Embargo until 9pm, 7 September

The Northern Territory Government’s DriveSafe NT Remote program is again in the national spotlight as the diamond winner of the Australian Road Safety Conference Awards.

The 3M-Australasian College of Road Safety Diamond Road Safety Award was awarded to Department of Transport’s DriveSafe NT Remote program -Transforming the lives of Indigenous Territorians through a driver licence.

Australia’s leading road safety award acknowledges highly innovative, cost-effective initiatives and programs that deliver significant improvements in road safety for the community.

DriveSafe NT Remote program team leader Wayne Buckley accepted the accolade on behalf of the Northern Territory Government at an award ceremony held this evening at Parliament House in Canberra in front of 600 road safety professionals.

As the national award winner, the DriveSafe NT Remote team receives a trip to the USA to attend the American Traffic Safety Services Association Annual Convention and Traffic Expo in 2017.

DriveSafe NT Remote is an innovative program that delivers culturally appropriate road safety education and awareness initiatives.

Since it was established in 2012, DriveSafe NT Remote has issued 3241 Learner licences, 1021 Provisional licences, 2066 driving lessons and 1129 birth certificates.

The program works in partnership with local organisations to deliver a flexible service model for Motor Vehicle Registry and driver education and licensing services.

DriveSafe NT Remote delivers an end-to-end service and provides proof of identity assistance, driver and road safety training and theory and practical driving tests.

The program is community driven. It targets areas of need as defined by individual communities and uses their resources and networks to implement the initiatives.

The program delivers face-to-face licensing and registration services to 74 communities across the NT and also provides licence and registration renewals, licence upgrades and vehicle registration.

Indigenous people are a vulnerable road user group with double the rate of deaths per 100 000 population compared to non-Indigenous road users.

Being unlicensed is a major social justice problem. For Indigenous people living in our vast remote regions, a driver’s licence is a passport to opportunity; it improves access to job opportunities, family connectedness, health, education and training services.

The DriveSafe NT Remote program is directly responsible for the increase in licensing outcomes in underserviced remote NT regions.

The program is an integral part of the Northern Territory Government’s investment to advance the aim of safer drivers in safer cars on safer roads.

Media contact: Simone Phasey 8924 7028