Page 396 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 19 February 2019
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Taxis—regulation
MR HANSON: My question is to the Minister for Business and Regulatory Services. Minister, the government report titled Evaluation of the 2015 innovation reforms to the on-demand transport industry in the ACT, released in September 2018, showed that demand for taxi services has declined and demand for taxi licences has remained static. Following the release of this report, you announced that the government would release further plates to market. Given this analysis, why did the government not choose to pursue taxi industry policies that would ensure that owners and operators remained profitable?
MR RAMSAY: I note that the reforms that have been implemented, the reforms made on the basis of the evaluation, have always been on the basis of ensuring that we have a strong, vibrant and diverse on-demand transport industry. We have said that that is an important part of the industry. It is a matter of ensuring that that is available not only to consumers. As the Chief Minister has also commented today, we wanted to make sure that those people who are operating the taxis, the drivers of the taxis, are able to do so in an increasingly deregulated space. We wanted to make sure that we were careful with that. We did so, and we will continue to do so.
MR HANSON: My supplementary question to the minister is: why will you not admit that your decision to release additional taxi plates is simply a revenue raising measure?
MR RAMSAY: Because it is not.
MR COE: How many people, such as Antonia, Ado, Sok, Stanley and William, and the dozens of other people here, have to lose their livelihoods and their life savings before your government finally acknowledge that they are the cause of the harm?
An incident having occurred in the gallery—
MADAM SPEAKER: I say to our good community folk in the gallery, there is to be no noise, thanks.
MR RAMSAY: The ongoing reforms are for the overall benefit of Canberrans. We have made that very clear. We note, as the Chief Minister has said, that the government has not sold any perpetual plates since 1995. The evidence is also clear, on the basis of the evaluations that have been done, that any person who has owned a plate since 2005 has already received a positive return on their investment.
Economy—outlook
MR PETTERSSON: My question is to the Chief Minister. Chief Minister, what is the ACT’s economic outlook for 2019, and how does this compare with the national outlook?
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