Woman receives cease-and-desist after posting video of alleged racist road-rage incident

Jessica Roberson captured on video a Provac Australia driver making a racist hand gesture toward her Uber driver during a traffic slowdown near a crash site on the Gold Coast on July 14. She shared the footage online, urging accountability, and the clip quickly amassed hundreds of thousands of views. Provac Australia responded three days later with a ten-page cease-and-desist notice, claiming the video caused commercial damage and falsely suggested the company itself was racist.

The company's co-general manager, Rhys Lambert, issued an apology for the employee’s actions, and the firm’s lawyer reiterated a zero-tolerance policy toward racism while accusing others of weaponising the incident. Australia's Race Discrimination Commissioner, Giridharan Sivaraman, linked the episode to a broader increase in visible racism fueled by extremist political rhetoric. Roberson has started a fundraiser for legal costs and says the public response has restored her faith in people speaking out.