Australian state government suspends registration of Uber drivers

Each Australian state and territory is handling Uber's entrance into the market differently, but what they all agree on is that Uber doesn't fit the current regulations for private cars.

So far it seems the states are more interested in blocking and fining drivers than reviewing the laws and regulations around private drivers.

I met a driver in Melbourne who was fined twice. He said that Uber paid the fine both times. NSW's policy is far more severe for the drivers; deregistering drivers or vehicles has very real repercussions (could lead to criminal convictions if the driver isn't smart about it). I would say its likely a response Uber's payment of fines.

In Melbourne, taxi drivers recently protested Uber by refusing to pick up passengers. Their strike coincided with a public transport strike (unrelated to Uber) and generally caused a lot of chaos. Because of the costs behind taxi ownership, those protesting drivers took a pretty huge pay hit out of their own pockets to protest.

Seems its an increasingly dangerous time to be an UberX driver.