Media Release

MORE than 1300 Queensland taxi owner operators in a Closed Action lawsuit against the Queensland State Government could receive compensation for the erosion of licences due to legalising rideshare if a Notice of Appeal filed in the Queensland Court of Appeal (QCA) is successful.

Melbourne based law firm Maitland Lawyers submitted the Notice which features 18 grounds for Appeal.

KAP Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter says the Appeal will shine a light on the injustice of the Queensland Courts.

“These people bought these cabs for nearly $400,000k and the Government acted to completely destroy the value of a taxi cab and took the value down to as little as $10k.,” he said.

“A quarter of the entire industry was handed over to a foreign corporation; Uber. So where we kept 100% of the taxi income, now Uber has half the market and a quarter of their money goes overseas. An estimated $23 million goes out of the Cairns economy each year to Uber.”

Mr Katter warned all citizens of Queensland that what has happened with the taxi owners can happen to anyone. The State Government can at any time decide to turn your area into a National Park, take your home and pay you whatever they feel like paying you.

“The taxi cab worth $350k was compensated for $10k and there is nothing complicated about this. The aspirational classes, the average Queenslander, a bloke who works hard in the mines to get ahead, he saved his money and bought a trawler licence – trawler licences have been deregulated so that leaves him with nothing. He bought two or three taxi cabs – now he has nothing. He bought a corner store – now he has nothing, destroyed by Woolworths and Coles who ate him alive.

“Magna Carta says that the Crown, the executive arm of Cabinet, the Government – they all mean the same thing – you are subject to the law the same as anybody else. If you carry out an action that destroys the value of someone’s property, be it a fire in a national park or a reckless government driver who smashes into you, or legislation taking my land rights off me – you have to go through a process of law. You are subject to the law the same as every other person.

“These people do not have the remotest understanding of these principles outlined in the great documents of human history, and if we let them get away with it, we will need to have another modern revolution.

“You think you are above the law and please God you’ll find out in the High Court. I regret to say that I am not positive about the Qld Courts at all. Somewhere in their studies they didn’t study the Magna Carta”

—ENDS—