Request for an Inauiry by the NSW Stay Safe Committee.

10c. Request for an Inauiry by the NSW Stay Safe Committee.

By September 1996 more than 1,000 taxi drivers had signed a petitioncalling for an Parliamentary Staysafe Committee Inquiry into the NSWTaxi Industry and its safety record. A Letter was written to Paul Gibson the Chair of the Committee by the TWU TDS requesting such aninquiry. (PSC1-2] . A request of support from the TWU Executive failed sustain any support to the TWU/TDS [ISD4-6] and failed to make aseparate submission. A request for support for such an inquiry was also made to the Secretary of the NSW Labor Council Michael Costa.[ISD3] My letter to Bob Carr (25-8-98) [ISD1-2], other letters urging to support Parliamentary Inquiry [ISD3-8], supportive reply from Parliamentary Committee members [ISD9-17] and media articles [ISD18-36] should generate a genuine suspicion about the Labor Party (Right Wing) cover-up and corruption, in order to protect a network of offenders making a mockery of the law, and involving the manipulation and misguidance of state governmental instrumentalities.

To clarify the extent of the damage to taxi industry workers I would like to request the ICAC Commission examine James Dalzial's Reportfrom Sydney University and the Keatsdale Report commissioned by theDepartment of Transport referred to earlier in this document. More recent correspondence includes [Z1] my letter to Mr. Michael PhotiousMP. [Z2] is a letter from Michael Photios to Bob Carr. [Z3-6] prompts the question of what are Bob Carr and Brian Langton trying to hide? While on the one hand the Minister's Office maintains it is "very concerned about the safety of taxi drivers in the workplace" and "theDept. of Transport closely monitors security incidents which are brought to its attention" [AB-2] it does not keep any statistics on the number of drivers who are bashed, assaulted and robbed. A request for such information from his office in 1997 brought the curt response that "crime statistics" were "a matter for the NSW Police Service". Similarly the Minister's Office would not reveal whether it kept, or was aware of any statistics kept by either the Networks incident reports or Workcover. [AB-1]

Source: Sydney Taxi Corruption