UPDATE: THIS IS ABOUT REPEAL — NOT CLARIFICATION
The issue we are now asking people to act on is much more fundamental than simply asking the Government to explain how the new powers will be used.
The Government has introduced legislation giving Police and Transport for NSW seizure powers over "non-registrable motor vehicles" — a statutory category that extends beyond the illegal and high-powered e-bikes that dominated the Government's public messaging.
The Government's public case has focused heavily on e-bikes and e-motorbikes.
But the seizure powers created by the legislation are framed around the much broader category of non-registrable motor vehicles.
That distinction matters.
Where is the evidence for the broader ban?
For the other PMD types captured by this broad statutory category, our research has not identified the same body of evidence being presented to justify the Government's e-bike-focused response.
We have not identified evidence showing:
- widespread media reporting of "hooning" involving these other PMD types;
- widespread reporting of children or young people using these other PMDs in the manner described in the Government's e-bike narrative;
- evidence of widespread adult misuse of these devices;
- crash data that consistently identifies and distinguishes these PMD types;
- consistent Government categories that allow reliable tracking of incidents, crashes, injuries and offending across the different types of PMDs; or
- a clear evidence base demonstrating that these other PMD types require the same seizure and destruction response being applied to illegal e-bikes.
Instead, much of the evidence and public discussion being relied upon relates to e-bikes.
That creates a fundamental question:
Can evidence about one category of device legitimately be used as the evidence base for granting seizure and destruction powers across a much broader statutory category of non-registrable motor vehicles?
We need the Government to repeal these powers
This is why simply asking for better guidance is not enough.
The concern is that the legislation has created a broad enforcement power while the public justification has largely centred on a particular problem — illegal and high-powered e-bikes.
Other PMDs have been swept into the same statutory category without the same clearly identifiable evidence base.
The Government should therefore be asked to repeal the seizure and destruction powers insofar as they apply to PMDs under the broad "non-registrable motor vehicle" classification, rather than allowing responsible riders of fundamentally different devices to be caught by legislation developed around an e-bike-focused problem narrative.
This is not an argument that dangerous or illegal devices should be ignored.
It is an argument that the law should be proportionate to the evidence, and that different device types should not automatically be treated as one problem simply because they fall within a broad statutory definition.
WE NEED YOUR HELP
If you ride or support any of the PMD types affected by this legislation, please take action.
Write to the NSW Minister for Transport and ask for the seizure powers to be repealed for PMDs captured under the "non-registrable motor vehicle" category.
Use the NSW Government's online contact form:
Contact the Minister of Transport Webform
When completing the form:
- Fill out your contact information
- Subject "Demand for Empirical Evidence and Explanation for the Expansion of NSW Non-Registrable Vehicle Laws to PMDs"
- Select Type of Enquiry "Comment" (I know not a great range to choose from)
- Select This is relating to "Transport"
- Copy the message body from link MessageBody and paste into the "Message" the webform.
- Download a copy from the link Request for Empirical Evidence PDF of the Questions to the Minister PDF.
- Tick "I would like a response" checkbox
- Attach/Upload the downloaded PDF to the webform.
- Tick "Privacy collection notice" checkbox
- Keep a copy of your submission and any response you receive.
ALSO CONTACT YOUR LOCAL MP
Please don't stop with the Minister.
Contact your local NSW State MP and ask them to raise the same issue with the Government and the Minister.
Using the message body and PDF, ask your MP to challenge the government on these laws as they apply to PMDs captured under the broad "non-registrable motor vehicle" category.
The objective is simple:
Responsible adult riders should not lose their devices — or face seizure and destruction powers — because the NSW government hasn't acted on the 2025 Parlimentary Inqueries goals of
“develop a comprehensive framework to integrate private and shared e-mobility into the state’s transport system”
including a framework that:
“supports the use of both private and shared e-scooters, e-bikes and other e-mobility devices as legitimate forms of transport”
because legislation developed around an e-bike problem has been written to cover a much broader category of PMDs.
We need the Government to show the evidence supporting the application of these powers across all affected PMD types, not simply provide e-bike evidence for a law that encompasses much more than e-bikes.
Please contact the Minister. Please contact your local MP. And please ask for repeal.
I'm continuing to work behind the scenes advocating for real legislative change.