Wednesday, 2 April 2025

Bills

Transport Legislation Amendment (Vehicle Sharing Scheme Safety and Standards) Bill 2025

Second reading

Debate resumed.

David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (18:02): I rise to speak on the Transport Legislation Amendment (Vehicle Sharing Scheme Safety and Standards) Bill 2025. This is a bill that covers a whole range of different things, but I want to talk particularly about scooters and some of the challenges we have got around these scooters, because we see these scooters being used quite a lot and they are very popular mode of transport. But we do need to ensure that we get the balance right, particularly around ensuring that there is proper regulation around these scooters.

We have seen lots of incidents with some of these scooters, and I have seen it a lot around my electorate, where we get people that think, ‘Great, this is a quick mode of transport,’ and they use an operator. I differentiate between those people that have a scooter at home, who are more familiar with their scooter, and those that use them through a sharing mechanism, which is largely what we are talking about in this bill. There are real concerns that there are some good operators and some not good operators, and part of what the bill is trying to do is harmonise that to ensure that there is proper regulation.

I also want to recognise our Polish contingent who are here today. I know I cannot necessarily recognise people in the gallery, but our Polish contingent are very much into looking at new technology, new schemes and industry. In a roundabout way, when you talk about transport there is a huge industry and innovation piece in that as well.

Getting back to scooters, the issue is particularly around needing those operators to operate in such a manner that you know when you are using one of their scooters they have got almost like a tick of approval. That is quite important, because you can always in any industry get somebody that is a better operator than others and you want to ensure that the equipment that you are using is safe, that it has been through its proper standards and there are some mechanisms in place so when you are hiring one of these scooters you are able to do so with peace of mind in terms of what it does.

The other part of this is dealing with some of the problems of the user. I call that largely user error. We do need to be mindful of that because, coming back to where I was going earlier, I have witnessed a number of incidents where people have been very lucky not to do more serious damage than they have done. In fact only late last year I was coming home and there was a middle-aged gentleman that was laid out under a truck. He was on his scooter and must have seen the truck, and he literally hit the truck from behind. The scooter was under the car, and he was laid out on the ground. Thankfully, he did not sustain any major injuries, but again, knowing the power of these things and knowing the potential of not being able to manage them properly, they can lead to all kinds of scenarios. That is one of the issues.

There are regulations which talk about the speeds at which these scooters travel. I think it is 20 or maybe 30 kilometres per hour. I am looking at the people in the box in terms of what the speed limits are – 20 kilometres per hour. That is what I thought. Over 20 kilometres per hour, they effectively become a licensed product, like a licensed vehicle, and they have a different set of regulations than those under 20 kilometres per hour. There are people who will take a scooter and try to ramp it up to go beyond that speed limit, so going forward it is really important for us to monitor this to ensure that there are safety mechanisms in place. I know from talking to members of Victoria Police and members of the health industry that even in trying to monitor some of the injuries sustained from these scooters we still do not have enough data quite yet in terms of where things are going and what some of the issues are in terms of health and safety with these products coming to market. It is really important. I am not saying that they are not an important mode of transport, but I think the jury is still out in terms of what we need to do to ensure safety both for the user and more broadly for Victorians that might come into contact with somebody on a scooter. It will be very interesting to understand that.

There are other examples. If you look at Queensland, for instance, their roads and footpaths are flatter terrain, so they have less issues than we might have in our state. In terms of ensuring those standards are right, it is really important to understand that we need to monitor some of the problems connected with it. I note that our Shadow Minister for Transport, the member for Bulleen, is quite passionate about the industry more broadly. It is really important when talking about transport to get things right, and this is one of them.

While I am on transport more generally, I think the government has missed a lot of opportunities when it comes to transport. I know it is not specifically in this bill, but it is a missed opportunity that it is not in this bill, and that is to look at how we get better connectivity. I think when you are looking at modes of transport you need better connectivity. If you are looking particularly at people in the west and in the north, they have missed out on some of that connectivity that they should have. Particularly when you look at the west you still have a lot of transport means that are running on diesel. We do not have electrification. It is part of the debate that I think we should be having now: how do we fund that? How do we ensure that, no matter where you are, whether you in the north, whether you are in the west, whether you are in some of our growth corridors or whether you are in regional Victoria, you get your fair share of transport? I do not think we do that well here in Victoria. We could be doing that a lot better.

