The Closing Loopholes Bill has officially come into effect as of this week – we’ve broken down everything to know about Closing Loopholes and what it means for your trucking business.

Owner driver and gig worker protections

Owner drivers are now more protected than ever from unfair termination and unfair contract terms as the new Closing Loopholes Bill officially comes into effect today.

The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) and other industry organisations have been in continued discussions with minister for employment and workplace relations Murray Watt.

Regulated road transport contractors will now be able to apply to the Fair Work Commission to resolve any disputes regarding contracts and unfair termination.

To be eligible, those contractors must earn less than the contractor high income threshold, which the federal government has set at $175,000. It is not currently possible to set different thresholds for different industries.

“I acknowledge your concern that contractors in the road transport industry carry a high level of business costs and a threshold of $175,000 may not be high enough to provide meaningful access to some of the new provisions,” Watt said in his letter to the ATA.

Despite being sound for the transport industry, ATA chair Mark Parry wants to see the threshold become more flexible in order to reflect differing figures in other Australian industries.

“Road transport contractors face very high business costs, and the figure that is reasonable for our industry is too high to be workable for some other industries,” he says.

“I’d like to thank Minister Watt, his office and his department for the thoughtful way they considered the evidence we put to them.”

The Transport Workers Union also engaged with Senator Watt, receiving confirmation that amendments to the provisions will be raised at the earliest possible opportunity.

“These ground-breaking new laws which provide greatly needed contract termination protections for owner drivers have been built from a two-decade campaign from TWU members,” says TWU national secretary Michael Kaine.

“It’s encouraging to see that the industry advocacy and consultation with union members and industry groups like ARTIO, NatRoad and NRFA which created this system is continuing to inform the federal government’s decisions on its implementation.

“Small business owner drivers and fleet operators have high costs, yet extremely tight margins. Throughout this process, we have made clear that the threshold must reflect this to ensure the protections are adequate and far-reaching.

“It is crucial that owner drivers have the confidence to negotiate fair rates and conditions, and are able to raise safety concerns without fear of losing work. The transport industry and our economy depend on small business operators being able to carry out their work safely, sustainably and viably.

“We look forward to continuing to work with the federal government and the Fair Work Commission Expert Panel to further develop these rights.”

TWU makes FWC submissions

With the new laws in place, the TWU will seek solutions from the Fair Work Commission’s new road transport division to address issues faced by transport and gig workers.

Truck drivers, food delivery riders and parcel couriers will make submissions under the new Closing the Loopholes Bill, which gives the FWC powers to adjudicate on unfair termination and unfair contract terms.

The TWU says it is focusing on three key industry areas in its submissions:

Food and beverage deliveries to people’s homes performed by gig workers
Fairer payments terms in transport supply chains, from major clients all the way through to smaller operators
‘Last mile’ parcel deliveries performed by drivers using their own vehicles

“This is the start of the biggest shake up of the transport industry in living memory, and not a day too soon. This is an industry that has claimed the lives of almost 500 workers and more than 3,500 businesses over the last decade alone,” says TWU national secretary Michael Kaine.

“Workers, employers, gig companies and even clients like Coles and Woolworths united for industry reform, achieving legislation that the TWU intends to use to its fullest potential, starting right now.

“Making these applications during the first week of this ground-breaking legislation is a water-shed moment for Australia’s 500,000+ transport workers, their families and the entire community.

“No household is untouched by the efforts of transport workers. We share the roads with trucks, courier vans and food delivery bikes every day.

“With the boom of online retail and food delivery, consumers have come to expect rapid deliveries to our doors, but also expect that drivers are paid properly and work under safe conditions. Until now, that has not been the case.

“Over time, these standards can be built up and expanded out until we have eradicated the Amazon Effect that has brought deadly exploitation and unsustainable competition to the transport industry.”

Under the new legislation, the applications will be referred to a Road Transport Advisory Group (RTAG) of registered organisations which will coordinate subcommittee consultation with relevant parties in order to inform the Expert Panel on standards.

This week, a delegation of international transport unions coordinated by the International Transport Workers Federation are in Sydney to commemorate the launch of these new laws and its first applications. Last year, 67 transport unions around the world signed up to a global campaign to secure similar ‘Safe Rates’ legislative systems.

VTA joins Road Transport Advisory Group

Part of the new stipulations surrounding the now active Closing Loopholes No. 2 Act is the formation of the RTAG, with key industry leaders set to be appointed as members of the new regulatory body.

Australian Road Transport Industrial Organisation (ARTIO) National Secretary and Victorian Transport Association CEO Peter Anderson will take his place as part of the RTAG following his successful nomination and ratification into the position.

“The Road Transport Advisory Group will play a pivotal role in advising the Fair Work Commission on matters critical to the road transport industry,” Peter says.

“The group’s responsibilities include providing expert advice on industry issues and prioritising the Commission’s work to ensure that the sector’s needs are effectively addressed in line with the recent road transport reforms.

“Following ARTIO’s nomination of me to serve as a member of the Road Transport Advisory Group, I’m pleased to confirm that Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has ratified the appointment.

“It is an honour to be appointed to RTAG. This role presents a unique opportunity to ensure that the voices of road transport businesses are heard, especially as we work toward implementing the Closing the Loopholes legislation.

“ARTIO has been at the forefront of advocating for reforms that create a safer work environment for transport workers without compromising productivity for freight operators.

“I look forward to contributing to this important work and ensuring that our industry continues to thrive under fair and balanced regulations.”

The Closing Loopholes No.2 Act came into effect on Monday, August 26, and will provide extensive added protection for contract road transport and gig employees.

