Sunday, September 21, 2008

Vilification of Taxi Drivers and Ethnic Groups

NSW TAXI DRIVERS ASSOCIATION
INCORPORATING BAILEE DRIVERS, OWNER DRIVERS AND LESSEE DRIVERS
Inc.no. 9882558 ABN 98 653 928 763 PO Box 322, Alexandria NSW 2015


'A Fair Share of a Fair Fare'


Vilification of Taxi Drivers and Ethnic Groups


Based on a recent ongoing court case (regarding Kowsar Ali), some sections the media outlets are making attempts to vilify Taxi Drivers and some Ethnic Groups unfairly. We oppose and condemn such unfair forms of racism. We believe in the presumption of innocence for all equally, and are against trial by media. We strongly believe that cases such as that of Kowsar Ali should be strictly dealt with by the Judiciary and other law enforcement authorities. Such cases should not be used by anyone in the media to vilify all Taxi-Drivers and ethnic groups.


We also call upon the government to remove any ambiguity in the ‘Duty of Care” provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Acts and Regulations (regarding safety equipment), and to enforce such regulations regardless of bailor/bailee relationship. Namely, we are calling for the correct and effective functioning of all relevant safety equipment (alarm, GPS, camera, etc.) to be the sole legal responsibility of the operator. Reports by Keatsdale, Dalziel and Cook, were in full support of our ideas, which are in essence similar to the recommendations of Justice Edwards and Justice Beatie. Unfortunately, such previous good work by these authorities, was largely undone by the state Labor government through the appointment of Dave Maddan. Since then, the NSW Ministry of Transport has silenced this burning issue for the last four years by refusing to allow any Taxi-Driver participation in the Taxi-Driver Safety Task Force.




Faruque Ahmed
Media Manager
Mobile: 041 091 4118
Email: union_faruque@yahoo.com.au
Monday, September 22, 2008

No comments: