Opinion: Campbell Newman hits LNP over Uber

Opinion
Campbell Newman, The Courier-Mail
Sunday, October 30, 2016

"This is the government’s fault, and it’s the government’s responsibility to fix it."

OPINION: Imagine a scenario where the government needs to build a new highway and its projected path runs right through your property.

Whether you like it or not, your home will be demolished to make way for construction.

Thankfully, your rights will be protected by law and you’ll be paid fair and reasonable compensation by the government.

Now picture a similar scenario, this time with your property rights suddenly stripped away.

Your house will be demolished but the rules determining how you’ll be compensated have unexpectedly changed, and not in your favour.

It would be devastating to you and your family, right?

As far as I’m concerned, a taxi licence is a lot like a home in the above scenario.

Taxi licences are assets that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase from the Government.

Everyday working people have done the hard yards to acquire them. Many people rely on them for financial support in retirement. Banks have accepted them as collateral.

Let’s not forget licence owners never had a choice but to operate within an industry framework laden with heavy regulations and operational costs, strictly imposed by government for more than 100 years, stretching back to the time of horse drawn cabs.

The vast majority of licence owners are not silvertails or high-flyers. They worked extremely hard. Some drove cabs until they were too old to do so.

Their licence was supposed to be their superannuation and security in retirement. Others took out loans backed by the value of their plates.


But that hard work and certainty is now in tatters.

PORTUGAL: Taxi Drivers Block Access to Lisbon Airport in Massive Protest Against Uber October 10

Like the proverbial highway set to demolish a house without any property rights in place, Uber rode into town with a mission to wipe out the traditional taxi industry. Along the way families who depend on taxis for financial security have been devastated.

The ride-sharing giant blatantly and repeatedly broke the law, but instead of cracking down on this corporate giant and protecting the industry it set up and regulated, the government capitulated.

In August, the Palaszczuk administration announced it was legalising ride-sharing services like Uber.

The government’s so-called transition package features grossly inadequate compensation and contemptuous disregard for the context of a situation it created.

Existing licence holders will get up to $20,000 per licence, capped at two licences.

I’ve seen government documents from as far back as 2008 stating a standard licence would cost over $400,000. I’ve been made aware of Brisbane licences selling for $540,000 just a couple of years ago. How does that $20,000 offer today stack up against that?

To add insult to injury, this government also announced a “hardship fund” to help with the transition. The fine print on this hardship fund reveals that licence owners must apply for any of that assistance, and hope for the best.

Taxi licence owners are being hung out to dry by this government.

Given the State Government’s parlous financial position perhaps it is just easier for Queensland Labor to smash taxi owners rather than stop hiring more public servants.

Given its relative silence on the matter, the LNP Opposition isn’t doing much to stand up for licence owners either.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand and appreciate why Uber has become so popular so quickly, particularly with young people.

Thanks to rapid advances in technology, companies like Uber were able to leapfrog the existing dispatch systems we use to get a cab to our door.

At the same time, we had a situation where many cabs simply weren’t up to scratch.

Many vehicles were dirty, smelly, and hot, and the drivers weren’t delivering a good level of customer service.

There is no doubt the taxi industry has responded to the threat of Uber and lifted its game, a positive outcome of Uber’s entry into the market.

The problem is that government said “these are the rules and this is what you have to pay for a licence” and those licences cost a lot of money.

Then the government suddenly changed those rules, and the value of those licences has been decimated.

This is the government’s fault, and it’s the government’s responsibility to fix it.

One of the interesting political consequences of the government’s decision — and the failure by the LNP to hold them to account on it — may be the boost it could provide to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

By positioning itself as the only party standing up for the bloc of voters once broadly referred to as Howard’s battlers, could One Nation score some big political points out of this issue at the next state election?

Whatever happens on the political front, one thing is clear.

Taxi licence holders didn’t ask to have decades of certainty and rights ripped out from under them.

They deserve to be treated better than this.

Campbell Newman is a long-term friend of the head of Yellow Cabs Neill Ford.