I do note, and I know that it is a point of difference between the opposition and the government, that the Premier said today that we are the side of politics that does not support the Suburban Rail Loop. I think that is probably a fair assessment. We have said that. We have said that because, number 1, Victoria cannot afford it and, number 2, when you put all your money and all your eggs into one basket, other people miss out. That is what has happened in Victoria. A lot of people have missed out on ensuring that they have their modes of transport properly taken care of, so I think that is something we need to look at going forward. Infrastructure Victoria have done some really good reports in terms of predicting the needs of transport, modes of transport and connectivity of transport, and I think that could be a really good starting point. Infrastructure Australia have made some commentary as well. I think we should do better when it comes to using these major bodies. I know it was something the government did under former Premier Andrews, in terms of getting Infrastructure Victoria established, but I do note there is a lot of work that Infrastructure Victoria do that this government ignores. I think the government would pay themselves a good service to actually listen. If you are going to set up a body, if you are going to spend a whole lot of money on it and if you are going to put experts together, why would you ignore them? Why wouldn’t you use them, when effectively it is your own policy and your own body? That is a huge missed opportunity by this government.

I think Victorians are probably waking up to see that when you have politicised transport options to literally win votes in different pockets at the expense of everybody else, ultimately all Victorians miss out. I do note that back in 2014 both Liberal and Labor went to the election talking about level crossings. We had 40; Labor had 50. I certainly understand that 50 always beat 40, and that was a key element in why Labor won the election back in 2014. But those level crossings, just like transport options, should not be just about one pocket of an area but should be across the state. All Victorians will recognise that you can solve transport options, whether it be in Warrnambool, Gippsland, Warragul or Prahran, right across the board. No matter who you are or where you are, you should be able to have the same kind of options when it comes to public transport, and that does not happen. Connectivity is important, and reliability, and we do not get those either. We have got a tram system, we have got a bus system and we have got a train system that still do not connect up, and that is a real missed opportunity. These other modes of transport like scooters are all great, but ultimately we have got to ensure that all Victorians get their fair share, and that is something that I still think Victoria misses out on.

Alison MARCHANT (Bellarine) (18:12): It is a pleasure to rise and speak on the Transport Legislation Amendment (Vehicle Sharing Scheme Safety and Standards) Bill 2025. In the last few years we really have seen quite a revolution in this space of e-scooters. This new mode of transport is now in our daily lives and many find it a great way to get around their neighbourhoods in an efficient, convenient and really an environmentally friendly way as well. It has transformed the way that we are moving around our cities and our towns. In that short amount of years we have seen more people taking up and buying their own private e-scooters, and we have tourists who visit and use the share schemes that are out there.

I see it across the Bellarine. We do not have a shared scheme in the Bellarine, but we certainly have many who use their own private e-scooters. I see it often with them going to their workplaces, or it may be students. I hope they are over 16. I am sure they are, because those are the rules and the law. They often use them, and I see them. It is a concern, though, some of the behaviour that I have seen locally from people who use e-scooters. They are certainly very vulnerable on our roads. We have a group called bSafe, which is a community group that meets with local police. E-scooters and the behaviour of e-scooter drivers have been raised at those meetings. Local police are certainly keeping an eye out for those doing the wrong thing. A majority do do the right thing, but I really want to emphasise that it is a really important issue for my community, and we want to make sure everyone is safe on our roads. We want to make sure that everyone gets home safely. As more and more scooters come onto our roads, we need to make sure that there are plenty of people who are aware of the law and the rules around them but also aware of the behaviours of others to make sure everyone is safe on our roads.

As I have said, there are some challenges with this innovation of e-scooters. We need to make sure that e-scooter users and the shared schemes are being responsible and are taking responsibility for safety and considering others around them, especially pedestrians. Interestingly, through the last inquiry undertaken by the Economy and Infrastructure Committee, which I am on, we had a look at the impact of road safety behaviours on vulnerable road users and we did hear from a couple of e-scooter users. Unfortunately we did not get to hear from some of those larger shared-scheme companies that would have given a real good voice, a really important voice to that inquiry. We did not hear from those, but we did hear from pedestrians and other road users about e-scooters now being on our roads.

It is unrelated really to the COVID pandemic, but these shared schemes were introduced just after the pandemic. What we learned through the inquiry was our behaviour has changed on our roads. All road users have changed in their behaviour. E-scooters were introduced and there was a new form of transport, and adjusting to that change in a very quick, short amount of time was a challenge for a lot of councils. It was a challenge for government and a challenge for users to understand what exactly the rules were. Councils told us that an education piece was certainly needed. We then as a government announced that the trial would conclude in October 2024, and we would permanently allow that sharing scheme and private e-scooters to operate across Victoria.

