Page 1045 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 30 March 2011
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they thought they would get a new and better service that was more dedicated to them, but that has not eventuated.
I understand the government hopes to have the tender for the new centralised booking service out by July, but there are strong concerns about who will be the successful tenderer and run the service. People are also concerned, quite rightly, about past failures. We have already been through the process and examined the limited success of micromanagement.
Given the situation has not improved for WAT users, it is time to consider a new strategy that will deliver an improved service for WAT users and not go back to the strategies that have failed in the past. It is time to recognise that WATs are an essential service required by people with disabilities and, no matter how many more subsidies are put in place, committed drivers are required, which is why we believe salaried drivers should be the prime consideration.
In the WAT Consortium’s submission to the taxi review it argued that a large number of funds and subsidies are already being spent on the WATs industry and that the amount of funds to be spent on the new WATS central booking service is up near $400,000 per annum. The main impediment to the government taking on a new type of WAT model is funding, but large amounts of money are already being spent on a system that is not working.
What is required, and what the WATS Consortium had originally asked for, is a comparison of the funds that are already being expended and what it would take to get a new system with salaried drivers. Funds currently being spent include public holidays subsidies, costs of compliance checks, administration of the taxi subsidy scheme, micromanagement grant paid to the network operator, concessional licence subsidies, lift fees and vouchers.
As an aside, I note there are also problems with the roadworthiness of many WAT vehicles. In Queensland, WATs use large taxis that accommodate up to two people in electric wheelchairs. In the ACT, many of the vehicles are much smaller and sometimes unsafe. I have been told that recently a man in a wheelchair broke his nose and jaw because there was a metal bar that sits in front of the person in the wheelchair.
People with disabilities have also commented that the steps they have to take to receive taxi vouchers have become more difficult. People can request more vouchers when their quota is filled but then they can only get books of 10 and they have to be reassessed. They believe the department is over-assessing and complicating the lives of people who require the vouchers.
The PWC report recommended that the government remove the voucher cap and increase the level of subsidy to bring the ACT taxi subsidy scheme on par with other Australian jurisdictions and assist passengers with disability to undertake more trips and enjoy greater mobility. The government said in its response to PWC that, while it agrees with those recommendations, it is all subject to the 2011-12 budget process. I do hope this is addressed as soon as possible, even if we do move to a new model of WATs.
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