Update as of May 2018The TOLD Committee is a group of volunteers working to get the taxi plate owners fair and equitable compensation for their taxi plates – not the scrap money the Government is currently proposing. Please give those volunteers your respect and support for the hard work they are doing on your behalf.
While TOLD agrees with the action being taken by this Government to make an offer to compensate W.A. Taxi Plate Owners. TOLD absolutely disagrees with the amount on offer.
Why TOLD is back?
For the last 3 to 5 years there has been nothing but bashing, insulting, kicking and undermining of the taxi plate owners of WA (and the entire taxi industry). Politicians and DOTWA have ‘bent over backwards’ to help everyone else but the people who have built the industry over the past 70 years. It is time to make a stand.
Re-active v pro-active
For the last few years the Perth taxi industry has been re-active (i.e. first the industry is damaged and then we react). The time has now come to be pro-active. We are a 300 million dollar industry and we have to make sure that the Government remembers that. TOLD has an action plan including political, industrial, legal and disruptive strategies. We won’t give up until the State Government’s compensation pledge is properly honoured with fair compensation.
History
Don’t forget -the previous WA Premier (Colin Barnett) had clearly indicated that taxi plate owners should receive NOcompensation. TOLD was created to counter this injustice. The initial donation of $1000 (per plate) and the instigation of legal action gave the plate owners an immediate return of $20k in the form of a transitional payment. We continued with the legal action which took much of the donated money. However the judge, Justice Tottle, indicated that he considered it was a political fight not a legal one. As a result the left over funds were donated towards the Micro Business Party (MBP). This action not only assisted in removing 6 Liberals from their cosy parliamentary positions but helped extract the promise of fair compensation from the Labor party. Unless they keep this promise to the W.A. taxi plate owners the MBP will make them accountable at the next election.
Current proposal
The current proposal of compensating $100000 to approximately 90% of owners has been overwhelmingly rejected. It is a ‘slap in the face’ for the hard working small business people of the taxi industry. This will not only mean a loss of $200000 in the asset value of the taxi plates, but also the loss of years of a pension that many of the owners were aiming for. TOLD will also keep reminding this Government that the respected Australian creed of ‘a fair go for everyone’ applies to the hard working families of the taxi industry as well as everybody else.
Told undertakings
As indicated above , we will not be silent anymore , the latest action TOLD has undertaken was to commission one of the world’s biggest accounting firms ( Ernst &Young)to review the Government buyback proposal. This report in now on the desk of the Premier and the Transport Minister and we are currently waiting for their response. This is the first action of many that are planned.
Despite these actions, TOLD would like to stress that this Government is not our enemy – it is the collection of lobbyist, DOT advisors, finance department bureaucrats and obviously Uber that are unfortunately lecturing the Government on what is fair and what is not and are providing the WA Government with inaccurate information. Just to be sure there has never been a legitimate argument ever proposed in WA by anyone for not paying the full market value of the taxi plates, as they stood in prior to commencement of Government actions to devalue WA taxi plates in 2014, in compensation to their owners.
Not paying a fair compensation for the changes in legislation is not simply an injustice it is simply unAustralian!
Finances
As indicated above, the $1000 donated 3 years ago took us to the point where we are now (it is up to you to decide if you got a reasonable return on your investment???).
We are now starting a new chapter!!! We have decided to collect $200 per plate to top-up the TOLD account. Our first bill of $22.000 was for the 150 page Ernst & Young report and has to be paid soon. We are requesting you to forward your donation
ASAP.
Acc name; Taxi Operators Legal Defence
BSB; 036-041
Acc No; 311416
This fight is for another $190,000 on top of what is being proposed at the moment. We will not leave the stone unturned until we get it.
Regards
John Golawski
PS. It has been proposed by many members to stop sending industry updates to the people who will not contribute to the TOLD fund. This proposal will be considered at the next committee meeting.
LAST MINUTE UPDATE
As indicated in the Newsletter, the Taxi industry has been patiently trying to negotiate (with the Government) to achieve positive outcomes for our industry for the last 3 years. Our patience however has ran out now and we will be taking more assertive actions. We’ve 10 points disruption action plan which we will keep extending until the Government will decide to TALK to the $300 MILLION dollars industry.
Action 1 is the report from ‘Ernst and Young’ which rubbishes the Government buy back $ figure.
Action 2 is the attached Petition to counter the latest proposal to have UNLIMITED number of taxi released as early as July. Please see the attached Petition and meet our representatives on Monday the 14th of May in front of the ‘Swans’ office (Victoria Park) between 7-12 am to sign the Petition!!!!
Action 3 is happening next week. Watch the media.
Action 4 is happening the following week. Watch the media.
