Future Licensing Review

Between 2016 and 2021, the Queensland Government implemented reforms to the personalised transport industry which aimed to ensure Queenslanders have access to safe, reliable, and affordable personalised transport services and increased choice and flexibility.

Queensland’s Personalised Transport Horizon Stage Three: Monitoring and Evaluation Report was released in April 2022. The report identified the reforms delivered significant benefits in safety, choice and flexibility and provided a sound foundation to respond to the new challenges to the industry because of COVID-19. It also recognised opportunities to review specific issues arising from within the framework, including a review of the taxi licensing framework to ensure it is supporting the taxi industry's ability to compete effectively within the personalised transport industry. This is being progressed via the Future Licensing Review (the review).

The review has focused on analysing the regulatory framework for personalised transport in the areas of licensing, market restrictions and accessibility to determine if improvements are needed to enable contemporary market conditions and ensure services are meeting customer needs into the future. This includes considering the circumstances of where the release of further taxi service licences might be required.

To date, the review has considered the views and issues of industry representatives as well as wider feedback and submissions received to inform its policy analysis. We have also been engaging with other Australian jurisdictions and has analysed learnings from their reforms.

Analysis on the key issues has been conducted and the review has now progressed into the option development phase. We are assessing the impact any potential option will have on industry stakeholders as part of evaluating the options.

Consultation with the taxi industry on options for the Review has closed. We will review the responses to inform a final recommendation for government consideration.