By XAVIER SMERDON
A RARE public meeting designed to give Wyndham residents the chance to grill the State Government turned into a farce when it was taken over by the families of taxi drivers who were unhappy with changes to the industry.
Premier Dennis Napthine had to plead with the crowd to stop asking the same questions several times during the one-and-a-half hour event last Monday.
Mr Napthine had brought most of his Cabinet to the Wyndham Civic Centre for the first ever community forum in Melbourne as a chance for average residents to have their say.
The angry taxi drivers and their families took up more than a third of the restricted seats at the forum and were told early on that Mr Napthine and his Transport Minister Terry Mudler would meet with them privately after the meeting.
Despite this promise at different points in the night several of them rose to their feet and shouted at the Cabinet, forcing the Premier to ask for calm.
One lady was warned by security officials as she screamed at the politicians.
“We love you but please respect us,” the woman shouted.
“We are sick every night because of you.”
Mr Mulder addressed their concerns only once during the official proceedings, saying that the wider community wanted sweeping changes in the taxi industry.
Mary Smith from Tarneit said she missed out on attending the forum because it was booked out.
“It’s not really fair that they can go and waste other Wyndham resident’s opportunities to ask questions,” Ms Smith said.
“Why did they all need to go and take up so many seats? We won’t get this opportunity again.”