One of the e-scooter users who did present to the inquiry was Patrick. I just want to quote what Patrick said a little bit about how he felt on the road using an e-scooter. He was concerned about his safety. He said he began to use an electric scooter on Victorian roads in early 2020 and since then he has travelled more than 3200 kilometres according to his e-scooter odometer. He cannot compare pre-COVID and post-COVID, but he said that he experienced multiple life-threatening collisions caused by motorists which deserved to be investigated by the committee. On top of these serious incidents, he had been subject to countless instances of unsafe driver behaviour and road rage. On three separate occasions, motorists had failed to give way to him at roundabouts while he was riding an electric scooter. These incidents represented a life-threatening risk to cyclists, scooter riders and motorcyclists.

What I want to indicate today in this contribution is that through that inquiry we did hear about these instances. We ended up with some recommendations for government to consider when we tabled the final report, and one of the recommendations was for the Department of Transport and Planning to develop an education campaign to reach all road users, including school children, about road rules relating to e-scooters. I have not had a chance to talk to this in this place as yet, but the government has responded to that inquiry, and they supported this recommendation in full. I will just quote the response that was sent from the government in response to that recommendation:

The Victorian Government acknowledges that the rapid rise in e-scooter usage has outpaced public awareness of relevant regulations, contributing to crashes or near misses. Educating all road users, including schoolchildren, can help foster a clear understanding of e-scooter rules and promote a culture of safety and responsibility as the transport landscape evolves.

As part of legalising e-scooter use and ending the trial in October 2024, DTP … developed and delivered a two-stage e-scooter safety campaign, the first of its kind in Victoria. The first stage was a functional campaign informing the community about legislative changes including the new and changed penalties. The second stage was a behavioural campaign which targeted high-risk and illegal e-scooter behaviours, highlighting the dangers of these behaviours and providing a rationale for the e-scooter laws. This stage of the campaign also included information targeting parents …

What I want to highlight is the changes that we have seen, the recommendations the inquiry has been able to present and how government are acting on those and how we are doing that work. That is what this bill is also about. While this bill does focus on those share-scheme operators, I just want to touch a little bit on what the bill will do for them particularly.

Operators of the schemes do have a role to play. They need to ensure that the road rules are followed and that they do not adversely impact the amenity of the local area. We want to make sure that this bill is delivering on safety and compliance, so under the framework, operators of e-scooter sharing schemes are going to be required to comply with safety standards and obtain an approval from the Secretary of the Department of Transport and Planning, in addition to the existing requirement of having an agreement with a local council. Existing and new operators are required to apply, and that preapproval process is about supporting local councils in selecting the right scheme operators. It gives everyone that confidence that everyone is going to be doing the right thing. The sharing schemes, though, are to address those issues. Operators are required to implement technologies and systems and other safety measures and to set a standard that will be mandatory.

We know e-scooters are going to be part of the landscape and the transport system for many more years, and regulation of these e-scooters is very important. While e-scooters, as I have commented, are privately owned as well, they are becoming a common way to get around, and these schemes and the operators need to ensure that they are part of the solution, as they have a critical role in ensuring that the road rules are being followed and that their devices, those e-scooters, are not adversely impacting the amenity of the local area. By providing evidence that they can meet the safety standards and that they are fit and proper to be engaged in a scheme, operators are going to support local councils in selecting the right share scheme operators. With this bill, together with the operators, we are going to ensure that this mode of transport continues to be a safe path.

Wayne FARNHAM (Narracan) (18:22): I am happy to rise today to talk about the Transport Legislation Amendment (Vehicle Sharing Scheme Safety and Standards) Bill 2025. We on this side of the chamber do not oppose this bill, and we understand why the government is bringing this bill in. I did a bill briefing with the government, which was quite informative. Congratulations to the member for Bulleen for managing to drag this out for half an hour; that was no mean feat. We all did a wonderful tour of the member for Bulleen’s e-scooter adventures around the world, but he did educate us. E-scooters and e-bikes are going to be a part of our future. I think we can all accept that. I do agree with the member for Bulleen’s sentiments; I do not understand why Melbourne City Council said they do not want them anymore.

I have had occasion to jump on an e-scooter, and I will admit, before everyone starts sledging me, it did struggle getting up Collins Street. I was probably about 12 kilos heavier and I do not think it was fully charged. That was the problem; well, that is the excuse I am going to use. But I am actually a fan of e-scooters and e-bikes. I think they are great, and I would love to see them in my area in regional Victoria. I know they are in Ballarat; I think the member for Wendouree pointed that out earlier. They are in Ballarat, and I think it is great. I really do. I think they are a great thing.

