Road Legislation Amendment (E-Bike Regulation) Bill 2025

Ms JACQUI SCRUBY ( Pittwater ) ( 10:19 :40 ): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I introduce the Road Legislation Amendment (E-Bike Regulation) Bill 2025. This bill is about getting the balance right when it comes to e-bikes. It provides the framework to preserve the profound benefits of e-bikes while confronting the equally real risks: illegal riding, severe antisocial behaviour and the escalating crisis of injuries on our roads and footpaths. Whether you love them or hate them—and my electorate is distinctly divided—e‑bikes are a permanent fixture in our suburbs. They have transformed how people move. They facilitate the decarbonisation of our transit, and no doubt will be embraced as fuel prices increase and soar as a result of what is happening in the Middle East. They also reduce local vehicle congestion and provide unprecedented independent mobility, particularly for young people to get to school, sport or their friends' places without relying on parents for lifts.

But we must face reality: An e-bike is not a pushbike. It is consistently faster, significantly heavier and capable of doing far more harm when misused. Legal models alone can weigh up to 50 kilograms before a rider climbs on. With passengers or modifications, the kinetic energy and impact risk grow exponentially. We have witnessed an exponential explosion of these devices in New South Wales, from under 10,000 sales in 2017 to a staggering estimated 760,000 e-bikes currently in circulation across the State. Our communities are grappling with the consequences of this rapid saturation. Some suburbs feel like the Wild West, particularly at certain points of the day, with riders weaving through traffic at 50 kilometres per hour, doing wheelies and riding without helmets or protective gear.

The most pressing consequence of this regulatory void is a public health crisis unfolding in real time. Data recently released by St Vincent's Hospital Sydney shows that serious injuries from e-bike accidents have jumped 350 per cent since 2023. Last year alone, there were 200 severe e-bike related presentations to their trauma team. We are not talking about grazed knees; we are talking about ruptured bowels, severe head trauma and complex fractures. This trauma is deeply felt in my own community. In Mona Vale, a man in his fifties was tragically killed in a collision with a truck. In Dee Why, a teenage girl was left in a critical condition after crashing on a steep road. In another horrific incident, a seven-year-old girl was knocked down by a teenager riding at speed through a shopping arcade.

You cannot seize and crush your way out of a systemic safety crisis. The Government is focusing entirely on the end game—punishment and confiscation—without doing anything to establish the rules of the game first. Although there are rules—although many of them are not being enforced at the moment, with a plethora of illegal e‑bikes—what I am talking about is leading with a licensing and registration system. I also acknowledge that age limits play a role. In Western Australia and Queensland the age limit of 16, and in Victoria the age limit of 14, is either implemented or being considered. They do play a role. But recent data from Victoria, as reported on the weekend, shows that when it comes to e-scooter injuries, half of those were with children aged 10 to 14, even though there is a limit where under‑14s are not meant to be riding e-scooters. We know that those rules, even if implemented, may be ignored. That is why I am very supportive of New South Wales being the first State to implement a licensing and registration scheme.

Under the current Road Transport Act, e-bikes and traditional bicycles are treated in essentially the same way. They are legally the same. A penny‑farthing is legally the same as a pushbike, which is also the same as a legal e‑bike. This bill creates a clear legal distinction between e-bikes and pushbikes. That foundational change allows for a new part 1A to the Road Transport Act, granting statutory rule‑making powers to the Minister to establish a comprehensive licensing and registration system specifically for e‑bikes. I note that the bill does not prescribe a licensing and registration scheme. I also acknowledge that there is complexity around regulating e‑bikes. It is something that impacts both State and Federal laws, and we also need to have regard for what other States are doing.

This bill that I am speaking to today merely allows the Minister to have the powers to establish a licensing and registration framework. Licensing ensures that riders using the network actually understand the road rules before they ride. From a first principles perspective, that is something that my community strongly agrees with. Registration and visible number plates mean that enforcement officers, local councils and the public can see at a glance whether a bike is legal and accountable. A visible registration system removes the anonymity that fuels antisocial behaviour like rideouts, such as the recent incident when e‑bikes tore up the Long Reef Golf Course on the northern beaches, and also the incident on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which was well publicised.

I note in these circumstances it is not a matter of whether a bike is illegal or legal, or whether it is 500 watts or 250 watts. Any e‑bike, even a legal e-bike, can engage in that type of behaviour and is able to get away with it more readily because of the speed at which a bike travels. That is why having a licence plate leads to better accountability and also assists enforcement. If a rider breaks the rules, a number plate allows police to follow up afterwards, just as they do with cars, rather than engaging in a dangerous chase. It has been difficult for police. Even last year, in 2025, there was a case where a policeperson was convicted. I do not have the specific charge, but I think it was around dangerous driving which resulted in death. That was in relation to pursuit of a 16‑year‑old who had stolen a dirt bike. We know that chasing any rider on a bike is dangerous. As a result, there is a role for number plates to help and assist with enforcement.

