2GB Drive with Chris O’Keefe: E-Bike Safety and Cook Community Forum
TRANSCRIPT
11 November, 2024
Chris O’Keefe 2GB Drive: Look, my view on this, I am firmly of the view that these electric bikes are dangerous, and I reckon they should be banned for people unless they've got insurance or registration. Because E-Bikes, they're effectively motorbikes and for some reason they're being treated like pushbikes again. On the weekend, I saw one of those Fat Boy E-Bikes almost take a lady out with a pram. Now you can't tell me they're going 20 odd ks. They're supposedly restricted to, they're going way faster than that. And for whatever reason, nobody seems to want to do anything about it. And mark my words, I reckon the Minns government will end up doing something about it when one of these E-Bikes kills someone because that's where we're headed, unfortunately. Now I'm pleased to say that Simon Kennedy MP is the member for Cook in our Sutherland Shire because these E-Bikes are particularly bad around Cronulla, and he's calling for, well, he's calling a community forum on this to try to at least start to address the issue. Simon's on the line for us. G’day.
Simon Kennedy MP: G’day, Chris, how are you?
CO: I'm good, thank you. So you've been inundated by complaints by the sounds.
SK: This was actually the second biggest issue behind cost-of-living that was raised with me in the Cook by-election. I had men and women coming up, saying that they had e-bikes flying down the footpath as fast as 50 or 60 kilometers an hour. I had a lady who told me she had her eye socket fractured, another one who said they had a friend. His 3-year-old boy leg was broken in half, and in that by-election, I committed to doing something about it. And this is our second forum on Saturday the 23rd of November in Cronulla at 10:30 AM The details are on my website, simonkennedymp.com.au, but it's our second forum and we'll have the police, the Council, as well as the local State Member there to address the community's concerns. We're waiting for the Minss government to do something. We've also been waiting for the Council to do something, but we are doing what we can locally to address the issue.
CO: I know that whenever I have a conversation with the Transport Minister, she's all aboard the e scooter and e-bike train. Effectively, they're pushbikes. That's how the Minns government are treating them. You've got issues at the border. Potentially they're trying to blame the State government, the Federal government for breakdown at the border in terms of the illegal E-Bikes being imported. But ultimately, doesn't it come down to this, Simon, isn't it on the police to enforce some legislation that the State government proposes?
SK: You are spot on, Chris. They're actually legal if you ride them on private land. So the way some retailers can get away with this is they get people to sign disclaimers, they'll ride them on private land. That falls down. It really does land with the State and Local governments, if they can throttle without being peddled, they're illegal. They all do that. If they're more than 500 megawatts, they're illegal. They all do that. If they don't cut off at 25 kilometers an hour, they're illegal. So most of them are breaking three laws, but if you took them on a farm, you could do it. But the fact is, people are riding these on our footpaths, on our streets, and they're E-Motorbikes, and I worry somebody's going to get badly injured or even killed. And so we've got to do what we can locally
CO: By the sounds of things people are already getting badly injured in Cronulla.
SK: Well, that's true. That is true. And I was at Remembrance Day service this morning with some elderly diggers who came up and they've heard about the forum and said, thank you for doing something. But they're scared. They're scared to go through the mall. There's people at granola mall now who are avoiding going there because they're worried for their safety.
CO: Do the coppers do anything? The police sit there and try and do something to at least stop these because largely they're sort of teenage kids, right?
SK: Yeah. So they weren't, but I want to say Don Faulds , the new Sutherland Shire Superintendent, I saw him in his first week in the job only a couple of months ago, and he was very receptive. As of yesterday, they were at Caringbah Station, inspecting bikes, looking at their throttles. Last week in the mall, they were handing out education flyers because a lot of people don't know these are illegal, and a lot of parents have bought them not knowing they're illegal, and they were handing out flyers. They're going to be attending the forum and saying what they're doing. So I've been incredibly appreciative of Don and the leadership change at Sutherland Police and what that's brought about. So it's been a breath of fresh air
CO: For you, Simon. You're a pretty bright bloke. Do you think that my proposal, whereby I say that E-Bikes should be effectively treated like motorbikes. If you want one, you need to ride it on the road with insurance and registration. Do you think that helps?
SK: Absolutely. These are motorbikes. They are illegal E-Bikes and illegal motorbikes because they're not registered. That's exactly what they are. So what I worry about is there's an upper house inquiry in the state that won't finish till March. Then the government has six months to respond. Then we're out to September, it's 18 months before we'll see action. So that's why we are getting together locally and saying, what can we do to address this issue? Because in 18 months, someone at Cronulla could be killed and we don't want that to happen.
CO: Simon Kennedy, keep up the good fight. It's an important one to have. I thank you for your time.
SK: Thanks Chris, and thanks to your listeners.