The Time to Act is Now

After six months of consultation, 550 submissions, and thousands of letters from people opposed to the Katter’s Australia Party’s Private Member’s Bill, the Queensland Parliament’s Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources Committee has confirmed that the law as it stands was not designed to deal with evolving technology and ridesharing.

“Legislation from a number of decades ago that has been written around obligations of parties, with offences that do not quite apply to a modern-day approach with the modern technology used.”

The Chair of the Committee, Jim Pearce MP, confirmed during a radio interview that there are serious questions about how the current laws apply to ridesharing.

“At the moment, if it goes to court, the court has absolutely no chance of being successful.”

Smart phones and technology are an intrinsic part of people’s everyday life, and this report shows that there is an urgent need for Government to put in place sensible regulations that recognise this new reality.

The Committee recommended that the Minister consider urgent action to update the laws. We agree that the law needs to be updated and modernised, but instead of going backwards to find new ways to punish people, the Parliament should do what other jurisdictions like NSW and the ACT have done and regulate ridesharing.

If the Parliament could use urgency powers to introduce new enforcement measures it could use the same powers to introduce a regulatory framework for ridesharing.

We call on the Queensland Government to recognise the hundreds of thousands of Queenslanders who are choosing ridesharing as a safe, reliable and affordable way to get around town, and the thousands of drivers who are earning a flexible income by sharing rides, and introduce sensible regulations as soon as possible.

The time to act is now.