Australia P-Plate Driving Laws 2025: The rules around learner and provisional drivers keep changing, and teens ready to hit the road in 2025 need to keep up. Every Australian state and territory still works off its own playbook, so there’s no single answer to the P-plate puzzle. Despite social media gossip claiming new national rules, the truth is that Canberra won’t write you a ticket; that job is up to the roads authority in your own backyard.
Late last year, WA copied some other states and tightened things up by letting only one mate ride with a red-plate P-plate. This one-passenger rule, which kicked in December 2024, already existed in the rules of Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania. Data shows that the fewer passengers a learner carries, the smaller the risk of a crash.
Demerit Points Go Up for Phones
The priciest P-plate surprise in 2025 is the new double-demerit scaling for fiddling with your phone while behind the wheel. Younger drivers have always led in distracted-driving figures, and the authorities are launching a heavier fine in response.
Queensland still lets Green P-2 holders chat through a hands-free connection, though P-1 drivers must keep screens off completely. By contrast, New South Wales keeps a total hands-off rule, even for navigation or playlists via proven systems like Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. If you are on P-plates in the state, your device cannot touch the driver’s lap.
Nighttime Drive Limits
In 2025, curfew times still apply to young drivers in several parts of the country. WA and SA require P1 drivers to stay off the road from midnight to 5:00 am for the first six and twelve months of their probationary periods, respectively. Missing this rule brings penalties, so the first months of P1 are quieter nights for them.
NSW, QLD, and the ACT have a different rule: drivers can safely stay on the road, but late-night passengers are limited. From 11:00 pm to 5:00 am, P1 drivers may carry only one person aged 16 to 21, unless it’s a sibling, parent, or a specific school or work reason. Keeping track of passengers is vital to avoid sticky fines.
High-Power Ride Rules
Power rule bans for new drivers keep changing from state to state. Vic sets tough power-to-weight limits for all, forcing young drivers to check weights and figures on the car’s paper. Other states look more at engine size or turbo boosts, but the bottom line is the same: a few extra kilowatts can ground a P1. Staying well-informed before a driver moves homes is a smart check-list step.
Learning to Drive Right
To fight rising P1 road deaths, 2025 programs have added more crash-avoidance lessons and road-smarts talks. New courses now back the book and road hours, with P1 learners needing to do 100 to 150 practice hours, based on their home state. School, parents, and later driving instructors are handing out hints and tips to help the next road generation finish the probation for P1 without dangerous grooves in the rules.
To make practice driving easier and safer, road safety authorities have rolled out handy apps. They let learners log practice hours—and quietly silence phone notifications so the car doesn’t get distracted while the learner is behind the wheel.
As the months roll on, state transport agencies will keep checking how the provisional license system is working. They want to keep smoothing out the rules, and the trend is toward sharing more identical programs. Still, a perfect one-size-fits-all system is unlikely because the road conditions—and the views—can change a lot the farther you drive across the continent.
For the teens and young adults working through temporary license rules, the smartest move is to jump on the official state transport websites for the latest updates. Social media may buzz, but the wrong tip can get your license held up or your insurance rates sky-high for a lot longer than you want.
FAQ
Do P-plate laws change for everyone in 2025 on a national level?
Nope! P-plate rules stay with each state and territory; the feds have no say in that. If you see the news, check the source.
Can P-plates use GPS on their phone while driving?
That depends. In NSW you can’t touch your phone for anything—including looking at maps. Some other states let you use a hands-free screen, but the laws keep shifting, so check where you’re about to drive.
What happens if a P-plater uses a phone while driving?
Tough break: you’ll now lose double the demerit points for phone crime no matter where you are. In one swipe, that can push you toward a license suspension, so keep the phone in the glove box and your hands on the wheel.
Do passenger rules apply everywhere?
They sure do, but the rules change a little from one place to the next. In Washington, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania, a P1 driver can have just one passenger aged 16 to 21 any time of day or night. On the other hand, New South Wales, Queensland, and the Australian Capital Territory let P1 drivers carry only one of that age group only after the sun goes down.
Major Driving Alert: 60+ New Road Law Changes in Australia Effective From August 2025