Australia, Michael Kaine, Opinion, Transport Industry News, TWU

TWU welcomes major Australian truck driver reform laws

The TWU’s Michael Kaine says the arrival of transport reform laws in Australia is a welcome sight for the nation’s legion of truck drivers

There has never been a more promising moment in time for the road transport industry in Australia.

After years of industry struggle, after too many lost lives and sunken business dreams, the transport reform laws are finally here. This legislation not only delivers the foundations of a safer, more sustainable and viable transport industry, it also sets out the plan to build it through a robust and inclusive consultation system.

A system which unites rather than divides, bringing together key industry voices and expertise – with a particular focus on those actually performing the work – to reform the Australian transport industry from within.

It’s this consultation at the heart of the system which will allow us to tackle the big issues we know are coming, like AI and automation, which we’re already seeing impact the rest of the world.

The first three applications we recently submitted to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) mark the very beginning of a comprehensive industry consultation process.

Those three applications seek minimum standards in food and parcel delivery along with fairer trucking contracts. Critically, no order can be made until the voices of drivers, transport operators and all of the industry have been heard. The first step in this process of unity and mobilisation of expertise is already underway – with the Road Transport Advisory group meeting and commencing the process of convening subcommittees to explore the applications and how best they should be actioned.

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Sub-committees are really at the centre of the system to ensure that the needs of the whole industry are balanced fairly.

As promising as this all is, there will be resistance.  As we move forward with these applications, we will begin to see pushback from some of the wealthiest clients in Australian transport.

We expect this response. It is not uncommon for those with significant resources to resist reform that may end up affecting their bottom line. For far too long, those wealthy clients have called the shots. They have put short-term profits ahead of long-term sustainability of the industry and safety by squeezing contracts and placing drivers under deadly pressures.

We have the opportunity now to turn this around. Rather than contributing to the downward spiral of standards, clients too have the chance to contribute to a better industry from within the new system. In a world-first, the new legislation covers clients. It acknowledges that clients have the commercial power to make a real difference to industry safety, sustainability and viability.

So clients will also be asked to become part of the unity ticket for change through the extensive industry consultation processes.

But for those who won’t play ball, the rest of the industry will charge ahead with desperately-needed reform with or without their buy-in.

We will continue to challenge this status-quo and TWU members are doing just that around the country.

Over the past few months, we held our annual delegate conferences across Australia which served as a reminder of workers’ relentless determination and strength. The new laws which have infused a fresh, palpable energy into our transport workers has brought hope not only to them but also to their families.

Our members are eager to see action in road transport and I was privileged to join them as we discuss what we’ve won as an industry over the past year and our plan for the year ahead.

In NSW, hundreds of our members marched with International Transport Workers’ Federation demanding Aldi do better as transport reform laws took effect.

Delegate conferences in Queensland and SA also brought road transport workers together from all corners of the industry—from bus drivers to employee drivers to gig workers, all of whom can now be covered by this system we’ve won together.

As we plan our next steps for road transport, we know we are on the right path because now it’s the people from this industry driving change.

Transport reform has pumped fresh momentum into this movement.

As we progress, the world is looking to the Australian transport industry, which has begun setting a global benchmark for what reform to road transport can look like and how it can be sustained fairly into the future.

With continued unity we can achieve lasting reform in Australian road transport and I look forward to updating through the progress of these first applications, and more to come.

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