The acclaimed Gumbaynggirr-Yamatji soul singer Emma Donovan has alleged she was refused service by multiple taxi drivers at Perth airport, with one driver allegedly telling her that he didn’t serve her “kind of people”.
Donovan, who had flown to Perth after launching her album Til My Song is Done in Melbourne, wrote on Facebook that she was writing “in tears and anger” after all the drivers argued between themselves over which one of them would take her on Friday night.
“I know this wasn’t because of a short fare, I know this was racism at its finest,” Donovan wrote.
Donovan was travelling from Perth airport to the suburb of Victoria Park, an approximately 12 kilometre journey. She did not identify which company or companies the drivers worked for, though she did share images of their registration plates.
Donovan told the Guardian that she felt she had to speak up.
“I can’t be sitting there in silence, as I did the night I was trying to get my cab,” she said.
“I approached the cab rank and the first car did not want to take me. He asked me where I was going, I said Vic Park, and he said, no, I’m not going to take you.
“The whole cab line was full, there were 11 or 12 cars lined up. By this time, the second car didn’t want to take me. I’m standing there going, what do I do? Is someone going to take me?
“They all got into a bit of an argument, trying to work out who wanted to take me, and no one would.”
Donovan said she was reduced to tears when she asked the second driver in line why he refused to take her to her destination.
“I was upset by this time. I said, what have I done to you that you don’t want to take me? I don’t know what to do here, I just need a lift home.
“I was pretty much made to feel invisible; that was the feeling I got. One of them made a comment that they don’t take my kind of people, and that was when I started to cry and I got upset.”
Donovan said one driver tried to direct her to the rank at the international terminal. Eventually, another passenger queueing for a cab offered Donovan a ride with him.
A spokesperson for Western Australia’s Department of Transport told the Guardian it “does not tolerate racist behaviour by on-demand transport drivers”.
Under WA legislation, there are legitimate grounds for a driver to refuse service. These include reasonable grounds to believe that the passenger poses a genuine threat to the driver’s safety; abusive or aggressive behaviour; or the passenger being under the influence of alcohol or drugs to the extent that they are likely to soil the vehicle, or become abusive or aggressive.
If none of these grounds for refusal are met, drivers can be hit with penalties of up to $3,000.
“The Department of Transport encourages people who wish to make a complaint to, in the first instance, make direct contact with the relevant on-demand booking service,” the spokesperson said.
“If the passenger is unable to identify the on-demand booking service, they can email the details of the incident to the Department of Transport.”
Donovan said she would be filing a complaint on Monday and that she was prepared to take her complaint further, to the Equal Opportunity Commission.
She said it was not her first experience of racial profiling, having previously been refused taxi service at Sydney airport.
She also referred to the experiences of the late Indigenous actors Jack Charles and Ningali Lawford-Wolf, both of whom had been refused taxi services in the last decade.
Donovan has been performing for more than 25 years in a celebrated career. Two of her albums with the soul band the Putbacks – Crossover and Under These Streets – were nominated for the Australian Music prize in 2020 and 2021 respectively, as well as for various Aria awards.
Both albums won the Air (Australian Independent Record Labels Association) award for best independent soul/R&B album. Donovan has also been nominated for multiple Deadly, National Indigenous Music and National Live Music awards.