Following the recent announcement by the Queensland Transport Minister, Scott Emerson to include an exemption in Queensland’s bicycle helmet laws on the basis of religion, SYA's Legal Advocacy Team commenced efforts to lobby the NSW government to amend the NSW bicycle helmet laws to allow turbaned Sikhs the right to legally ride their bicycles in the state - an issue we felt was important to the Sikh youth of NSW.

Following the recent announcement by the Queensland Transport Minister, Scott Emerson to include an exemption in Queensland’s bicycle helmet laws on the basis of religion, SYA's Legal Advocacy Team commenced efforts to lobby the NSW government to amend the NSW bicycle helmet laws to allow turbaned Sikhs the right to legally ride their bicycles in the state - an issue we felt was important to the Sikh youth of NSW.

The Queensland announcement was the result of a campaign set in motion by Jasdeep Atwal, a member of the Sikh community in Queensland who appealed a fine issued to him when he did not wear a helmet whilst riding his bicycle due to his turban, an important article of the Sikh faith.
On 23 April 2013 the Legal Advocacy Team wrote to the Honourable Gladys Berejiklian, MP, the New South Wales Minister for Transport seeking an amendment to bicycle helmet laws.  Specifically, we urged the Transport Minister to bring New South Wales’ helmet laws in line with other Australian States and Territories that had established an exemption for helmet use on the grounds of religion, noting such exemptions have been in place for over 20 years. 

Last month the Legal Advocacy Team, accompanied by members of the SYA executive,  were invited to meet with various policy and road safety representatives from the Transport for NSW, the agency of the New South Wales Government that formulates and implements transport policy.

The brief was very well recieved and there was a robust discussion regarding the various issues raised. Whilst recognising the growing profile of the SIkh community in Australia and the importance of the turban in Sikhi, the foremost concern of Transport for NSW's representatives centred around implementation models of the exemption and the health and safety issues associated with such a change. 

We have since been in contact with policy officials for Transport for NSW and working toward a tentative timeline of 6 months for legislative amendment.

You can download the submission to Transport for NSW here.

We look forward to keeping the community updated on our progress in this matter. If any members of the community in the Northern Territory, Tasmania and ACT wish to lobby their respective state governments, please contact us and we will be happy to assist!

-

Nisha Kaur Jholl, Anant Kaur Sidhana and Saranpaal Singh Calais
SYA Legal Advocay Team