Members of the Australian Ministry for Small Business and the Australian Consulate with eBay Inc. Staff

Last week, Australian Minister for Small Business Brendan O’Connor met with eBay Inc.’s Government Relations (GR) team to gain industry perspectives on local commerce opportunities available for small businesses.

Minister O’Connor met with eBay Inc.'s Head of Corporate Strategy Erik Stuart, GR Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Tod Cohen, Chief of Staff Richard Nash, Global Data, Analytics and Tools Director Kathy Free and Associate Jennifer Blanco to have a deeper discussion on how eBay Inc.’s innovative platforms could foster economic growth for businesses of all sizes. Both eBay Inc. and the Australian government have a shared purpose to accelerate public policies and industry opportunities that enable connected commerce. 

This dialogue with Minister O’Connor follows eBay Inc. CEO John Donahoe’s meeting with Australia’s Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Stephen Conroy in June 2012. Earlier this month, Minister Conroy visited a Melbourne business, designed in brunswick, currently trialling a PayPal innovation, PayPal Here. It uses a small card reader and a smartphone app to process payments, depositing the money directly into a business's PayPal account. This technology represents the next step in payments processing. (Read more about designed in brunswick on our Main Street posting found here).

eBay Inc. also supports Australian small businesses through its educational campaign - “Driving Business Online” initiative, launched in 2011. The initiative has delivered dozens of seminars across Australia to help provide small businesses with tools to get online and succeed. The initiative is supported by the Australian Retailers Association and aligns with eBay Inc.'s priority to create connected commerce for businesses of all sizes.