“This day has been a long time coming for our industry,” Peter said as the new legislation came into effect.

“Transport is now getting the recognition it deserves with a dedicated system to establish harmony and sustainability. Transport businesses can have more confidence that a level playing field will bring about fair competition, with protection against the threat of the gig economy.

“As a member of the Road Transport Advisory Group, I look forward to consulting with the broader industry to ensure standards meet the road transport objective of making our essential industry safe, sustainable and viable.”

TWU NSW/QLD State Secretary Richard Olsen has also been appointed to the RTAG by Senator Watt, with the pair set to chair subcommittees with industry participants on relevant standards.

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With over 70 vehicles transporting craft beer and other beverages across a large area of NSW and SE Queensland, the service Motus offers to the brewery is handling all the warehousing and distribution for craft brewers, as beer comes off the end of the production line. The trucks either pick up from the brewery or the brewery delivers it to the Motus warehouse.

It is then stored in a large cool room. It’s not just beer, it’s also sparkling water and and other beverages, delivered on their behalf. Trucks run all around Sydney, to Canberra, Newcastle, Coffs Harbour, Byron Bay and SE Queensland. In terms of storage, they have 10,000 square metres in Sydney and another 14,000 square metres in Brisbane.

“This year is a bit of a settle down and consolidate, and just make sure that we’re going to get everything right,” says Andy.

Motus means to move in Latin, and the logo includes a wing, which derives from Mercury’s helmet (Mercury was the Roman god of speed). The recently purchased Hino 300 Series hybrid trucks are named after Greek or Roman gods. These are ideally suited to the kind of metro work most of the lighter trucks in the fleet have to handle.

In the fleet, around 40 per cent of the fleet are city vehicles. These are four and six tonne 300 Series Hinos. There is an increasing number of eight tonne, six pallet 300 Series models.

The next size up are the 12 tonne 500 Series, then there’s a few semis (700 Series SS) on the road, which handle line haul to Newcastle and Canberra and there’s also line haul from Brisbane to Byron Bay.

“We only have Hino trucks, we’ve got 70-odd Hino vehicles, and some Toyotas,” says Andy.

“We look to Hino, and they’re sticking in that hybrid realm, we’ve got four hybrids on the road, and we’ll start taking a lot more. We would like to try bigger hybrid trucks. The current hybrid can’t take that much weight, we’re just waiting until we get more, and we’ll start putting them throughout the whole fleet.

“They do really well, we use them predominantly for city work, which is exactly what they’re meant to do. We have a lot of younger staff and it helps that the hybrids look very good. All the drivers want to drive the hybrid.

“They say they look good, but also that they drive really well. There’s been really good buy-in. If we could change the whole fleet to hybrid, I’d probably do it tomorrow. We are just waiting for that technology.”

The majority of the drivers, that are driving the hybrids, have been with Motus for a long time. They regard being handed the keys of a hybrid as a reward. Andy reckons they treat them like their babies.

The team have been keen take hybrids on board and give Andy and Emily feedback themselves, showing them little tricks, saying things like, ‘it saves fuel and when I do this’.

“We spend a lot of money on fuel, but, for us, it’s really making sure that we’re very much conscious of the environment,” says Andy.

“We actually had an opportunity to get a fully electric truck, but I don’t think that they’re there yet. We want to make sure that we’re doing the right thing. Our customers haven’t started asking us to reduce emissions a lot yet, because I think that all businesses are working on themselves at the moment.”

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The Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association is an organisation which works with politicians of all stripes, and continues to work to improve their understanding of rural transport’s specific issues. Most recently, the ALRTA has lobbied for changes to the industrial reform to take rural trucking into account.

“We actually got concessions through working with David Pocock, and he’s a Teal, because we went and had very sensible conversations with him about the potential impacts of the legislation and the flow-through effects to Australian consumers, who are his constituents,” said Rachel Smith, Executive Director of the ALRTA.

“There’s opportunities to work with the government on issues such as rural road funding, ALRTA has been talking to the Australian Local Government Association about revamping the Rural Road Alliance.

“It’s highlighting that Australia is one national economy, we don’t necessarily have state borders or council borders on the issues. How do we help the government solve some of those problems? Transport, fuel and others, we all have a role to play, because everyone’s hurting in the pocket right now. Whether it’s a business or a consumer.”

The ongoing shortage of resources to local government to achieve the result needed to maintain, let alone develop, our current rural road infrastructure, continues to be a major issue. The problem has been exacerbated by a number of weather events which put those resources under even more pressure.

Another issue which is exercising the dynamics of the relationship between the rural livestock operators, the local councils and the state authorities is effluent.

All of the cattle in the feedlots and elsewhere in the vast area to the West of Toowoomba have to be brought towards the coast and get processed in abattoirs, creating environmental issues around the topic of effluent from the animals flowing from trucks onto the roads and roadsides.

Livestock industry lobbying for initiatives to enable the dumping of effluent from the trailers hauling cattle into facilities able to handle the effluent, have had little success. Local government and state government have made positive noises about addressing the issue, but very little of note has come of it.

The responsibility for developing a solution to the issue is being passed back and forth between different levels of government. As a result very little progress has been made towards a practical solution.

“Local government can’t afford to do anything, except to advocate and we’ve done that quite strongly,” said Carol Taylor, a Councillor on the Toowoomba Regional Council.

“Our group sent a letter to the federal minister and we got a strange reply saying the responsibility lay with the State Authorities for truck wash-down and also for effluent disposal facilities, and that’s where the responsibility lies.

“We need to advocate to the State Governments to find sites and we need to work together, both the livestock transport industry and local government.”

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