By the time you’re reading we would have headed to the polls and I imagine you would have cast your ballot in the May 3 federal election. This time, perhaps more than any other, we’ve got an election that is of particular importance for owner-drivers and truck drivers in general. We’ve got a lot to fight for as our years of calling for change in the industry culminated in tangible change at a political level.
However, if elected, there’s a real danger of the Liberals eradicating all the reforms that we’ve lobbied for, especially Closing Loopholes, which includes specific provisions for truck drivers and owner-drivers. The Liberal Party has gone on the record to say they will repeal these reforms. I’m hoping we will have a Labor federal government as we need to ensure these reforms are kept in place and all the hard work of the industry representatives, the TWU and politicians on our side, hasn’t been for nothing. We fought hard for these reforms and we can’t have the Liberals play politics with them. It’s not just playing politics with the industry, it’s essentially playing politics with peoples’ lives.
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The important reforms that have been set up include minimum standard orders for road transport workers including payment times, fuel levies, rate reviews, terminations and cost-recovery. These very specific reforms deal with tangible issues that are genuinely meaningful for truck drivers as well as couriers and workers in the gig economy. One specific example is the TWU making applications to the Fair Work Commission to make the road transport industry fairer and more sustainable, including for shorter haul owner-drivers transporting goods from depots to the final destinations. Often the election cycle media coverage is full of promises for everyday taxpayers, which is fair enough as it also includes us, but I think, as truck operators, we should pay special attention to elections where laws that specifically affect us are at stake.
Recently, I was lucky enough to be part of a TWU-led delegation made up of industry representatives, gig workers and including drivers and owner-drivers, to thank politicians for their work in passing the Closing Loopholes legislation and with a view to maintaining their ongoing support. We spoke to the Labor government and cross-benchers, trying to secure support from opposition senators and politicians, some of whom were sympathetic to the challenges transport workers face, if not necessarily formally backing our reforms.
Labor politicians like senator Tony Sheldon, federal MP Matt Burnell and Senator Marielle Smith, among others, have frequently spoken on behalf of transport workers in the lead up to the Closing Loopholes reforms, in particular, the road transport components. They’ve been vocal and up-front about supporting truck drivers and transport workers in Parliament, as well as bringing our concerns about safety to the forefront. Senator Sheldon was the former secretary of the Transport Workers’ Union and spearheaded the fight for a safer road transport industry, both in the union and in his time as a senator. Matt Burnell and senator Smith joined us in fronting the media in August 2023 after the first of the two TWU convoys for transport reform that year in Adelaide. Lending their voice to support truck drivers in the media helps build the case in the public setting that drivers deserve to have a safer and fairer industry. Then introducing laws and passing laws like Closing Loopholes made reform a reality. If we have ended up with a Liberal government, by the time this goes to print, my only hope is they don’t follow through with their threat to repeal this legislation.
Labor senator Glenn Sterle, a former truck driver and owner-driver himself, chairs the Heavy Vehicle Rest Area Steering Committee. Ultimately, this committee is effectively focused on saving lives, as its sole purpose is to reduce the death toll from truck-related crashes through combating the scourge of fatigue. If I were to list the number of times senator Sterle has advocated in parliament on behalf of truck drivers, I’d be here all year. He’s got the road miles to back up his interest in truck driving. He started life as a driver after he finished high school and bought his first truck at age 20. Prior to his political career, he had worked in trucks his whole life, advocating for drivers as part of the TWU for many years before running for office. So if you want an example of a politician who’s got an innate knowledge of our industry, with the road miles to prove it, look no further.
I could go further and outline the advocacy of various Labor politicians who have stood up for truck drivers and owner-operators, but I think you get the drift. Overall, whether it’s introducing laws to safeguard truck driver rights, chairing committees to combat driver fatigue, or generally advocating on behalf of us, it’s clear to me that it’s the Labor party who has the proven track record when it comes to improving the rights of truck drivers and all transport workers. They’re the ones who have put pen to paper and changed the law to make our industry safer and fairer. This is why I’m hopeful that after this goes to print, we’ll have re-elected the current Labor government and if not, we’re able to stand up and convince the Libs to keep the current hard-fought reforms in place, as well as honouring any of the work in progress on rest area development.
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