Uber allows everyday drivers to use their vehicles as personal taxis and connects with customers via smartphone. It rewards customers with fares cheaper than traditional taxis.

Uber unpopular with politicians but increasingly popular with the general public. Credit:Getty Images There are now more than 1000 Uber drivers in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, with Uber's Queensland manager Mike Abbott saying "multiple tens of thousands" of trips are being taken each week. While he acknowledged Uber had been met with apprehension, he believed it would be legalised. "We are very confident that ultimately government will act in the best interest of consumers, and not just protect incumbent industry from competition," Mr Abbott said.

"Uber is growing strongly right across Australia and around Asia, but Brisbane and Gold Coast are among the fastest-growing markets." Mr Abbott said Uber looked forward to constructive conversations with the LNP and Labor, and accused the taxi council of "scaremongering, intimidation, threats and lies". On the campaign trail, Premier Campbell Newman said the government's position hadn't changed since cease and desist notices were issued in May 2014. That decision has resulted in 95 drivers being fined a total of $260,000, however Uber has not denied claims that it is paying off its drivers' fines. "The bottom line is if Uber want to operate in Queensland, they need to operate on the same basis as cab companies and people who have invested in their cabs," Mr Newman said on Monday. Mr Newman said if Uber wanted to operate legally, it needed "proper insurance, they need to obviously be registered and licensed and go through criminal checks and the like".

While serving as acting leader for Labor, Tim Mulherin said his party's commitment to public safety was "paramount" and new players in the public transport market needed to adhere to the rules. "Where laws are being deliberately flouted, appropriate enforcement and penalties are necessary," he said. He didn't set out Labor's plan to tackle issues within the transport sharing economy, but Labor have told the taxi industry the government's response has been "slow and has demonstrated a lack of will to tackle this important issue". Taxi Council of Queensland CEO Benjamin Wash said the taxi industry was pleased the words of support from the government and opposition under the current laws, but more needed to be done to crack down on Uber. "The reality is Uber still exists, so we can only question how serious sometimes the government might be, even though they are saying the right things," he said.

Mr Wash said customers were protected under insurance in taxis, drivers had criminal checks conducted daily and vehicles had multiple GPS trackers, making it difficult for them to vanish off the grid. However Uber's Queensland manager Mr Abbott disputed that the company has free rein. He said Queensland drivers carry a government-issued driver authority card, which included medical, criminal background and traffic record checks. Mr Abbott said every Uber vehicle had passed third party inspections, each trip was covered by a $5 million commercial insurance policy, and built-in app features prevented drivers from being anonymous.