But this comment I will make: I think we need to get them into the city more. It will ease congestion if you can just jump on an e-scooter and go from site to site and whatever. But we have rules and regulations when you are on a bike. A car has to be 1.5 metres away from a bike. The problem we have in the City of Melbourne is that you cannot do that around the whole city. Collins Street is a very good example. If you come up Collins Street, I think the bike lane is only about 600 mil wide and the car is right there, so it is impossible to get that distance of 1.5 metres between the appliance you are riding, whether it be a scooter or a bike, and the actual traffic. When they were being trialled in Melbourne they were not meant to be on footpaths, they were not meant to do this, they were not meant to do that. I was down at Southbank, and you would see them zipping through Southbank. If the City of Melbourne had put a little bit more thought into this and said they can go on paths but we have to restrict their speed, that would have been one way to resolve the problem where we cannot legally have them on the road with that legal distance from car to scooter or bike.

I did travel with the member for Bulleen. We were in Buenos Aires, and they have a very good system. It took me about 2 hours to download the Ecobici app. What they have over there are stations where you would grab the appliance, whether it be a scooter or a bike, and you would take off and you would have your phone sitting there – it was all GPS – and it would tell you where to park the scooter or the bike. It is a very, very good system. We went to various meetings on bikes and scooters and everything else, and that system worked very, very well. I looked at Buenos Aires, and when we saw the e-scooters and bikes in Melbourne, it was messy. There is no doubt about that. You see them littered everywhere. People would just get off and leave them and move on. If the City of Melbourne or any local government area decided to seriously bring these in – these stations, ports or whatever you want to bring them to – they are a good way to tidy up that process and make the operators responsible for those bikes coming back. It could be as easy as if somebody does not leave a bike at a station and it has been out there for X amount of time, then they cop a fine. It could come automatically off their debit card or credit card that they have logged on with. That is how it is in Buenos Aires. You would have to log on and pay for your time, and when you parked it in a station, you logged off. It is a really good system. If you did not do that, you would get a fine – more money would come off your credit card. It is one way to encourage tourists to abide by the rules.

The other part of this bill which I think is a not a bad thing is it gives PSOs the ability to fine people for not wearing helmets or doing the wrong thing. I am quite curious as to how the PSOs are going to catch them. I am sure there is a solution there somewhere, but I do not know how they are going to catch someone scooting along at 30 k an hour without a helmet on. Maybe they will be praying they will fall off and they can just pick them up. I am sure there will be a solution in this. I am not bagging out the bill; I am just saying I cannot see how they are going to do it. I am sure they will figure it out. They might be fit and run faster than I do. But the PSOs coming in is a good idea, and Victoria Police are on board with that. I think it is a very positive thing.

E-scooters are good for tourism, they really are. If we had e-scooters around here, the tourists could start down at Marvel and work their way up. They could go to Southbank, go to the tennis, go to the MCG. They could ride them up here to Spring Street. Provided we have got the stations for them to park at, I think they are a good idea. As I said earlier, I would love to see these in Baw Baw shire in my electorate. We have a great path that links the two towns, and I could see this being a positive thing. The only setback that I could see around my area is the fact that we could only have them on roads if our road edges were maintained. The problem once you get into regional Victoria and you get around the roads in my area is obviously with the road verges, the potholes and those types of things. I think if the government did invest more in roads – we know they have cut money on roads – and if they did invest in these regional areas to extend the sides of the roads and fix the potholes, this would be a good way of bringing active transport into regional Victoria. That is a great idea. I think the government needs to look at that investment to get these roads up to speed so active transport can become more popular. If active transport becomes more popular, we are using less cars and producing less emissions. We are all about a better environment, so I would like to see investment from the government in that.

When the member for Bulleen and I were in Chile, in Santiago, he did hop on a scooter. He could not sleep. It was quite funny. He decided to jump on a scooter at 4 o’clock in the morning. It must have been about 2 or 3 degrees, and he rode it around Santiago. To be honest, he probably looked like a bit of a tool because he would have been the only one out there on a scooter at that time of the morning, but he rode it all the way up a mountain and back. I saw him when he got back, and he was frozen like a popsicle. He did not think it was a good idea after he got back at 6 am.

