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Nats Welcome Country Taxi WinThere may be some light at the end of the tunnel for country taxi services, with the State Government acknowledging in the Parliament that there are serious problems to be addressed. By Peter Hall - 19th August 2005 - Back to News Gippsland MP Peter Hall, who, along with his National Party colleagues, has been pushing hard for a better deal for regional areas, believes a motion passed through the Upper House this week is an indication that the Government is beginning to at least understand the issue better.
"The House, with the support of Government members, carried a motion that acknowledges the current problems being experienced by country taxi services and, most importantly, calls on the government to immediately implement measures to ensure services can continue in rural and regional communities," Mr Hall said.
"It is encouraging that even Government members supported the motion, but I caution that there is a lot of work still to be done to ensure something is achieved.
"I know the Nationals will continue to push for real action by the Government."
Mr Hall had earlier told Parliament during the debate that taxi services right around the Gippsland electorate, and right across country Victoria, are experiencing some severe financial problems.
"They need support from this government. They are deserving of the support and it is quite within the capabilities of this government to give them that support if there is a will to do so," he said.
"The Nationals have said very clearly that this government needs to put a bit more subsidy into the operation of taxi services in country Victoria because in many instances the taxi is the only public transport system available in these country communities.
"If it is good enough to heavily subsidise public transport in Melbourne, then it is good enough to do so in country and regional Victoria. Greater efforts should be made to address those issues."
Mr Hall added that there are ways the Government could act immediately.
"I refer to wheelchair-accessible taxis, which are important for people in country Victoria. The metropolitan area has 199 wheelchair-accessible taxis, but in country Victoria, including Frankston and Dandenong, there are 117 wheelchair-accessible taxis.
"It is of interest to note that the 199 taxis serving most of Melbourne, excluding Frankston and Dandenong, received a subsidy of $100 every 28 days per vehicle, or $1300 a year. They also receive $3.30 for every phone booking and the operator receives $1 a kilometre after the first 4 kilometres for the operation of that service.
"Those figures apply to the 199 wheelchair-accessible taxis in Melbourne. That support is not given to the 117 wheelchair-accessible taxis outside Melbourne or to those in Frankston and Dandenong."
He also noted that while the Upper House Government members had started to understand the issue, other members of the Government need further education, even the Minister for Transport.
"We say that the wheelchair-accessible taxis in country Victoria deserve the same level of support as well. At the moment they do not.
"The minister does not even know that they do not receive that subsidy. I refer to a transcript of an interview with the Minister for Transport, Mr Peter Batchelor, on the ABC Gippsland radio station on 3 August.
"The presenter made this comment to the minister: ‘There's an additional subsidy that city operators get for callouts of that multipurpose taxi. I think it's $3.30 per call and $1 per kilometre. I can't understand why that doesn't exist in country Victoria.’
"The minister responded: ‘I'm not aware that there's different rates applied to the operation of the multipurpose taxi scheme.’ Outside Parliament Mr Hall said the Minister’s comments indicated his lack of understanding and added that the Nationals would continue to lobby the Government.
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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