❓ The Minister addresses a taxi driver strike caused by the government's decision to allow peak-period operators, highlighting the success of the trial in reducing complaints and warning against industry inflexibility.
AnsweredQoN 15Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
TAXIDRIVERS’ STRIKE
Can the minister advise the house of the causes and consequences of taxidrivers taking strike action? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN
Can the minister advise the house of the causes and consequences of taxidrivers taking strike action? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question and I acknowledge the incident involving the Premier this morning; that is, the courage and incredible bravery that he showed in the face of the hostility of some taxidrivers and obviously their friends. What is so interesting about this is that perhaps one could say that all the people at the front of Parliament House were not taxi operators, which does not surprise us, because there has not been a great deal of disruption to the industry, from the reports we have received. We calculate that there were probably about 150 cabs at the front of this place. We have a fleet of in excess of 1 600; therefore, probably around seven per cent to eight per cent of the fleet were out there today. That is less than one per cent of the 2 500 taxidrivers in this state. The action was caused by a decision that the government made to allow peak-period operators to come in on a trial basis to help clear the backlog that was occurring between 5.00 and 9.00 am on weekdays. There was overwhelming anecdotal evidence—but not simply anecdotal evidence—supported by the data that we were getting from taxi dispatch services that hundreds of people were being left unable to get a cab to the airport in the morning and unable to get to early morning meetings. It has become quite clear to us that the enormous economic growth that has occurred in Western Australia due to enormous activity in the mining area has changed substantially the notion of “peak time”. The new peak time for taxi services occurs between 5.00 and 9.00 am. We had available to us a means for dealing with it, which was to allow peak-period operators to come in and help clear that work. I have to say that it has been a success. The hotel industry, tourism operators, airports and taxi dispatch services have all said, in the four weeks since we introduced this measure, that there has been a very noticeable decline in the number of complaints and a clearance of those jobs. We believe, therefore, that it was the right thing to do. Of course, we are always mindful of ensuring that taxidrivers have a good income, which is why Western Australia is the only state in Australia that has undertaken the massive reforms that it has undertaken. We have lowered the cost structure for taxi operators, which has resulted in taxidrivers not being held to ransom by buying investors but, rather, having access to cheap plates. However, we do say that the taxi industry cannot ignore customers. It has been the practice in the past that customers have come second. The industry cannot do that. We say that it is not in the industry’s best interests to do so. If the industry will not allow us the flexibility to respond to the reasonable demands of the travelling public, the pressure for deregulation will be on, which will be to the industry’s very grave disadvantage. Taxidrivers, as always, have raised a number of other complaints. I have met with them in the past two weeks, gone through those complaints in great detail and have undertaken to take steps to help them with their concerns. However, the government is very focused. The taxi industry must be out in the community addressing the needs of the travelling public, and we urge all those people in the rest of the taxi industry to keep up the very good work.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: I thank the member for the question and I acknowledge the incident involving the Premier this morning; that is, the courage and incredible bravery that he showed in the face of the hostility of some taxidrivers and obviously their friends. What is so interesting about this is that perhaps one could say that all the people at the front of Parliament House were not taxi operators, which does not surprise us, because there has not been a great deal of disruption to the industry, from the reports we have received. We calculate that there were probably about 150 cabs at the front of this place. We have a fleet of in excess of 1 600; therefore, probably around seven per cent to eight per cent of the fleet were out there today. That is less than one per cent of the 2 500 taxidrivers in this state. The action was caused by a decision that the government made to allow peak-period operators to come in on a trial basis to help clear the backlog that was occurring between 5.00 and 9.00 am on weekdays. There was overwhelming anecdotal evidence—but not simply anecdotal evidence—supported by the data that we were getting from taxi dispatch services that hundreds of people were being left unable to get a cab to the airport in the morning and unable to get to early morning meetings. It has become quite clear to us that the enormous economic growth that has occurred in Western Australia due to enormous activity in the mining area has changed substantially the notion of “peak time”. The new peak time for taxi services occurs between 5.00 and 9.00 am. We had available to us a means for dealing with it, which was to allow peak-period operators to come in and help clear that work. I have to say that it has been a success. The hotel industry, tourism operators, airports and taxi dispatch services have all said, in the four weeks since we introduced this measure, that there has been a very noticeable decline in the number of complaints and a clearance of those jobs. We believe, therefore, that it was the right thing to do. Of course, we are always mindful of ensuring that taxidrivers have a good income, which is why Western Australia is the only state in Australia that has undertaken the massive reforms that it has undertaken. We have lowered the cost structure for taxi operators, which has resulted in taxidrivers not being held to ransom by buying investors but, rather, having access to cheap plates. However, we do say that the taxi industry cannot ignore customers. It has been the practice in the past that customers have come second. The industry cannot do that. We say that it is not in the industry’s best interests to do so. If the industry will not allow us the flexibility to respond to the reasonable demands of the travelling public, the pressure for deregulation will be on, which will be to the industry’s very grave disadvantage. Taxidrivers, as always, have raised a number of other complaints. I have met with them in the past two weeks, gone through those complaints in great detail and have undertaken to take steps to help them with their concerns. However, the government is very focused. The taxi industry must be out in the community addressing the needs of the travelling public, and we urge all those people in the rest of the taxi industry to keep up the very good work.
