Explanatory note

The amendment to clause 6 (new section 57A) provides that where a blood sample is taken at a hospital or surgery, evidence of a Class A controlled drug in the blood sample can be used as grounds for a prosecution regardless of whether there is an evidence of impairment.

The bill as currently drafted requires a person to have failed a compulsory impairment test before a blood sample can be used as evidence of driving while impaired and with blood that contains evidence of use of a controlled drug or prescription medicine. This should continue to be the case where samples are taken by enforcement officers other than in hospitals or surgeries. But where someone is in a hospital or surgery when the blood test is taken it is not appropriate to require the performance, and failure, of a compulsory impairment test before the results can be used.

The amendments to clauses 10 and 11 interrelate. They clarify the law to ensure that an enforcement officer can require a person who fails a breath screening test under section 68 or an evidential breath test under section 69 can also require the person to provide a blood specimen if the officer has good cause to suspect that the person has consumed a drug or drugs.