Tuesday, 20 September 2022
Adjournment
Commercial passenger vehicle industry
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Table of contents
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Bills
- Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2022
- Justice Legislation Amendment (Police and Other Matters) Bill 2022
- Justice Legislation Amendment (Sexual Offences and Other Matters) Bill 2022
- Mental Health and Wellbeing Bill 2022
- Residential Tenancies, Housing and Social Services Regulation Amendment (Administration and Other Matters) Bill 2022
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-
Bills
- Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2022
- Justice Legislation Amendment (Police and Other Matters) Bill 2022
- Justice Legislation Amendment (Sexual Offences and Other Matters) Bill 2022
- Mental Health and Wellbeing Bill 2022
- Residential Tenancies, Housing and Social Services Regulation Amendment (Administration and Other Matters) Bill 2022
Commercial passenger vehicle industry
Mr BARTON (Eastern Metropolitan) (18:22): (2139) My adjournment this evening is for the Treasurer. The illegal entry of Uber into the market and the subsequent deregulation has had consequences far and wide. We are all aware of the costs that were paid by Victorian taxi and hire car families. However, I do not believe the Victorian taxpayers are quite aware of the costs they suffered as well. At the time of deregulation in 2017 there were 5600 taxis. Two thousand of these were permits that were leased out by the government for in excess of $20Â 000 per year. That is $40Â million a year just from leasing permits that the government is no longer collecting. Consider that we have now got 10Â 500Â taxis and about 80Â 000 rideshare vehicles. On top of that, the government reduced annual fees for a commercial passenger vehicle driver to a mere $55 and have not collected this fee for five years. They have of course muddied the water, misleading taxpayers by claiming that these fees were waived in response to COVID. But how can you justify the waiving of fees in 2017, 2018 and 2019? Clearly the government had a crystal ball.
Who loses in all of this: the taxpayer. The supply of wheelchair-accessible vehicles is diminishing, passengers are facing a new norm of predatory surge pricing and drivers are refusing to turn on the meter. The industry is in mayhem and the taxpayers have lost out on hundreds of millions of dollars because of how desperately this government wanted to accommodate Uber. Our streets are plagued with congestion, and the gig economy has been a gateway for creating a new working poor. This only shows the arrogance of this government in treating rideshare like it is not just another taxi.
In the meantime households are being squeezed from all sides. This government has introduced a number of new taxes on Victorians this past term but purposefully neglects the responsibility to collect fees from the commercial passenger vehicle industry. Without doubt Victorian taxpayers have paid a heavy price for the government to accommodate Uber. Treasurer, in the interests of transparency for taxpayers, will you instruct Treasury to calculate just how much revenue this government has foregone since the deregulation of the commercial passenger vehicle industry in 2017?