I thank the member for the question and I acknowledge the incident involving the Premier this morning; that is, the courage and incredible bravery that he showed in the face of the hostility of some taxidrivers and obviously their friends. What is so interesting about this is that perhaps one could say that all the people at the front of Parliament House were not taxi operators, which does not surprise us, because there has not been a great deal of disruption to the industry, from the reports we have received. We calculate that there were probably about 150 cabs at the front of this place. We have a fleet of in excess of 1 600; therefore, probably around seven per cent to eight per cent of the fleet were out there today. That is less than one per cent of the 2 500 taxidrivers in this state. The action was caused by a decision that the government made to allow peak-period operators to come in on a trial basis to help clear the backlog that was occurring between 5.00 and 9.00 am on weekdays. There was overwhelming anecdotal evidence—but not simply anecdotal evidence—supported by the data that we were getting from taxi dispatch services that hundreds of people were being left unable to get a cab to the airport in the morning and unable to get to early morning meetings. It has become quite clear to us that the enormous economic growth that has occurred in Western Australia due to enormous activity in the mining area has changed substantially the notion of “peak time”. The new peak time for taxi services occurs between 5.00 and 9.00 am. We had available to us a means for dealing with it, which was to allow peak-period operators to come in and help clear that work. I have to say that it has been a success. The hotel industry, tourism operators, airports and taxi dispatch services have all said, in the four weeks since we introduced this measure, that there has been a very noticeable decline in the number of complaints and a clearance of those jobs. We believe, therefore, that it was the right thing to do. Of course, we are always mindful of ensuring that taxidrivers have a good income, which is why Western Australia is the only state in Australia that has undertaken the massive reforms that it has undertaken. We have lowered the cost structure for taxi operators, which has resulted in taxidrivers not being held to ransom by buying investors but, rather, having access to cheap plates. However, we do say that the taxi industry cannot ignore customers. It has been the practice in the past that customers have come second. The industry cannot do that. We say that it is not in the industry’s best interests to do so. If the industry will not allow us the flexibility to respond to the reasonable demands of the travelling public, the pressure for deregulation will be on, which will be to the industry’s very grave disadvantage. Taxidrivers, as always, have raised a number of other complaints. I have met with them in the past two weeks, gone through those complaints in great detail and have undertaken to take steps to help them with their concerns. However, the government is very focused. The taxi industry must be out in the community addressing the needs of the travelling public, and we urge all those people in the rest of the taxi industry to keep up the very good work.
Of course, we are always mindful of ensuring that taxidrivers have a good income, which is why Western Australia is the only state in Australia that has undertaken the massive reforms that it has undertaken. We have lowered the cost structure for taxi operators, which has resulted in taxidrivers not being held to ransom by buying investors but, rather, having access to cheap plates. However, we do say that the taxi industry cannot ignore customers. It has been the practice in the past that customers have come second. The industry cannot do that. We say that it is not in the industry’s best interests to do so. If the industry will not allow us the flexibility to respond to the reasonable demands of the travelling public, the pressure for deregulation will be on, which will be to the industry’s very grave disadvantage. Taxidrivers, as always, have raised a number of other complaints. I have met with them in the past two weeks, gone through those complaints in great detail and have undertaken to take steps to help them with their concerns. However, the government is very focused. The taxi industry must be out in the community addressing the needs of the travelling public, and we urge all those people in the rest of the taxi industry to keep up the very good work.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: I thank the member for the question and I acknowledge the incident involving the Premier this morning; that is, the courage and incredible bravery that he showed in the face of the hostility of some taxidrivers and obviously their friends. What is so interesting about this is that perhaps one could say that all the people at the front of Parliament House were not taxi operators, which does not surprise us, because there has not been a great deal of disruption to the industry, from the reports we have received. We calculate that there were probably about 150 cabs at the front of this place. We have a fleet of in excess of 1 600; therefore, probably around seven per cent to eight per cent of the fleet were out there today. That is less than one per cent of the 2 500 taxidrivers in this state. The action was caused by a decision that the government made to allow peak-period operators to come in on a trial basis to help clear the backlog that was occurring between 5.00 and 9.00 am on weekdays. There was overwhelming anecdotal evidence—but not simply anecdotal evidence—supported by the data that we were getting from taxi dispatch services that hundreds of people were being left unable to get a cab to the airport in the morning and unable to get to early morning meetings. It has become quite clear to us that the enormous economic growth that has occurred in Western Australia due to enormous activity in the mining area has changed substantially the notion of “peak time”. The new peak time for taxi services occurs between 5.00 and 9.00 am. We had available to us a means for dealing with it, which was to allow peak-period operators to come in and help clear that work. I have to say that it has been a success. The hotel industry, tourism operators, airports and taxi dispatch services have all said, in the four weeks since we introduced this measure, that there has been a very noticeable decline in the number of complaints and a clearance of those jobs. We believe, therefore, that it was the right thing to do. Of course, we are always mindful of ensuring that taxidrivers have a good income, which is why Western Australia is the only state in Australia that has undertaken the massive reforms that it has undertaken. We have lowered the cost structure for taxi operators, which has resulted in taxidrivers not being held to ransom by buying investors but, rather, having access to cheap plates. However, we do say that the taxi industry cannot ignore customers. It has been the practice in the past that customers have come second. The industry cannot do that. We say that it is not in the industry’s best interests to do so. If the industry will not allow us the flexibility to respond to the reasonable demands of the travelling public, the pressure for deregulation will be on, which will be to the industry’s very grave disadvantage. Taxidrivers, as always, have raised a number of other complaints. I have met with them in the past two weeks, gone through those complaints in great detail and have undertaken to take steps to help them with their concerns. However, the government is very focused. The taxi industry must be out in the community addressing the needs of the travelling public, and we urge all those people in the rest of the taxi industry to keep up the very good work.