We know that licensing and registration work. We only need to look at our waterways. In Pittwater and across New South Wales, children as young as 12 can legally operate a motorised boat. They do so only after completing a course that teaches maritime rules, the physics of stopping distances, the risks associated with driving a boat and the consequences of ignoring them. Through that process, they gain respect for the water, for the law and for the authorities who can hold them to account through a visible registration system. We also already have proof of the effectiveness of licensing and registration of e-bikes.

E-Bike Safety Australia [EBSA] has a high school education program which is being trialled at schools in New South Wales and Queensland. That includes Cronulla High School and, recently, St Luke's on the northern beaches. It combines road rule education with visible ID plates on student bikes. Following the implementation of this program, school principals reported that weekly complaints about students riding recklessly dropped by a whopping 95 per cent, from more than 40 complaints a week down to just two. Respect was restored because education was paired with visible accountability. I note that EBSA has sought to consult with the Government numerous times. The Government has not yet taken them up on the offer. I call on the Government to consult with EBSA about that program.

I am well aware of the counterarguments to registration, but I reject them. Opponents claim it is too bureaucratic or costly, creating a barrier to active transport. The barrier to entry for e-bikes is the $3,000 cost of the e‑bike itself, not a modest annual registration fee. If designed well, these fees can contribute directly to funding the physically separated bike infrastructure our communities are crying out for. A registration framework also prepares the ground for insurance. While this bill does not directly legislate for insurance to be required, a licensing and registration system creates the necessary structure. Currently, victims of e‑bike collisions are left financially stranded. In a neighbouring electorate, a member of the northern beaches community faced a $38,000 medical bill. She was knocked down by an e-bike. She has limited avenues for recourse. We must close this void. I support insurance for e-bikes.

The bill also amends the road rules in relation to bicycles and footpaths. Under existing New South Wales rules, children under 16 and adults accompanying them can ride on footpaths at the same speed as on the adjacent road. In the era of e-bikes, that means a 50-kilogram fat bike carrying two people can legally hurtle past toddlers, the elderly and other pedestrians at the speed of a motorcycle. I am supportive of a 10 kilometres per hour speed limit on footpaths. Due to complexity, my bill amends the Road Transport Act to provide a different legal definition for bikes and e-bikes. It does not do that for the Road Rules due to the complexity, although there needs to be further reform in that area.

Instead, I have merely amended the speed limit to 10 kilometres per hour on footpaths. That would apply to bicycles and e-bikes, and it would not change the fact that only 16-year-olds and under can ride bicycles and e‑bikes on footpaths. I think more reform needs to be done in that area but, for simplicity, I have focused on the 10 kilometres per hour speed limit. The 10 kilometres per hour speed limit has been mentioned in the Queensland and Western Australian inquiries into e-bikes, and I note that the New South Wales inquiry mentioned a 15 kilometres per hour limit instead.

There is a lot of complexity, and we must also tackle retail and manufacturing loopholes. At present, too many bikes are sold as compliant 250-watt or 500-watt bikes only to be digitally unlocked within minutes, whether that means changing the throttle speed or the wattage. A buyer may leave the shop with a legal bike, press a few buttons and suddenly they have an illegal bike. More work needs to be done on that as well. In the interim, the bill amends the Road Transport Act to insert a new section 148AA making it crystal clear that tampering with or digitally unlocking an e-bike to exceed legal speed or power limits is unlawful and an offence. If people want high‑powered electric motorbikes for use on private property, they can still purchase them but those vehicles have absolutely no place on our public roads.

Finally, we cannot manage what we do not measure, and this bill inserts new section 281 into the Road Transport Act requiring e-bike death and injury data to be distinctly collected, reported annually and tabled in this House. Right now, e-bike trauma is often ambiguously grouped with analogue bicycle or pedestrian data, masking the true scale of this crisis. Let me be clear about what I want and do not want. I do not want teenagers dying on our roads. I do not want adults dying on our roads. I do not want people being charged with manslaughter, like they have been in Western Australia and Queensland, because they lost control of an e-bike. I do not want older Australians and people with disabilities living in fear of being knocked down.

In inquiry after inquiry and in State after State, the one solution that continues to be skirted around is registration and licensing. New South Wales should lead on implementing licensing and registration. If there is an e-bike utopia—which I am sure there is—I do not suggest that this bill gets us all the way there, but I hope it is a step in the right direction. It puts pressure on the Government to consider licensing and registration, and I know the Coalition has announced that it is supportive of licensing and registration for under 16s. May this discussion continue. I look forward to the debate, and I commend the bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.