The fact is that in Chile and in Buenos Aires, in the two countries we went to, they actively encourage people to use these appliances and these devices. The member for Bulleen stated earlier that in Santiago traffic congestion dropped by 30 per cent. That is a positive, and I am sure we would all hope that in Melbourne the traffic congestion drops. We have got a bit of work to do there, but these could take the pressure off our traffic congestion if people can use them safely, and this is what this bill is about. It is bringing the regulation in so the local government authorities can sort their stuff out. It is bringing the regulation in so whoever is providing the e-scooters or e-bikes has to abide by that. Having GPS systems so that if they are in certain areas they can restrict the speed of the scooter is a positive thing too, because at times they cannot always be on the road. At times they do have to go onto a path. If they go onto a path and they have got to be restricted to walking pace – 5, 10 kilometres an hour, something like that – that is a positive thing.

The government had to do something like this. Maybe one criticism is that it could have been done 12 ‍months earlier, but it is here now. We do not oppose the bill. We think it is a good bill. It is a step in the right direction. I think that going forward in Victoria, not just the CBD but regional Victoria as well, we will need these regulations so that the people that are providing these vehicles have to abide by a certain set of rules. Community safety is important in this. We do know from the trials they did in Melbourne that there were a lot of complaints from people saying e-scooters were going too fast here and there, they are left everywhere and the city is messy because there are green scooters lying all over the place. But this is a step in the right direction. As I said, we do not oppose the bill, and I will leave it up to the next one to have a chat.

Chris COUZENS (Geelong) (18:32): I am pleased to rise to speak on the Transport Legislation Amendment (Vehicle Sharing Scheme Safety and Standards) Bill 2025. I will start by saying I have not been scooting around the world anywhere.

Kat Theophanous interjected.

Chris COUZENS: No. The last scooter I was on was a manual scooter when I was a kid, so it is all new technology to me. But we know how popular they are, and in a city like Geelong – north facing, with waterfront, probably the most beautiful place to visit –

Paul Edbrooke interjected.

Chris COUZENS: apart from Frankston of course –

Members interjecting.

Chris COUZENS: and Tarneit and, okay, everywhere else included – it is really important that we ensure that there is the safety required when we are on these scooters. In Geelong we have so many tourists and so many locals that would really benefit from using whether they be e-bikes or e-scooters or whatever – in this case, e-scooters – when moving around from restaurants and from bars.

A member interjected.

Chris COUZENS: Yes, up Malop Street, obviously not intoxicated, because you are not allowed to be. For tourists coming into our city, being able to move around easily to the different sites – over to the footy at Kardinia Park when the Cats are playing at home or to the Geelong Arts Centre or down to the waterfront, where we have some fantastic restaurants – on those e-scooters will be a real benefit.

I know that particularly young people enjoy using those e-scooters. I want to make sure that there are the safety aspects in place, because sometimes they are going a bit too fast or they have not got their helmets on. This just reinforces the importance of the safety aspect when we are talking about e-scooters. In parts of Geelong there have been some pretty horrific accidents on e-scooters, unfortunately, mostly to do with young people not wearing helmets and not following the guidelines that you would expect them to follow when riding a bike or riding a scooter, and they have had tragic consequences.

For me it is really important that we reiterate the importance of that safety aspect, but also, around Geelong, for example, there is a real push to build more housing in the CBD. We have about 2500 to 3000 people living in the CBD at the moment and we aim to increase that to about 16,000 over the next 10 years. So with that in mind, the e-scooters will be even more important. People will rely on them to move around the city. From the railway station, for example, with people travelling and commuting into Melbourne for work or whatever it might be, there will be a heavier reliance on them, which is a really positive thing. Environmentally it is much better. It reduces carbon emissions, which is something we have been working towards for a very long time. But as I said, it also enables people, from young people through to older people, to use those e-scooters safely – just like the member for Frankston did for his campaign, I believe. He told me he used an e-scooter to get around.

Paul Edbrooke interjected.

Chris COUZENS: I will not take your thunder, but it just goes to show how useful they are and that they can be of real benefit to our community right across the different age groups.

The current regulatory framework for e-scooter riding in Victoria is the strongest compared to other jurisdictions, promoting the responsible use of e-scooters on the transport network. These rules are practical, safety focused and aligned with international best practice. We have heard a lot about people scooting around in other countries. While many e-scooters are privately owned, a common way for riders to use e-scooters is through the app-based sharing schemes. Under these schemes, devices are available for hire in public places. We see them around. We have got some in Geelong and they are being well and truly utilised. But again, for me it comes back to safety, and that is what this bill is about. Operators who have these schemes have a role to play in ensuring that the road rules are followed and that they do not adversely impact the amenity of the local areas their devices are available in. We often see bikes and scooters lying on the streets, so there needs to be some way of addressing those issues as well.

