TAXIS, COUNTRY

The Hon. G.M. GUNN (Stuart) (15:21): I rise today to highlight difficulties brought to my attention by the taxi industry in country South Australia. I received a letter from Des's Cabs, which is based in Whyalla and Port Augusta, with some units in Adelaide. It states:

Attention all users of South Australian Transport Subsidy Scheme Vouchers.

The country taxi industry in South Australia needs your assistance.

Whilst the South Australian Passenger Transport Act requires all passenger transport operators to be accredited there is no accreditation category in the act specifically for country taxis.

Instead of fixing the act the department of transport is labelling us as a type of 'hire car' and wants us to get accreditation in this class. One of the problems with being a hire car is that hire cars are not legally allowed to pick up passengers unless the passenger has—

Ms Breuer: That is all sorted.

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: I am not sure that it is, because the point I want to make is that there are two sets of rules, one up in our area and one down in the south.

Ms Breuer: It has been sorted out.

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: I do not think it has been, has it? Anyway, there is a bit more I want to say about it, before I was so rudely interrupted by the member for Giles—once to distract me, and you know that it takes a lot for me to get back on the track again, because it takes me all week to work myself up to make a speech.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: To get the courage to speak.

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: Correct, Attorney-General.

Ms Breuer: We all know you are shy.

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: I have been here a bit longer than you. The letter continues:

Hire cars aren't allowed to pick up passengers by chance as they come out of shopping centres, hotels [etc.]

Also, hire cars are not legally allowed to accept South Australian Transport Subsidy Scheme vouchers from their passengers.

At present the continuing acceptance of these vouchers by country taxi operators is in jeopardy as some country taxi operators...have not been paid by the state government for vouchers they received...12 weeks ago! Country taxi operators, like any other business, cannot continue to do this indefinitely without receiving payment from the government.

Country taxi operators want to be recognised by the state government as country taxis. We want to continue to operate as country taxis, to continue to be able to accept your South Australian Transport Subsidy Scheme vouchers, and to continue to receive regular payments for these vouchers from the state government.

Please support us by completing the attached letter and either forwarding yourself to the address in the letter, or by handing it to your taxi driver—

so they can hand it on to the government. It was brought to my attention that this particular difficulty has been caused by one person in the bureaucracy who thinks that these taxi operators are going to get an unfair advantage.

He has a typical left-wing attitude that people are not allowed to be successful in this country. That is what I am told; the fellow has a chip on his shoulder. But I am also told that, because of the extra representation down in Mount Gambier, the taxi operators in his area did not have this problem, yet those operators in other parts of rural South Australia—particularly in the regional centres—have faced this particular difficultly.

So I want to be assured by the minister not only that these people are treated fairly but that their situation is treated quickly and they are not put at a disadvantage. There is no rhyme or reason for what has happened. My view is, of course, that taxis should be regulated and operated by local councils. That should do it. They are the people on the site. There is in many parts of the state a shortage of country taxis, so we should be encouraging them to get people to further invest in this industry, not putting obstacles in their way to stop them.

I know that in Port Augusta, particularly at night, we have had difficulties: there have been problems involved with people waiting for taxis outside hotels and attracting attention; they have been told to move on, and all sorts of difficulties have arisen. So what we should be doing is encouraging the taxi industry to put more cars on to operate, not allowing bureaucrats to get in their way and prevent them from providing a badly needed service to the community.

Taxis are part of the public transport sector. They are absolutely essential. We all use them from time to time, and therefore we should be encouraging people to be involved, not putting unnecessary barriers in their way. I am personally concerned at what happened and so I therefore say to the minister: if there are still difficulties, fix them and make sure the same law applies to all South Australians, not just to isolated groups, because there was no rhyme or reason to discriminate.

Time expired.