The Australian Trucking Association welcomes and strongly supports the federal government’s announcement that it will change the law to help trucking businesses recover their crippling fuel costs from their customers.
The Fair Work Commission has the power to issue contractual chain orders that apply across the road transport contract chain, including the industry’s customers. But issuing these orders is a deliberately slow process.
Last week, the ATA called for an amendment to allow for urgent fuel price orders. The TWU and ARTIO are working on a similar proposal. ATA CEO Mathew Munro said the terminal gate price of diesel had risen from less than 166c per litre to more than 295c because of the Iran war.
“It is the biggest fuel price spike in history, and there is no end in sight,” he said.
Munro said trucking businesses were unable to absorb this increase, and most couldn’t pass it on. “Without immediate action, the trucks will stop. And when the trucks stop, Australia stops,” Munro said. “This is an emergency. The ATA stands today with the government, with the union, with our employers and with our small operators in full support of this announcement.”
“We will do everything we can to help speed the amendment through parliament.”
“We then look forward to working in the commission to develop an order to support the trucking businesses that don’t have fuel surcharges to pass on their costs, while not overriding the arrangements that some businesses already have in place.”
Munro said it would take time for any contractual chain order to come into force and that small trucking businesses still needed immediate support.
The ATA has called for
• The immediate activation of disaster recovery funding to help small trucking businesses.
• The temporary removal of the 32.4c per litre road user charge on the fuel used in on-road heavy vehicles.
• The increased use of longer trucks that can move more freight with less fuel. The ATA has asked the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator to urgently meet with industry leaders and state government representatives to develop a coordinated plan to issue temporary notices to allow these high-productivity freight vehicles to operate on more roads.
