Wednesday, May 26, 2004

DISCRIMINATION NONSENSE

A whining Muslim, of course

"A migrant from the Middle East who failed his test to become a taxi driver three times has complained of discrimination. The man claims the pass mark is set too high. He has unsuccessfully sat the test three times since November 2000. The first time he failed all categories: English communication, map reading, maths and abstract reasoning.

But Equal Opportunity Commissioner Yvonne Henderson believes the man is a victim of discrimination and has referred the matter for a hearing at the Equal Opportunity Tribunal. It is the first time a complaint from a would-be taxi driver who has failed the test has been referred to the tribunal.

About 400 people apply to be taxi drivers in Perth each year, with up to 160 of them failing. About 60 per cent of applicants have English as a second language.

Ms Henderson, a former Labor Government minister, also took up the man's case with Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan. But Ms MacTiernan told The Sunday Times the Government made no apologies for introducing minimum training standards. "For the sake of the industry and the consumer we need to have taxi drivers operating at a very high level," Ms MacTiernan said. "It is absolutely vital that they are able to read a map, calculate the change and have reasonable communication skills. We are not aiming, in any way shape or form, to get migrants out of the industry. Migrants have been the absolute backbone of the taxi driving industry. We've got African drivers and many drivers from the Middle East and they are welcomed and do a fantastic job. I think they would agree that it's in everyone's interests that we do have the standards there."

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