Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .
Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 6 Hansard (17 June) . . Page.. 1966 ..
MS TUCKER
(continuing):committee to look at the role of taxis in the context of the draft plan that has been tabled and inform that plan with the work that the committee does in looking at taxis in that context.
There are extra points here which, from the feedback I have received from the community, need to be addressed. The question of services to parents of children under two years of age is, obviously, related to car seats being available. The service in the ACT is very different from the service in other states in Australia on that aspect. We do not have them or it is quite difficult to get a taxi with one, and they are standard equipment in most other places.
MR WOOD
(Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Urban Services, Minister for the Arts and Heritage and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (6.16): Mr Speaker, I was waiting for Mrs Dunne to provide justification for what she is doing.Mrs Dunne
: I fell asleep, I'm sorry, Mr Speaker.MR WOOD
: Do you have a speech?Mrs Dunne
: I do have a speech, yes. Do you want to work on the amendment or do you want to go back to the motion?MR WOOD
: We do not agree that the bill should go to a committee; it is as simple as that. This is an evasion of responsibility. The position with taxis has not been one that has not been an issue and much discussed over a very long period. If you have not been part of that, that is your fault. If you have not switched on to the debate, that is nothing to do with me; it is to do with you.The former government endeavoured to take some steps. I recognise that they attacked the problem, but that did not work out in the end, and I think for good reasons. At least they had a go at it. I think that there ought to be recognition from the other side of the chamber that this government has made a good effort at doing so. Now, for six months, you want to leave everybody up in the air, unsure what is going to happen, completely uncertain about their future, while you have an inquiry.
I can tell you that the taxi industry is not exactly rapped in the proposals I am bringing forward. They are anxious about them, although I am confident that they will work out pretty well in the direction that we ought to be going, one that will be generally satisfactory to the industry. They will not acknowledge that, but I think that they may well find more difficult is having a further period of doubt and delay. What the industry here needs more than anything is a bit of certainty now as to what the future is about.
One of the problems of committees is, of course, that they go out and hear everything and committees tend to deliver very effectively what they hear. But there are many sides to this story. I suspect that you had better go out and talk to some other people who pay very high taxi fares, because that is the nature of the industry, that is what the in-built system brings us. You get a car and do not have to hire a taxi, but those who do hire taxis do note the fares.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .