STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator STEELE-JOHN (Western Australia) (13:53): Uber enables the discrimination of disabled people. Uber enables disabled people to be discriminated against every single day in this country. Now I want to be really, really clear.

These comments are not directed at any one particular Uber driver. I have spent a lot of time talking with drivers who are literally making ends meet, working in rideshare jobs in the gig economy. I know it's tough.

I know that Uber takes so much of a cut that sometimes it's hardly even worth the work that you put in. I know that you often feel as a driver that you don't have agency or control over your work. I want to acknowledge that as a reality.

And we must talk about the fact that, every day in this country, Uber enables the discrimination that is experienced by so many disabled people. I want to make this real for the parliament. I have experienced discrimination at the hands of Uber drivers, enabled by this app, time and time again.

I cannot tell you what it feels like to sit, after waiting ages for anyone to turn up, and see somebody then clock that you are in a wheelchair and just drive off. I've had this happen to me three times in a row once. Drivers pressure you to cancel the trip.

Once you get on board, they try to get you to increase the amount of money that you'll pay them just because you have a chair. They decide that they won't take you halfway through you getting on board. This is not okay.

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