Media Statement — Taxi Licence Owners Tasmania Association (TLOTAS)
21 September 2026
TLOTAS calls on Tasmanian Government for urgent taxi licence buyback scheme
The Taxi Licence Owners Tasmania Association (TLOTAS), representing 194 plate owners holding 428 taxi licences across the State, has written to the Hon Kerry Vincent MLC, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, warning that the Tasmanian taxi industry is no longer viable in its current form.
The letter points to the Tasmanian Economic Regulator's own Draft Report on owner-operator taxi licence (OOTL) reserve prices, which confirms that licence values across the State — both perpetual and owner-operator — have collapsed. The Regulator has proposed cutting the Hobart OOTL reserve price by 67.7 per cent, and reports licences trading for as little as $10,000 in Hobart and, in some rural areas, for the equivalent of a few cartons of beer.
TLOTAS argues this decline is a direct consequence of rideshare deregulation, which has seen more than 1,900 rideshare vehicles registered in Tasmania against just 592 taxi licences statewide, while perpetual licence holders — many of whom paid well over $100,000 for licences purchased in good faith under a Government-regulated system — have been left with no compensation or exit pathway.
The Association notes that Tasmania is now the outlier among Australian jurisdictions: New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia have each delivered funded buyback or compensation schemes for their taxi industries, in packages ranging from $129 million to $905 million.
TLOTAS is formally calling on the Tasmanian Government to design and fund a buyback and/or compensation scheme for perpetual licence holders, to meet with the Association urgently, and to commit to a public timeframe for announcing such a scheme. Read the letter to the Tasmanian Minister
Tasmanian perpetual taxi licence holders want taxi buyback by government
Hard working Australians who purchased perpetual taxi plate licences in Tasmania as part of their superannuation and retirement are financially destroyed and emotionally suffering due to the ill advised decisions made by the Tasmanian State Government and to make it worse, to date have continued to fail on the delivery of any financial package to cover FINANCIAL TRANSITIONAL ASSISTANCE for loss in asset value of Tasmanian perpetual taxi plate licenses. The government has repeatedly said no to compensation, so now we are asking for a buyback by the Government.
Tasmanian Taxi Industry in 2026 Financial Crisis
There is no outcome to perpetual taxi licence owners in the midst of this plight for self funded retirees who have virtually lost most of their income from taxi leases. It is no exaggeration to state that taxi plate licence holders/owners with these crippling loses have had their life savings stolen by the Tasmanian State Government.
Where is the justice in all this?
Many of our Tasmanian taxi licensees have been under tremendous pressure due to this onslaught of an unequal level playing field competition from app-dispatched services. These app dispatched services are not carrying the same costs nor are being forced to pay the same fees. The State Government needs to correct its moral compass. Minister Ferguson has no idea of what a level playing field is….. Just look at the statistics and disparate insurance premiums!
Taxi Industry Market Manipulation.
The Tasmanian Taxi Industry has been placed in a commercial disadvantage, specifically through the inequity in CTP insurance, comprehensive insurance and very low taxi operator lease licensing fees.
All The Ministers Need to know the facts
Not a Level Playing Field for Tasmanian Taxi Industry.
There are approximately 428 perpetual taxi licences in Tasmania held by 194 owners. Many self funded retirees who have invested 20+ years of blood, sweat and tears of hard work in investing in this perpetual taxi plate asset has gone down the drain through no fault of their own, but by the manipulation of government.
Any call for Tasmanian Government to implement taxi licence buy-back scheme must be in the form of fair and equitable transitional assitance for perpetual taxi plate owners.
Failure by Tasmanian Liberal Government to look after Australian mum and dad investors
Taxi leases CRASHED to $3,600 for Tasmanian taxi owners since 2020 and plate values have spiralled downwards at no fault of their own. Many have invested as part of their self managed super funds.
Elderly Individuals have bought taxi plate licences have had their superannuation investments and their entire livelihoods stolen by the Liberal Tasmanian Government.