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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Tuesday, 24 August 2004) . . Page.. 4099 ..

This amendment provides that a new function of the Road Transport Authority, as set out in section 5 of the act, is to administer the hire car licensing scheme. Previously, this function was carried out by the Road Transport Authority under the Road Transport (General) Act 1999.

Proposed new clause 4A agreed to.

Proposed new clause 4B.

MR WOOD (Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Urban Services, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, and Minister for Arts and Heritage) (6.52): I move amendment No 4 circulated in my name, which inserts a new clause 4B [see schedule 5 at page 4104].

This amendment amends the note to section 6 of the act to make it clear that a register of accredited hire car operators is to be kept by the Road Transport Authority.

Proposed new clause 4B agreed to.

Clauses 5 and 6, by leave, taken together and agreed to.

Clause 7.

MRS DUNNE (6.52): This is a slightly chaotic situation, where Ms Tucker, Ms Dundas and I have the same amendment. Perhaps we should take it in turns to oppose the next three clauses—7, 8 and 10—so that everyone gets a bite of the cherry. We will be opposing this clause because it is part of that bit that relates to the taxi licences. We have already expounded on that, and because of time I will not say anything more.

MS DUNDAS (6.53): The Democrats have outlined that we oppose this clause because we oppose the proposed auction of new perpetual taxi licences. This clause, along with clauses 8 and 10, is aimed at allowing the government to auction these additional taxi licences. This is something that the Democrats cannot support. The auctioning of new licences is designed to erode the value of existing plates, with no guarantee of adequate compensation to current plate owners.

It is unfair to expect current plate owners to bear the cost of poor government regulation in the past. Expecting that also stems from the mentality that increasing competition in the industry will solve all of the industry’s problems. The Democrats share neither this unbridled optimism nor the obsession with reducing plate values. Hence, we will not be supporting this initiative.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those taxi and limousine drivers who have taken the time to contact me on this issue and whomever I have spoken to over a number of months. Your insights into this issue as drivers and owners—as the people who work at the coalface in this industry—have been invaluable in our deliberations on this bill. I thank you for the time that you have taken to do that.

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