Page 394 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 19 February 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Taxis—government assistance
MRS KIKKERT: My question is to the Minister for Business and Regulatory Services. Minister, in 2015 your government introduced reforms to the taxi industry which have since resulted in the value of perpetual taxi plates falling from approximately $250,000 to less than $80,000. Following your announcement of an additional 142 taxi plates, these values are expected to fall further, to around $45,000, while these new plates are expected to raise additional revenue of $710,000 a year for government. Why are you allowing small business owners to go broke while the government reaps the benefits?
MR RAMSAY: It is important to make sure that the information that is before the Assembly is correct. Twice today, the Canberra Liberals have quoted incorrect numbers. By doing that, I fear that they have guided the Assembly into a space that is neither accurate nor helpful for us considering this matter, including the matter for tomorrow. Twice now, they have said that we have released 142 additional taxi licences into the market. That is not true. What we have done is increase the regulated cap by that amount. The number of licences—
Opposition members interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Members!
Mrs Jones: Point of order, Madam Speaker.
MADAM SPEAKER: Point of order, Mrs Jones
Mrs Jones: On relevance, the question was why he is allowing small business owners to go broke, not why he thinks our interpretation of data is a bit different from his.
MADAM SPEAKER: There is no point of order. He is answering the question on the policy. And on a point of order, I have called members on my left to order and called on them not to interject a number of times. Perhaps you could consider that point of order, Mrs Jones.
MR RAMSAY: Continuing to correct the opposition, what happened is that there are 80 that have been or will be released into—
Mrs Dunne: Point of order. The standing orders require that the minister answering a question be directly relevant to the question. The question was: “Why have you allowed small business owners to go broke?” We are not talking about 80 or 142; we are asking about the policy effect of causing people to go broke. I ask you to require the minister, under the standing orders, to be directly relevant to the question or sit him down.
MADAM SPEAKER: The time has expired.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video