The bill delivers on the Allan Labor government’s commitment to improve e-scooter safety and compliance through amendments to the Transport (Compliance and Miscellaneous) Act 1983 by setting up a prequalification regulatory framework for prospective share scheme operators. Under the framework, operators of these e-scooter sharing schemes will be required to comply with safety standards and obtain approval from the Secretary of the Department of Transport and Planning, in addition to the existing requirement of having an agreement with the local council.

I think the other part to all this is around affordability. Not everyone can afford to have a car, and in fact we are encouraging people not to use cars. We are talking about cycling and active transport. We need better bike paths and that sort of infrastructure to encourage people to do that, and that is something I have been pushing the City of Greater Geelong on for a very long time actually. I think that affordability is really important for my community. I know there are many people that cannot afford cars and they rely on public transport, but if they are living within an area where they can go and do their shopping, whether it is down Pakington Street in Geelong West or in the CBD of Geelong, they only need an e-scooter or a pushbike to be able to get from place to place to do their shopping or go to appointments or whatever they might be doing. So that affordability issue is really important.

The other thing too is that when we talk about building more housing in the CBD, we are not putting in the number of car parks per apartment, for example, because we expect people to use public transport and to use things like e-scooters and bikes. This is a really important one for my community. I know that there is a lot of interest in e-scooters and e-bikes, but we absolutely need to have the infrastructure and rules in place to ensure that people are safe when they are using those e-scooters. It was interesting to see the two-year trial that took place in Melbourne. There were 3.7 million people using the e-scooters. My good friends in Ballarat, who are not here at the moment, had 200,000 people. Geelong is twice the size of Ballarat, so you can imagine how much of an interest there will be in the community of Geelong. The community have embraced e-scooters. Because of the shorter travel options, they can move around safely.

As I said, we are really conscious of accidents that occur. Whether it is running into a pedestrian or running into another vehicle on an e-scooter, we need to be really mindful of that and have those rules in place so people actually understand how dangerous it is for them to be irresponsible, firstly, and, secondly, not to wear protective gear such as a helmet if they do impact with a pedestrian or a vehicle while they are riding their scooter. I just think it is great for our communities. It reduces traffic congestion and improves air quality. It is the safe and sustainable transport system that our communities need. I know it fits for Geelong absolutely perfectly, so I commend this bill to the house.

Rachel WESTAWAY (Prahran) (18:42): I rise today to contribute to the debate on this bill concerning e-mobility in Victoria, the Transport Legislation Amendment (Vehicle Sharing Scheme Safety and Standards) Bill 2025. Whilst I acknowledge the government’s intent to regulate this growing sector, I urge the government to consider futureproofing this legislation to ensure it is effective and practical and does not create unintended risks for or burdens on Victorians. One of the key issues that must be resolved through this legislation is parking and designated storage for e-mobility devices. Let me be clear, being the member for Prahran: we are an inner-city suburb. We are a small, very condensed electorate with lots of people. It is easy to get around, but e-scooters and e-bikes are perfect for our electorate. It is a high-density area of 11 square kilometres.

I do not oppose the amending legislation, but I do believe we need to consider other elements to this as well. Without sufficient infrastructure these devices can cause obstructions and safety concerns. The member for Geelong mentioned the issue with helmets and accidents that she had seen, and that is a concern for me as well. The provision of this infrastructure should not just be a burden for governments. State and local governments should work together with e-mobility providers to solve these challenges. Convenient and orderly parking is also essential to community acceptance and the long-term viability of e-mobility. Around the world we have seen examples of successful collaboration between governments, local councils and providers to introduce designated e-mobility parking zones, and that is something that we should be considering. In addition to that, digital geofencing and initiative-based user compliance, parking zone enforcement, use of GPS technology and photo verification and incentive models like ride credits could also be considered to encourage responsible parking. These are reasonable expectations for providers.

QR code technology has already been proven effective, with Hello Bike, a provider of e-bikes, successfully managing over 15,000 bikes in Singapore using this model, and it is something we should be considering. In addition, the question must be asked: when will the Victorian government follow the lead of London, Paris and more recently New South Wales in supporting on-street parking and infrastructure that enable safe, scalable e-mobility programs? This legislation should not just identify the issues but provide a framework that empowers local councils and providers to work together on practical solutions that benefit the community. Local government will need to begin to incorporate e-mobility planning into their broader transport and infrastructure strategies, ensuring integration with existing public space and safety considerations.

