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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-04-08 Daily Xml
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Taxi Industry

Ms COOK (Hurtle Vale) (14:55): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier explain how people living with disability will be able to get to and from urgent appointments and buy necessities if the access cab industry no longer operates?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:55): Apart from the fact that that question is extremely hypothetical in its construction, I won't raise a point of order—

The SPEAKER: You are seeking to answer it.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: I will seek to answer it. Can I say that there is work there for access cab drivers and the arrangements in relation to them being operated have not changed. The subsidies in relation to the South Australian Taxi Subsidy Scheme are there and still in place, providing that 50 per cent to 75 per cent subsidy. Again, there are also the NDIS support packages that are also in place for those up to 5,000-odd people who have transitioned across to the NDIS.

Those arrangements and that cost structure have not changed. I would accept that there is a lowering in the level of demand and so we don't necessarily need all hundred-odd access cabs on the road at any one time. What is expected—when we went out to tender and Suburban Taxis took on the gig—and is in fact actually part of the responsibility of that contract is that there are access cabs available so that people can undertake, as the member points out, those very much-needed trips, whether that be to the supermarket to get their groceries or whether it be to get to their medical appointment. That service should still be available and the circumstances of providing that service have not changed.

Access cabs will have to operate and continue into the future. The government is looking at this package to help make sure that we do our bit in helping this entire industry be able to partially hibernate through this period. Again, the government has very strong processes in place to ensure that access cabs continue to operate, and those arrangements have not changed. I would say again that I think it would be extremely disappointing if this was used as an opportunity to try to air pre-existing industrial grievances using this global pandemic as an excuse to bring it to the fore.

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