Page 389 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 19 February 2019
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MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Wall, enough!
MR BARR: We, like every other government, will assess conditions within an industry and we have not sold a taxi plate for decades. This government has never sold them. The last government to do so was back in the 1990s. We lease plates and we will lease plates in accordance with market conditions with a focus on consumers, the hundreds of thousands of people who utilise on-demand transport services, whether they are taxis, Ubers or other forms of hire car and taxi services. That will be our focus and that will remain our focus.
Canberra Institute of Technology—Woden campus
MS LE COUTEUR: My question is to the minister for suburban development and relates to the demolition of Woden’s CIT. The budget review says the demolition is for “the renewal of the site for future community and development uses”. Minister, what development and community uses are being considered?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I am taking this question, as Minister for Urban Renewal. I thank Ms Le Couteur for the question. It is absolutely too early to say. This budget measure is really about demolishing buildings on the site that include asbestos and hazardous materials, to ensure that they do not become subject to vandalism or a danger to the public.
MS LE COUTEUR: Minister, given that, will the community be given a say in terms of what uses are actually put on the site, and what land is retained for community use?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: Absolutely.
Taxis—regulation
MISS C BURCH: My question is to the Chief Minister. Chief Minister, in discussions with the ACT Taxi Plate Owners Association at a formal meeting on 31 January 2019, the ACTTPOA were advised by your department that neither your cabinet nor your department undertook a regulatory impact statement or a triple bottom line assessment with regard to your decision to release 142 additional taxi plates. Why was neither of these undertaken?
MR BARR: The government has undertaken extensive research and evaluation of the transition away from a highly regulated market, a transition that began many decades ago and that has been the subject of numerous pieces of research work and engagement. I repeat: we remain focused on the interests of consumers. That is what the industry is about. Without consumers, there is no industry. Consumers must come first.
MISS C BURCH: Chief Minister, what detailed consideration was given to the economic and social impacts for existing taxi plate owners?
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