As electric micromobility becomes even more widespread, battery safety must be part of the legislative conversation, especially as the bill seeks to establish minimum standards for shared vehicle operations. Victoria has an opportunity to lead by initiating a formal discussion on safe charging infrastructure, quality control for lithium batteries and public education for battery recycling. A recent article in the Age by Rachel Eddie revealed that almost 90 per cent of Victoria’s multistorey apartment buildings do not meet fire safety standards, largely because property owners struggle to maintain increasingly complex systems, leaving residents at risk. Without clear thinking from government this legislation could well add even more risk.

New York City is another example that is proactively addressing this with its Charge Safe, Ride Safe action plan. This includes the introduction of battery safety laws and enforcement mechanisms, a pilot for public battery charging stations for delivery riders and advocacy for coordinated federal regulation and education. Closer to home, NSW Fair Trading declared e-bikes and e-scooters as declared electric articles in 2024, requiring batteries to meet prescribed standards by 1 August 2025. Mandatory labelling will begin on 1 February 2026, and that department is currently reviewing the scope and cost impacts in consultation with industry.

The rise in e-mobility is a global phenomenon, and we should look at best practice from around the world when dealing with critical issues around battery safety. A leading bike sharing service, HelloRide, is demonstrating global leadership in this space through its high battery charging units, which I think are really important. It contains isolated battery fire incidents using fireproof, tamperproof enclosures that exceed current market standards. The company is proposing the rollout of public battery swapping and charging infrastructure at transport hubs, including on university campuses and at local council locations to improve safety and reduce footpath clutter. These are issues that we should be considering: where the bikes are located and where the batteries are located.

We need to look at battery downtime as well and efficiencies caused by that. We need to enable off-peak and solar-powered charging to ease grid pressure and cut emissions. The government should work with these types of providers and innovative companies to enhance overall safety rather than impose onerous, unrealistic or expensive regulation in a piecemeal fashion.

E-mobility should be a cost-effective and accessible transport option for all Victorians, yet this bill lacks clear provision to ensure affordability. Cities like Sydney and Brisbane have demonstrated that competitive, well-regulated e-mobility markets can drive down costs and improve user accessibility. If this legislation places excessive costs on operators through unnecessary levies or even rigid compliant measures, it will inevitably be the consumers who bear this burden. This is something we have got to consider. Given the rising cost-of-living pressures that I have already spoken about today in the chamber, we should be ensuring that affordable, sustainable transport options remain viable, not pricing people out of the market with higher taxes and charges.

There are certainly environmental benefits to e-scooters and e-bikes, and I support infrastructure and regulation that will encourage a shift from private car usage to e-mobility. This will deliver important environment benefits, which in my mind and certainly in the people of Prahran’s minds is paramount. Areas like Prahran, with its proximity to major employment and entertainment hubs, stand to benefit enormously from a well-supported e-mobility network.

Clause 5 of this bill refers to systems that prevent a person from riding or otherwise using a category ‍A vehicle while intoxicated. While the intention is to promote rider safety – that is understood – mandating providers to provide breathalyser systems is in practice a significant overreach in my view. This kind of technology introduces complex logistical and privacy issues and may ultimately prove both costly and impractical to implement reliably. The e-mobility providers I have spoken to have emphasised their commitment to enhancing safety through innovation, and many of them support the targeted deployment of camera-based technology to detect and deter unsafe behaviour, including footpath riding. In high-demand densely populated areas such as inner Melbourne this kind of investment can be justified, and it is already being trialled successfully in other cities around the world. However, the providers have informed me that the current cost of implementing this technology on a per-device basis is prohibitively high for smaller and regional markets such as Ballarat, Bendigo or Geelong or outer metropolitan areas like Casey. Mandating for the universal rollout of this technology without regard to scale or economic feasibility may disincentivise operators from servicing regional or outer metropolitan areas, and we have already heard speakers talk to this bill supporting it who represent areas that are in regional Victoria. The result: communities that stand to benefit significantly from accessible low-emission transport options could miss out entirely due to one-size-fits-all rules that are not affected by local conditions. If this bill aims to support a truly statewide e-mobility network, then flexibility must be built into its safety provisions to ensure both the community protection and service viability of this system. This bill is a step in the right direction, but it does not go far enough to ensure e-mobility is safe, sustainable and accessible for all Victorians.