I thank the member for the question and I acknowledge the incident involving the Premier this morning; that is, the courage and incredible bravery that he showed in the face of the hostility of some taxidrivers and obviously their friends. What is so interesting about this is that perhaps one could say that all the people at the front of Parliament House were not taxi operators, which does not surprise us, because there has not been a great deal of disruption to the industry, from the reports we have received. We calculate that there were probably about 150 cabs at the front of this place. We have a fleet of in excess of 1 600; therefore, probably around seven per cent to eight per cent of the fleet were out there today. That is less than one per cent of the 2 500 taxidrivers in this state. The action was caused by a decision that the government made to allow peak-period operators to come in on a trial basis to help clear the backlog that was occurring between 5.00 and 9.00 am on weekdays. There was overwhelming anecdotal evidence—but not simply anecdotal evidence—supported by the data that we were getting from taxi dispatch services that hundreds of people were being left unable to get a cab to the airport in the morning and unable to get to early morning meetings. It has become quite clear to us that the enormous economic growth that has occurred in Western Australia due to enormous activity in the mining area has changed substantially the notion of “peak time”. The new peak time for taxi services occurs between 5.00 and 9.00 am. We had available to us a means for dealing with it, which was to allow peak-period operators to come in and help clear that work. I have to say that it has been a success. The hotel industry, tourism operators, airports and taxi dispatch services have all said, in the four weeks since we introduced this measure, that there has been a very noticeable decline in the number of complaints and a clearance of those jobs. We believe, therefore, that it was the right thing to do. Of course, we are always mindful of ensuring that taxidrivers have a good income, which is why Western Australia is the only state in Australia that has undertaken the massive reforms that it has undertaken. We have lowered the cost structure for taxi operators, which has resulted in taxidrivers not being held to ransom by buying investors but, rather, having access to cheap plates. However, we do say that the taxi industry cannot ignore customers. It has been the practice in the past that customers have come second. The industry cannot do that. We say that it is not in the industry’s best interests to do so. If the industry will not allow us the flexibility to respond to the reasonable demands of the travelling public, the pressure for deregulation will be on, which will be to the industry’s very grave disadvantage. Taxidrivers, as always, have raised a number of other complaints. I have met with them in the past two weeks, gone through those complaints in great detail and have undertaken to take steps to help them with their concerns. However, the government is very focused. The taxi industry must be out in the community addressing the needs of the travelling public, and we urge all those people in the rest of the taxi industry to keep up the very good work.
Of course, we are always mindful of ensuring that taxidrivers have a good income, which is why Western Australia is the only state in Australia that has undertaken the massive reforms that it has undertaken. We have lowered the cost structure for taxi operators, which has resulted in taxidrivers not being held to ransom by buying investors but, rather, having access to cheap plates. However, we do say that the taxi industry cannot ignore customers. It has been the practice in the past that customers have come second. The industry cannot do that. We say that it is not in the industry’s best interests to do so. If the industry will not allow us the flexibility to respond to the reasonable demands of the travelling public, the pressure for deregulation will be on, which will be to the industry’s very grave disadvantage. Taxidrivers, as always, have raised a number of other complaints. I have met with them in the past two weeks, gone through those complaints in great detail and have undertaken to take steps to help them with their concerns. However, the government is very focused. The taxi industry must be out in the community addressing the needs of the travelling public, and we urge all those people in the rest of the taxi industry to keep up the very good work.
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