00:00Look, Paula Hobley, a Victorian woman who is blind, took Uber to the federal court and
00:08argued that the company had broken discrimination law by drivers refusing to pick her guide
00:16dog up on more than 30 occasions.
00:19Now, Uber and Ms Hobley have settled the case without an admission of liability, and within
00:27that settlement, Uber has agreed to an external review of its operations.
00:33Now, that review and the details of it, any recommendations made and the implementation
00:38of those recommendations won't actually be released until 2028.
00:43So some would be questioning, well, that's a fairly long time between now and then for
00:49Uber to sort of be held accountable.
00:52But particularly Ms Hobley, who took the case to the federal court and her legal team who
00:57represented her from the Justice and Equity Centre, say, yes, it is a period of time,
01:02but it is a time where Uber can have their processes analysed, recommendations made, those
01:10recommendations be put in place, and then them actually be tested and then they'll have
01:14to report back.
01:15So there is a level of accountability that the legal team and Ms Hobley are quite pleased
01:21with.
01:21Of course, they acknowledge that it does not straightaway fix the problem, that between now
01:26and 2028 people still may be refused rides, whether you have an assistance animal or a
01:34guide dog.
01:34Ms Hobley said that even while she was going through the legal action, that she was refused
01:39on multiple times, her and her guide dog being picked up by Uber drivers.
01:44So it is still a significant problem.
01:46They acknowledge that, but also really happy that something has finally happened in this space
01:51because it is a significant problem for that community.
01:53Yeah.
01:54And what has Uber had to say?
01:56Look, Uber has said, of course, that the details of the settlement are confidential.
02:02It has acknowledged that.
02:03But it's also said that it does not take the practice of, you know, the instances of drivers
02:10refusing to pick up people with assistance dogs or guide dogs lightly.
02:15It has introduced policies and procedures and technology to ensure that drivers know their
02:20legal obligations and that it has done everything it possibly can to ensure that those processes
02:27are effective and that it will be obviously, you know, it has therefore agreed to this external
02:34review of its practices as well.
02:37And as, I mean, do we know how significant this problem is of drivers refusing people with
02:41guide dogs or other assistance animals?
02:43Look, it is a really significant issue.
02:46It's an issue that has been happening for years, probably more than five and upwards of
02:5110 years.
02:52People report being denied both Uber trips and also in taxis as well, where they refused
03:00entry because they're with a guide dog or an assistance dogs.
03:04Here at the ABC, you know, my team and I have definitely reported on this year in, year out,
03:10multiple times and multiple instances of sort of legal action being taken.
03:16So it definitely is a significant issue.
03:18The community definitely will be marking, I guess, this particular review as a step forward,
03:27but wanting to ensure now that action is taken to really stamp out what they describe as an
03:32endemic problem.
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