Access Taxi Industry

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley) (14:36): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Does the minister stand by his comments on radio this morning? With your leave, sir, and that of house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: On FIVEaa this morning, the minister said that he was not going to speak to representatives of the access taxi industry at Parliament House, who were, quote, 'part of a stunt with the Liberal Party.'

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:36): I meet, I think, quarterly with access cab drivers at the Transport Workers' Union offices. My staff meet with them more than that. I don't think I resile from my statements at all, because I am more than happy to meet with drivers and try to work this out.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The list of people coming to the opposition is getting smaller and smaller. I do meet regularly with the industry, I meet regularly with the Taxi Council, and I meet regularly with Point to Point operators. We need to do something differently because it is not working.

Just to talk about my concerns about the disability industry and access cabs, the other part that I am very concerned about are the bilateral arrangements being conducted by access cab drivers and people with disabilities who are eligible for the South Australian Transport Subsidy Scheme. What these drivers are doing is creating a bilateral arrangement that is not going through the central booking agency. That means that less and less work that is being called in is being dispatched and being dealt with, because the drivers are busy with their own portfolio of customers who have eligibility of SATS.

The Hon. V.A. Tarzia: But you know this—you've had 12 months.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, and you had four years.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It is true, the opposition try to use the fact that we were in office previously for 16 years as if it were a bad thing. We are attempting to try to deal with this, but of course the problem here is the problem self-perpetuates. As the response times get worse and worse, what you see is more and more people who are eligible for the SAT Scheme do these bilateral arrangements to try to make sure that they do have an access cab available, which takes more cabs out of the system.

I do note that the cost of leasing access plates is nearly triple what it is for a taxi, because they are so profitable and there is so much revenue being made by some drivers. I understand there are about 10 access cab plates that are not on the road. I saw the opposition standing alongside the protesters today who were calling on there being a weakening of the requirements on access cab drivers to deliver these services. I think that would make it considerably worse for the disability community, but these are amateur mistakes made by young, impetuous proponents.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Chaffey!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: What I would say is that this is a serious issue that needs serious solutions.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is warned.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I think it's important that we have a considered look at this and do it properly and get it right the first time, rather than bandaid solution after bandaid solution. Hopefully this trial works well. I do plan to try and see if we can't augment this trial as it goes to see if we can't get further improvements. There are other things that we can do—we are looking at it—as well as enforcement.