Horse-drawn vehicles
Mr BOURMAN (Eastern Victoria) (12:04): My question is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety in the other place. Horse-drawn carriages are yet another issue that seems to have become important, and I am yet to understand why. Overnight, with no warning to the operators that will be impacted, the government has announced the banning of horse-drawn carriages from Melbourne’s CBD. The small businesses affected by this decision will be decimated and jobs will be lost at a time when we are trying to rebuild our economy, so this ban is counterintuitive and really should never have been contemplated. So my substantive question is: will the minister urgently prepare a compensation package for the owners of these businesses and their employees that have lost their jobs through government actions and no fault of their own?
Ms PULFORD (Western Victoria—Minister for Employment, Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Resources) (12:04): I thank Mr Bourman for his question, and I will seek a written response on this matter from Minister Carroll for him.
Mr BOURMAN (Eastern Victoria) (12:05): I thank the minister for her answer. After two years of being forced out of earning a living, these businesses and employees have been barely holding on, only waiting for the opportunity to begin their livelihoods once again. With only a few months of returning to some form of normality, the government has effectively ended this industry. They have not been given a fair go, so my supplementary is: will the minister offer an acknowledgement and an apology to the families reliant on these businesses that would have been in a far better position today if they had been aware at any point that this outcome was going to come today?
Ms PULFORD (Western Victoria—Minister for Employment, Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Resources) (12:05): Again, I thank Mr Bourman for his question on this matter, and I will seek a response from Minister Carroll for him.