JENNY AITCHISON MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL TRANSPORT AND ROADS
STEVE KAMPER MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR SMALL BUSINESS
SHADOW MINISTER FOR PROPERTY
SHADOW MINISTER FOR MULTICULTURALISM
After four weeks, the NSW Government is still struggling to explain how it developed its controversial package which has seen MPs from both Government parties publicly reject.
Despite extensive questioning from the NSW Opposition, the Government yesterday failed to provide an adequate explanation for the Government’s taxi compensation package, saying: “we can’t have too much granularity to protect the individuals.”
Shadow Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, Jenny Aitchison said the Government is hiding behind personal privacy of operators to maintain the confusion and pit taxi owners against each other.
“The Government must explain how the regional compensation rates were arrived at. Under this Government just four zones will see regional taxi plate owners in Port Macquarie, Sawtell, Coffs Harbour, Tweed and Ballina receive $130,000 for their plates, while operators in a tourism mecca such as Byron Bay, the Blue Mountains and the Hunter Valley will only receive $25,000.”
Ms Aitchison said there was no clarity about why various regions were allocated certain sums: “We heard yesterday that the package was based on sale prices between 2010 and 2015, and where there were no sales in the period, the Department would go back further for historical data and look at other geographical and demographic data. Yet today the bureaucrats have denied that access to airports and rank and hail facilities would be considered. This is directly at odds from briefings I received from the Department just a couple of weeks ago.”
“Taxi owners are sick of the Government’s spin. They just want a fair price for an asset they had to purchase in order to undertake their business.”
Shadow Minister for Small Business, Steve Kamper said this package is designed to set the operators against each other and the industry leaders, just as the government did with the commercial fishers.”
“All taxi plate holders want is fair and just compensation for the drastic drop in the value of Taxi licences in NSW and to ensure they can survive and continue to offer their vital services in our local communities,” Mr Kamper said.
“Small business owners across NSW should be on notice that this could be your industry next,” he said.
“The Government now needs to come back to the table with a revised fair and adequate package that will allow our regional and rural communities access to public transport.”
Ms Aitchison said the lack of clarity about how the industry would be deregulated as a part of the package was causing considerable angst in regional communities. “Over a month after the Government announced its package for owners, operators are still threatening to leave the industry, as they can’t afford to continue, and we still have no bill before the Parliament, and no idea of how they will guarantee continuity of services in the regions.” Ms Aitchison said.
“Now we have Government MPs from both the Liberals and Nationals openly criticising the Government’s package, while taxi drivers continue to suffer. When will it end?”
“This is a mess of the Government’s making and it’s a mess that they now need to work with the NSW Taxi Council and Taxi plate holders to fix.”
