An award-winning Indigenous musician will lodge a complaint with the taxi industry regulator and is demanding an apology after she says two cabs at Perth Airport refused to give her a ride “because of the colour of [her] skin”.
Emma Donovan initially thought she had been refused because she wanted a relatively short fare from the airport to the suburb of Victoria Park, but one cab driver then told her “they don’t take my kind”.
“I quickly got the got the feeling … that it wasn’t about the fare, and that it was about my skin, you know, and it was about the colour of me,” Ms Donovan, a Naaguja, Yamatji and Gumbaynggirr woman, said.
“Even just talking and repeating about this whole incident, it’s just brought me to tears. I was ignored.”
Perth Airport has offered to help Ms Donovan lodge a complaint with the regulator, the Department of Transport, which could issue fines of up to $3,000 if the taxi driver is found at fault.
‘They don’t take my kind’
The award-winning singer-songwriter landed at Perth Airport from Melbourne just after 8.30pm on Friday night.
She was riding high after coming back home to WA from a tour promoting her first solo album and an album launch in Fitzroy.
As she walked out of the domestic terminal carrying a ukulele and a bag, she headed for the nearest taxi rank.
She went up to the first cab but before she could reach the door handle, she said the driver asked where she was going and said he could not take her.
Confused, she went to the next cab in line.
“I said to the next cab, ‘are you right to go to Vic Park?’ No. Again, just immediate, no. And then I said, ‘Oh, why? What’s the problem here?’ And he didn’t want to talk to me or answer me,” she said.
She noticed those same cab drivers were immediately taking other passengers.
“By that time, I was so upset, and I realised why he didn’t want to take me,” she said.
“There was the comment made as well … that they don’t take my kind.
“I knew it was because of the colour of my skin. And I stood there, and I nearly cried.”
A passenger who was getting into another cab saw what was happening and came to help.
“He said to me, ‘I’d love to help you get home’,” Ms Donovan recalled.
She accepted a lift to her car in Victoria Park and the next day drove to a family 80th birthday party near Northampton, north of Geraldton, where her father’s family is from.
She sang through the hurt all night.
“I sing it up when I’m hurt. I sing up when I’m sad and angry. And so, I sung all night with the family. So that made me feel a bit better,” she said.
Feelings of rejection
Now, she has decided to do something about it.
“I don’t want to accept this anymore,” Ms Donovan said.
“You know, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We don’t want to accept this anymore. It’s not fair. I need to talk it up.”
Last week, she was taking part in events to make Reconciliation Week, trying to heal “the relationship between black and white Australia”.
For her, the rejection at the taxi rank adds to the pain she felt when the Voice Referendum was defeated.
“This contributes to that rejection, being made invisible, being made [to] feel like I can’t even, you know, reach out and hail a cab,” she said.
Airport, regulator offer support
It’s not yet known which company the taxi drivers worked for.
Perth Airport has offered to provide the CCTV footage to the Department of Transport to help with any investigation of the allegations.
“Perth Airport will also be issuing a reminder to all taxi companies of our expectation that all passengers be treated with courtesy and dignity,” an airport spokesperson said.
The Department of Transport said it did not tolerate racist behaviour by on-demand transport drivers.
It said on-demand or hail service drivers must accept any passenger, unless they had an appropriate reason for refusal.
The Department said it encouraged people who wanted to make a complaint to make direct contact with the company they were dealing with first, and then the department.
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