Media Release

21 JUNE 2017:

KAP Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter has tonight welcomed the resignation of the CEO of paid ride-share booking company Uber amidst allegations of office sexual harassment, theft of trade secrets, misleading government regulators and underpaid drivers*.

Mr Katter said the resignation of Uber’s co-founder vindicated the efforts by local owners of taxis in Cairns and Townsville to kick the $60 billion multinational out of town.

“Cairns’ taxi industry generates $40 million a year every cent stays in Far North Queensland, but Uber means one-quarter of that gets siphoned offshore,” said Mr Katter from Parliament House in Canberra.

“Almost every single taxi in Cairns is locally owned - with more than 160 family members associated with taxis in Cairns - and a lot of these taxis are superannuation investments for retirement.

“But customers also ultimately suffer in a free-for-all passenger road transport market – with safety and service the first casualties.

“In a deregulated taxi market, there is an erosion of oversighting and scrutiny of drivers – with virtually no cameras, no meters, no distress alarm, no base, no taxi ranks, no ‘early hours of the morning’ service, no services for the disabled, no commercial insurance for passengers...

“What we get instead is variable pricing – which means sky-high prices at peak hours cancelling out the so-called cheaper fares that ultimately lead to lower wage rates for drivers while all the profits go back to the San Francisco corporate headquarters.

“You might get a cheaper ride tonight but in the long run, we all know the only ride you will be getting is the rough end of the pineapple."

Mr Katter commended “every single one of the fighters” in North Queensland’s taxi industry for maintaining their “David and Goliath” battle against the “foreign corporate invasion”.

*Apart from this, they are nice people...