Media release – Held to Account

Held to Account: Parliament holds Taxi Licences are Property!

Rod Barton’s motion to repair the damage caused by the 2017 Commercial Passenger Vehicle reforms, acknowledging the arbitrary payments to licence holders and need for sufficient compensation, has passed in legislative council 19 to 18.

Mr Barton, Transport Matters MP, moved the motion, calling on the government to continue the conversation to fairly compensate former perpetual Taxi and Hire Car licence owners for the revocation of their licences in 2017.

‘Deregulation has caused a glut of commercial passenger vehicles on our roads threatening the viability of the industry and pushing driver exploitation to new heights.’ Mr Barton stated.

Cross bencher, Mr Hayes rose in support of the motion stating Uber should have been prosecuted in 2014 as they were doing the same things as taxis without authority – instead ‘the government let them go…rendering taxi licences worthless’.

This motion recognised that hundreds of perpetual taxi and car hire licences owners were paid a pittance for the revocation of their licences back in 2017. Further, that the arbitrary transition assistance payments they were given were grossly inadequate and unfair.

‘I applaud the Cross Bench and the Opposition for their support. I am pleased that my fellow members agree that as elected representatives we have a social and economic responsibility to adopt a plan to properly compensate and restructure the industry in the interest of fairness and restoring this industry.’

Mr Barton looks forward to bringing a proposal to the Government early next year, which is aimed to repair the past and create a pathway to move forward.

The Liberal Democrats members David Limbrick and Tim Quilty along with the Labor Party rejected the motion.

Quotes attributable to Member for Eastern Metropolitan and the Leader of the Transport Matters Party Rod Barton MP: 

‘Thanks to the Cross Bench and the Opposition for their support and commitment to the Taxi and Hire Car Industry. We now have a chance to heal the damage caused and restore this industry back to its former glory’

ENDS

Media contact: Norm Dunn, Chief of Staff Rod Barton MP, 0438 175 113 Norm.dunn@parliament.vic.gov.au

Constituency Question – 10 December 2020

Minister, how many fines have been issued by the regulator to enforce this law in the last 12 months, and does the minister have confidence in the regulator’s plan to stop all the illegal activity?