# AFR interview with Uber chief, Dara Khosrowshahi: Uber in Australia



## Jack Malarkey (Jan 11, 2016)

Extracts from interview with Uber chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, by Jacob Greber.

Australian Financial Review, Friday 14 June 2019, pages 36 and 37:

AFR: What are you investing in Australia? Give me a dollar amount?

Dara: Let me come back to you.
[An Uber spokesman said later they wouldn't give dollar amounts but that Uber now has more than 500 "team members" in Australia]

I will say Australia is one of the bright lights for Uber on a global basis. If the world looked like Australia I might be taking a vacation next week.

It's a leading market for us in ride-share. It is one of our fastest growing markets as it relates to eats. And you have seen us respond, for example, with Melbourne being our first international city as it relates to Elevate.

The country has been good to us and we want to be good back to the country.

...

AFR: What is it about the environment in Australia...?

Dara: Australia is an English-speaking country. It's easy for us to operate in-as originally an American company.

The wireless spectrum is pretty mature in a good way. Payments functionality is broad and credit cards options are deep.

So just all of it has come together very, very quickly and we have a very talented team on the ground. I have to give credit to the ground team.

When you look at Uber and how effective we are in country by country there's an umbrella service, but really how we penetrate into the country is dependent on local teams in each city.

And I think that the Australian team that we have is second to none.

[end of extracts]

(Additional paragraph breaks included.)


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## Who is John Galt? (Sep 28, 2016)

Good work, thanks Jack.


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## Smythe-Brownson-Brown (Jun 24, 2019)

They are talking about Uber staff, not all the drivers


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## Jack Malarkey (Jan 11, 2016)

Smythe-Brownson-Brown said:


> They are talking about Uber staff, not all the drivers :wink:


Indubitably correct.


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## Smythe-Brownson-Brown (Jun 24, 2019)

Then again he probably says the same thing, whenever he visits a new country.


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## Jules66 (Feb 22, 2017)

90% of our staff spend their time actively recruiting new drivers to screw over our existing drivers, the other 10% are executive staff who are in charge with coming up with new ways of screwing our existing drivers. All of our staff are very busy.


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## Hot Suomi (Dec 11, 2018)

Smythe-Brownson-Brown said:


> They are talking about Uber staff, not all the drivers :wink:


Driver is an independent contractor. Human rights and fair works are not applicable towards contractors.


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## Smythe-Brownson-Brown (Jun 24, 2019)

We don't even get decent fuel prices in Canberra


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## Jack Malarkey (Jan 11, 2016)

Smythe-Brownson-Brown said:


> We don't even get decent fuel prices in Canberra


Prices at Costco and the Caltex at Canberra Airport with Momentum discount are okay. I fill up at one of those whenever I'm in the area.


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## Smythe-Brownson-Brown (Jun 24, 2019)

I am LPG so I use United Kambah which is 74.9 at the moment


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