Gary MAAS (Narre Warren South) (18:52): It gives me pleasure to rise and make a somewhat truncated contribution to the Transport Legislation Amendment (Vehicle Sharing Scheme Safety and Standards) Bill 2025 before we hit adjournments at 7 o’clock this evening. I do so, as I say, with great pleasure because in speaking to e-scooters, we know they are a relatively new technology that many young people in our community especially have been embracing. But yes, look, if the contribution by the member for Narracan is anything to believe, I guess that technology has been embraced by the young at heart as well.

But as we know, with any new technology we must adapt and learn as we become accustomed to them in our everyday lives. People have seen the benefits of e-scooters among commuters, people exploring the city, shift workers who use them alongside other modes of transport – and that type of travel is often known as the first or last kilometre of travel. They are a low-cost, low-emission transport option that can help get cars off our roads and reduce traffic congestion. E-scooters can be privately owned, but a common way for riders to use e-scooters is through app-based sharing schemes, as seen all over the world, including in Vienna, Seoul, Berlin, Buenos Aires, I understand, Santiago and also Memphis and LA.

Given that the member for Narracan spoke about what might have been a state-funded trip, I will talk about a non-state-funded trip to Memphis, where I was able to use scooters getting down from the hotel that I was staying in to Sun Studio, in fact, the home of That’s All Right, Mama by Elvis Presley, where that was recorded. Getting there the transport options were not terrific, and they did have that e-scooter option. It was really interesting, though, that compared to Melbourne there were no bike lanes. There were certainly no helmet options, and with heavy traffic even though that trip was too long for an Uber ride and there was no public transport available, there was still that e-scooter option to get to where I needed to go. However, there were some safety aspects that went with that, given the amount of traffic and given the non-availability of easy access to helmets.

The Allan Labor government, however, has implemented a comprehensive and robust set of rules to regulate the use of e-scooters through app-based sharing schemes, and these are usually arrangements that are made between councils and operators. The legislation is aimed at the now and at the future, to have rules to ensure the safety of both riders and the public. The bill will amend the Transport (Compliance and Miscellaneous) Act 1983 to deliver on Victorian government commitments to improve e-scooter amenity and accessibility by introducing a preapproval process requirement for the operators for vehicle-sharing schemes, including e-scooters and other prescribed vehicles. Under the framework operators of e-scooter-sharing schemes will be required to comply with safety standards and obtain approval from the Secretary of the Department of Transport and Planning, in addition to the existing requirement of having an agreement with the local council.

We know that one of the biggest risks with hired e-scooters is their use on footpaths and in spots that block access, especially for people with mobility issues. They can reduce the amenity of public spaces, and the bill enables the government to prescribe safety standards for their operation. As well as doing that, it addresses the issue by requiring operators to implement systems, technologies and other safety measures, and these standards are mandatory. The standards will cover requirements for vehicles and devices available under a sharing scheme. There are standards and requirements for footpath detection, parking of devices, helmet use, use of vehicles outside of a permitted area and the detection and prevention of intoxicated riders.

The bill also amends the Road Safety Act 1986 to provide protective service officers with the power to serve infringement notices for road safety offences that can occur on an e-scooter. This recognises the need for improved compliance with road rules for e-scooters and builds on the penalties the government introduced last year, including fines for riding without a helmet, riding on a footpath or carrying a passenger.

In the previous Parliament I was privileged to be a member of the e-scooter trial oversight panel, working alongside the hardworking member for Eltham. It was terrific to work with her to oversee and to try to envisage what might come out of the e-scooter trial. The panel was set up to provide advice to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety about outcomes of the e-scooter trial while undertaking evaluations to inform the panel’s recommendations to the minister. The evaluation criteria included safety considerations, impact on street amenity, tourism and economic and environmental factors, as well as their relation to broader transport objectives.

From that came last year’s commitment, when we announced that the trial was successful and would conclude in October 2024, permanently allowing the sharing scheme and private e-scooters to operate across the state. When the trial was completed back in October 2024 and the government introduced permanent regulatory settings it did so for the use of those e-scooters. At that time we also announced that new legislation would be introduced this year setting out new requirements for e-scooter share hire operators applying to councils to operate, with minimum standards to be enforced through a preapproval scheme. This bill fulfils that commitment. It is as a result of all of that work that we were led here today. This government, by introducing this bill, is showing that people in our community can utilise this convenient mode of transport but should do so with an awareness of the safety risks, regulations and associated responsibility that goes with that.

E-scooters will become an ever more important part of our transport network, but there must be strong regulations to avoid injury or risk to the community. I look forward to seeing more e-scooters on our streets and seeing the benefits they bring, with the backing of this government’s work to improve regulation, compliance and responsibility. With that I will commend the bill to the house.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.