Taxi owners’ lawsuit aims to secure fair go
TWO Cairns taxi owners will travel to Melbourne in a fortnight to meet lawyers ahead of launching a class action compensation suit against the Queensland Government.
The case comes after 60 Cairns taxi licence holders met Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter yesterday to discuss the financial losses taxi drivers have incurred since the introduction of ride-share company Uber.
Cairns Taxis licence owner Yvonne Cook said it was a blow to the taxi owners who invested their life savings in taxi licences.
“We have no problem with an industry coming in and giving us competition, but put it on a level playing field,” she said.
She said taxi licence holders in Cairns and across the state were confident they would be awarded compensation from the Palaszczuk government.
“There are precedents like the dairy deregulation, the fishing industry deregulation, the tobacco industry deregulation, so we’re looking to see if it’s available for Queensland taxis,” she said.
Taxi owner Marie Meares said it was a case of giving Cairns taxi owners hope again.
“We need to get something back to help a lot of our owners,” she said.
“A lot of our owners have been left destitute because of this change.
“They’re older people, they’ve been in the industry for years, and they’ve now had their superannuation wiped out.”
Mr Katter said he was certain the lawyers Cairns delegates would meet would secure adequate compensation for Queensland taxi owners.
“We’re dealing with the best lawyers in this country.
“They’ve already put in about 500 hours, voluntarily,” he said.
“They wouldn’t put those hours in unless they were very, very confident of a win,” Mr Katter said.
WE NEED TO GET SOMETHING BACK TO HELP A LOT OF OUR OWNERS. A LOT OF OUR OWNERS HAVE BEEN LEFT DESTITUTE BECAUSE OF THIS CHANGE … THEY’RE OLDER PEOPLE … AND THEY’VE NOW HAD THEIR SUPERANNUATION WIPED OUT.