Page 450 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 20 February 2019

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was meant to represent them. Not only did they have to take on an international conglomerate, they also had to take on their own local government.

Then you get Mr Ramsay coming in here and saying, “Are the Liberals really willing to send money interstate?” Yet they roll out the red carpet for Uber. Where does all that money go? How much money has left the territory through that decision? We do not have a problem with Uber operating in the territory, but we do have a problem with the gross hypocrisy of those opposite.

The fact that the Chief Minister yesterday was unwilling to even look to the gallery at the families that he has impacted shows the massive disconnect between the ACT Labor Party and the people they are meant to represent. The fact that it seems not one person opposite is willing to stand up for the taxi industry shows just how beholden they all are to either the Chief Minister or Labor Party forces.

What is the point in having a backbench if they are not actually willing to advocate for the things that the government should be doing better! You pretty much have cabinet solidarity throughout all of them, rather than just the cabinet. This is how modern Labor works.

I commend the taxi owners of Canberra for the work that they have done in trying to get a better deal for their members, and in particular the ACT Taxi Plate Owners Association. I think they are doing a great job in strategically advocating for a better taxi industry in Canberra.

This is a fight that is not going away. I know that they are determined to get justice and, whether that is delivered by this government or the next Liberal government, one way or another justice will be delivered to the many people in Canberra that are seeking it from their ACT government. With that said, I seek leave of the Assembly to table the association’s document about working for a financially sustainable taxi industry in the ACT.

Leave granted.

MR COE: I present the following paper:

Unintended Consequences of Ill-Considered Taxi Policy in the ACT, prepared by the ACT Taxi Plate Owners Association Inc, dated February 2019.

MR WALL (Brindabella) (11.08): This motion brought on by Miss Burch is about fairness. It is about fairness for the hardworking families who have sought to better themselves, better their families and better their communities by saving some hard-earned money and investing it into a business that creates opportunities for others to earn a living and to benefit from the services on offer. But there is no fairness in the government’s decision and the way they have been treating taxi plate owners in recent years.

We saw yesterday the Chief Minister making some absolutely outrageous statements that there is no guarantee on investments and that the people who had invested in taxi


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