Yesterday the Road Transport Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2019 was passed by both the Upper and Lower House, and is waiting assent.

When the amendments come into effect, they will clear up any ambiguity regarding the “relevant offence-free period” in relation to removing licence disqualifications.

Currently, the Road Transport Act 2013 (‘the Act’) allows a person to apply to remove all licence disqualifications previously ordered by a Court, if the disqualified person has not been convicted of any driving offence during the “relevant offence-free period”.

“Relevant offence-free period” is defined in the Act to be 4 years, if the person is convicted of a major offence (or other offence as defined in the Act), or 2 years in any other case. What was unclear is whether the calculation of this period is to start from the date the offence was committed, or the date the person was convicted for the offence.

The amendments introduced by this Bill resolves this issue by establishing that the relevant offence-free period is to be calculated from the date the offence was committed.