Page 583 - Week 02 - Thursday, 9 March 2006
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If the minister sets the minimum level, the process would be that submissions would be received from the industry, from the sector, and would be evaluated against the prevailing conditions of the determination made by the minister. That determination will be a disallowable instrument and, therefore, put on the table of this chamber. If members have a discomfort with that, they can move for its disallowance and a debate can ensue. That is a safeguard against a minister wanting to put the minimum level up too high, for example, or, indeed, too low. I believe there are safeguards contained in there. It is not an added cost to the sector. We are talking about a minimum figure here, not a maximum figure. We want the marketplace to find its own level.
Much has been made about this being the start of something. I need to correct the record on that. This is not the start of something; in fact, this is the latest in a suite of transport reforms which were kicked off by my colleague Mr Corbell when he did the one-fare anywhere change from the zonal system on buses. We have had various changes to bus travel since, trying to encourage people onto them. Bike racks are one such change.
We are now trying to roll out some real-time advice to passengers about bus deliveries. We have the bus lanes. I have forgotten who introduced it—probably the previous government. We have encouraged that. We have on-road cycle lanes now. We also, under my stewardship, have introduced reforms in the wheelchair-accessible taxi system. We have deregulated the hire car system by doing what I consider to be, finally after some trouble, a decent buyback for them. I have to say that the hire car industry is going gangbusters at the moment. There are enormous numbers of people entering the marketplace.
Another reform that we have made is to announce the release in April of 10 leased plates for taxis. We will have up to 40 but, if the demand is even bigger, we will add more than that. We will be leasing them at $20,000 a year, which is about $5,000 a year less than the current leasing prices for those with perpetual licences who are leasing their vehicles to somebody else. On the day we announced the intended release of those 10 plates, we had a dozen inquiries about them. That was just on the day. I am expecting there to be a lot more.
If the release goes really well, then we will release another five, or something like that, a little further down the track. We will give it about six months so that it settles down. I do not want to flood the marketplace. We will do that further release. This demand-responsive transport is another tranche in our development of a sustainable transport plan. More importantly, as Dr Foskey put it, it gives people alternatives to travelling in their motor car.
We recognise that it is difficult at the airport, but I have to say that it is difficult at the airport during peak hours in terms of its slowness. It can also be difficult out there because we do not have enough cabs when rather large-sized jets land in the middle of the day. I know that because I have travelled there. You can find anything up to 15, 20, 45 or 50 people standing there at the cab rank and about a dozen cabs. It is incredibly frustrating. This transport system will mean that there is an opportunity for an alternative proposal.
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