Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) — My question is to the Minister for Public Transport, represented by Minister Pulford. Having finally moved to regulate services like Uber following the robust debate on the Australian Sex Party’s rideshare bill a few months ago, the government seems to want to punish both taxi passengers and rideshare passengers with a $2 per trip fare as part of its compensation fund. David Samuel from the Victorian Taxi Association has called it the biggest single fare increase in a long time, and Uber has come out against it as well. This revenue-raising exercise, to run from 2018 for at least eight years, is said to cover the $453 million cost of the fairness fund and the taxi industry transition assistance scheme. The government has said it expects to raise $44 million a year on the charge. There are 35 million taxi trips a year alone in Victoria, so that is a total of $560 million over eight years, $100 million more than is needed, and that is not including ridesharing. Can you explain how you came to those figures?
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) — Thank you, Minister. Yes, I have met with many of the owners of taxis in recent times as well as the minister, so I understand the detail and how difficult it is. I am looking forward to that breakdown, but there is also no end date for the levy. You have said it will be possibly for eight years. You have not actually committed to it being for eight years. There is great concern in the community that it is just going to be a never-ending levy. I am wondering if the government will set in stone that end date for the levy as no longer than eight years.
