Yes. The section's position wouldn't change in terms of being opposed to removing or curtailing that defence. We would suggest that the availability of that record would enhance and add a layer of objectivity, or an additional layer of objectivity, to the calling of the defence. In addition to an accused person's testimony about how much they had to drink and any buttressing evidence they have that corroborates what they have to say, in addition to the testimony of a toxicologist for the defence, an additional piece of evidence the court would have available to them would be a video record. And in fact the defence toxicologist would also be able to comment on an audiovisual recording of the testing process itself.
So it would enhance the process, but we do not believe it would necessitate or in any way encourage the elimination of that type of defence. Essentially what you're saying in that type of defence is that an accused person, who believes they are innocent or have not had sufficient alcohol to drink to have a particular reading, is not permitted to testify under oath to that effect. We have judges, we have triers of fact in this country, who are able to assess that evidence.
I should add that I don't believe it's accurate to suggest that the two-beer test, this “evidence to the contrary” defence, is simply a matter of an accused person taking the witness stand and swearing they only had two beers and the defence calling it a day on that basis and having judges acquit. The judges assess the credibility of that testimony in relation to a broad range of other evidence that might be available, and that would include an audiovisual record of what happened in the testing procedure.