Public Transport Levy

Mr WINGARD (Mitchell) (15:03): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. Has the minister or the department scoped or explored the prospect of an event organiser paying the public transport levy and then event goers still paying for public transport tickets to and from that event?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister Assisting the Minister for Planning, Minister Assisting the Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (15:03): I thank the member for Mitchell for his question. Maybe I will give this a sixth crack, trying to explain how this works so that eventually the information will sink in to the opposition.

The way in which the legislation works—the legislation which was supported by the opposition and voted through with the budget bills—is that the costs of public transport will be recouped from the venue manager. It will be up to the venue manager, the event organiser and perhaps the attendees, to meet that cost once we move to a regime where the full costs of public transport services are being recovered for those events.

How those costs are being recovered between those different bodies when we are indeed recovering the full amount of costs for public transport services for an event will be up to those different groups, those different entities making a contribution. There is no fixed formula, as I have been at great pains to explain to the parliament, both during question time and during estimates. Each event may well be different; it will be up to the venue manager, the event organiser and the government how those costs are recovered. There is no set fee, there is no set regime; it will be up to each individual event.