: seen a bit of a spike in recent days and

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Speaker 2: weeks that the road toll is creeping up again. As

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Speaker 2: you say, Okai, it's school holidays or people on the roads,

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Speaker 2: and we just have to you know, you can never

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Speaker 2: never say it too often, please take care on the

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Speaker 2: roads because we have to reduce the number of fatalities

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Speaker 2: on our roads. We have a road toll that's four

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Speaker 2: times higher than the national average, and it's completely unatipped

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Speaker 2: and we have to weigh.

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Speaker 1: That it is well. Simon Matthias Ant CEO, always appreciate

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Speaker 1: your time. Thanks very much for having a chat with

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Speaker 1: us today.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Cody, thank you.