2016-12-06
Ms DUNN (Eastern Metropolitan) — My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and it pertains to persons that require wheelchairs and hence have wheelchair-accessible vehicles registered in their name. These persons are eligible to access concessions for registration, stamp duty and Transport Accident Commission (TAC) contributions on these vehicles. At present there are some key concessions available which can be applied for on the VicRoads website. However, VicRoads does not have procedures to process initial vehicle registrations with the stamp duty exemption available on privately-owned wheelchair-accessible vehicles. The exemption needs to be applied for as a refund from the State Revenue Office.
VicRoads has no clearly stated procedure for stamp duty exemption on second-hand wheelchair-accessible vehicle transfers, so those people that do not know about it miss out. The VicRoads website only recognises limited registration and TAC fee concessions, not the full suite that are available to eligible persons.
Lastly, VicRoads requires a written authority or power of attorney to authorise another person to register a vehicle in their name to access the concessions. If the person is severely disabled and unable to give that authority, a bundle of documentation from Centrelink and Medicare is required to satisfy VicRoads that the vehicle can be registered in the disabled person's name.
I call on the Minister for Roads and Road Safety to simplify the registration, stamp duty and TAC concession process for persons that own a wheelchair-accessible vehicle and for their carers and legal guardians, as the case may be.