Page 403 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 19 February 2019
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The government is not in a position to hold back the tide of global events as they relate to on-demand transport industries. It is as simple and straightforward as that. We have put in place a series of measures to appropriately regulate the entry of a new form of transport and a new on-demand transport operator and, indeed, others, into the marketplace. But we cannot and will not provide an investment return guarantee for anyone who bought a licence from the ACT government in the last century. We cannot and will not do that.
Taxis—government assistance
MR MILLIGAN: My question is to the Minister for Business and Regulatory Services. Does the ACT government have a philosophical or ideological objection to providing compensation to the taxi industry?
MR RAMSAY: As part of the evaluation and looking at broader matters, it was considered whether people would have some form of compensation or some sort of buyback. The evaluation and the evidence—and the government agrees with the evidence-based evaluation—indicated that individuals who purchased their licences from the government from 1995 and who held on to them will have achieved full return on their investments.
Further, the CIE report indicates that around half of the licences have not changed hands since 1995. On the basis of the evidence, the government has not decided to proceed with a buyback.
MR MILLIGAN: Minister, why is the ACT government providing compensation incentives for poker machine owners but treating the taxi industry completely differently?
MR RAMSAY: Again there are so many false premises in the questions that are being asked today. There is not compensation being provided regarding gaming machine authorisations. We are working closely on this. I presume that the opposition paid attention—they do not always pay attention to the answers to questions—and I hope that they noticed, in the answer to a question that I was asked today, that it is an incentive scheme to help people to diversify their income away from a reliance on gaming machine authorisations. We have continued to do that. We are working very closely with clubs. I am proud of the way that we are working with them so that we have a strong, vibrant clubs sector. We also believe that having a vibrant and strong on-demand transport sector is important, and we are working with that sector, given that they are quite different matters. Given that the clubs are a not-for-profit industry, given that the taxi plate owners—
Opposition members interjecting—
MR RAMSAY: It is not our role to guarantee business income.
MR COE: Minister, if the test is whether the capital has been repaid, why is it that you are providing $12,000 to $25,000 for poker machine licences that also probably have been repaid in full?
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