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The Government will
consider seeking an amendment to a new law that strips bus and taxi drivers
convicted of even the most moderate of sex offences of their passenger
licences. From today, new
provisions of the Land Transport Act mean bus and taxi drivers convicted of
murder, or a sex offence punishable by more than seven years' prison, will be
banned from carrying passengers. Only a small handful
have a right of appeal under the changes. But the changes to the
Act, passed last year, have had unintended consequences. Transport Safety
Minister Harry Duynhoven today said out of about 270 drivers potentially
affected by the law, about 12 had contacted him who carried old convictions
for having sex with their under-16-year-old girlfriends while they too had
also been young. Their records were
otherwise unblemished. "I don't believe
this law was intended to catch these people," Mr Duynhoven told NZPA. Mr Duynhoven said he
had asked Crown Law and justice and transport officials to study the issue
and see if there was a solution that would allow appeals against the new provisions
to be heard at a high level. "I think in this
sort of thing it's always good for the director of land transport to have
some sort of discretion." However if such appeals
were completely impossible under the new set of rules, Mr Duynhoven would approach
other political parties to seek support for an amendment that would allow
appeals in such cases. In the meantime the
drivers would have to follow the law and cease carrying passengers until the
issue was resolved. Mr Duynhoven said there
was also the possibility that the law could affect any drivers convicted of
homosexual activity under laws which had since been repealed. He had not been made
aware of any actual examples of this. Mr Duynhoven said he
was expecting to meet representatives of the Taxi Federation and the Bus and
Coach Association on Wednesday to discuss the issue further. He also expected to
receive further official advice on Wednesday. He said he understood
that in most of the 12 cases, the drivers' companies would keep them on in
non-passenger driving roles until the issue was resolved. United Future leader
Peter Dunne has said the changes could breach the Bill of Rights Act, by
effectively punishing those convicted of a crime a second time. The Green Party said it
suggested a different course when the changes were debated by Parliament last
year, but it was accused by other parties of being "soft on crime".
Land Transport New
Zealand has said it is powerless to do anything other than apply the law. It
had been the intent of the law to remove any discretion. Parliament does not
resume until mid-February.
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