The Palaszczuk Labor Government’s decision to give itself an extension to resolve taxi, limousine and rideshare services issues proves it never had a plan in the first place.
Shadow Transport Minister Scott Emerson said Labor’s decision to push the review out until August next year revealed the Transport Minister had been sitting on her hands and still didn’t have a clue what to do.
“The Transport Minister is using a review extension to conceal the cold hard truth from Queenslanders – that she has no clear plan on how new operators fit within the legislation,” Mr Emerson said.
“Minister Trad has been caught napping and instead of working to find a solution, has put the issue in the too-hard basket and pushed out the deadline to give herself more time.
“Queenslanders could be forgiven for wondering what the Minister has been doing for the last eight months.
“The fact is, Labor should have been working on this since February, particularly given it was no secret the Queensland Taxi Strategy was due to expire at the end of the year.
“All this time, Minister Trad claims to have been dealing with the issue and today we know that isn’t the case.
“Perhaps her super-portfolio has got the better of her and she simply failed to make this a priority.”
Mr Emerson said this was an issue that needed to be worked through immediately.
“While we welcome innovation in service delivery, passenger safety is paramount,” he said.
“The LNP has always said participants in the market should comply with the standards and regulations in place.
“These issues could have been properly considered and addressed as part of the Queensland Taxi Strategy but now we see Labor has reverted back to its ‘reviewing rather than doing’ mantra.
“Even more disappointing is Labor has misled Queenslanders into thinking it has been working towards a solution this entire year.
“Queenslanders didn’t vote for this.”