Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches

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COMMERCIAL PASSENGER (ROAD) TRANSPORT AMENDMENT BILL 1999

The purpose of this bill is to amend the Commercial Passenger (Road) Transport Act to continue to allow the approval of licensed periods to 3 months for taxis, minibuses and private hire cars. Major reform in the Commercial Passenger Transport Industry introduced on 1 January 1999 has already shown positive benefits. A fair environment for all sectors of the industry was created and the public now receives a more competitive service. In the current legislation the minimum licence period is 6 months for taxis and minibuses and 12 months for private hire cars. However, as part of the transitional legislation to ease the industry into the new regulatory environment, a 3 month licence option is made available to taxis, minibuses and private hire cars for the first year of the new arrangements. The option of 3 months licence periods obviously benefits the industry in terms of improved cash flow. However, after the transitional legislation this option ceases to be available after 31 December 1999. The government has recently received requests from industry to continue to have the 3 months licence periods available in the future. These requests have come in particular from the minibus sector with support from the other sectors. To give an illustration of the amounts involved for 12 months licence to operate in the Darwin area is $16 000 for a taxi, $7 500 for a minibus and $1 000 for a private hire car. Although commercial passenger vehicle licence fees have been set at a reasonable level, with taxi operators paying less than they could lease plates under the old system, the amount of money if paid annually or 6 monthly is nonetheless substantial for many commercial passenger vehicle operators who in most cases are small businesses.

This bill will amend the legislation to allow the option of quarterly licence periods to continue into the future. MVR systems are able to accommodate this option. The proposed amending bill is a minor change to legislation to allow us to continue the transitional practice of 3 month licence periods for taxi, minibus and private hire cars and it has widespread industry support.

I commend the bill to honourable members.

Debate adjourned.

 

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