There are several things wrong with P Plate laws that are in place and they are proposing.
The limit to one peer passanger is a bit stupid. I dont think it will help anything. How about when they are going to a party or a club and you have a designated driver. Rather than 1 out of 5 not being able to drink, every second person wont be able to. And while some will see this as a positive, I believe its more likely to increase drink driving. On top of that, when you have 10 friends leaving a club, whats more dangerous? 10 people between 2 cars, or 10 people between 5 cars. I think it will cause more problems than it fixes and really punishes those who dont do anything "hoonish" and actually obey road laws.
I still think the power per tonne rule was good. And on top of this, it should be able to be proven. An old V8 may not run anywhere near what it used to with 400,000+ k's. And be well under the limit. Something where people could drive these cars if they have proven its below power to weight limit. They should have official testing and a document p platers could carry to prove this. If a P plater either needs to drive one of these cars (EG: its the only car available to them, they cant afford one and this was passed down by parents; or simply they like a different style of car), they will be more than happy to get these cars tested to prove what pwoer output they make.
They simply didnt want to take that route so its much easier for them to write off any V8's, turbo cars, etc.
There are a lot of different views and ways you can look at these laws. In the end it comes down to a few major points in my opinon.
1) P Platers should have a power limit on their cars.
2) More P Platers on the road = more likely for accidents. New laws will increase P plate cars on the road.
3) More driver training and education should be started. Not just see if they can pass a test. But also make them do a course, like the AAMI driving course. Explain to them about tyres and grip on the road, explain aqua planeing, let them see how their car breaks in an emergency and just how much distance they need to leave.