Liberal Member for Penrith Stuart Ayres has welcomed the introduction of tough new laws providing courts with powers to disqualify graffiti vandals from driving, honouring yet another commitment made by the NSW Liberals & Nationals before the election.
“Our community is sick and tired of graffiti vandals attacking out trains, schools, fences and other buildings. This vandalism costs the the community well over $100 million a year, including around $50 million just by RailCorp,” Mr Ayres said today.
\”Graffiti imposes serious costs to small business, families and Council. It also makes our communities less attractive and creates a feeling of general lawlessness.
“BOCSAR figures show the bulk of graffiti offences are perpetrated by young males. Oftentimes, nothing is more valuable to them than their driver’s licence, it is for this reason the government has brought this legislation to parliament – to deter young offenders from defacing our neighbourhoods,” he said.
“Under the new laws, magistrates can put offenders on licence restrictions, reduce the number of demerit points and disqualify them from driving altogether.” Attorney General Greg Smith said today.
The NSW Government will:
- require juvenile graffiti vandals to appear before the court for a graffiti offence;
- gives courts the power to:
- extend the time graffiti offenders spend on learner or provisional licences, or
- suspend a driver licence, or
- limit the number of demerit points they are able to accrue over a specific period;
- Require cleaning up graffiti a condition of any court imposed Community Service Orders on graffiti offenders.
“The introduction of stronger penalties for offenders and a scheme to ensure graffiti is promptly detected and removed will discourage vandals, improve public safety and build community pride,” Mr Smith said.
