FAIR WORK COMMISSION MAKES HISTORIC EMERGENCY FUEL ORDER TO PROVIDE LIFELINE TO TRANSPORT INDUSTRY

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has today handed down a landmark order, delivering hope for drivers and transport operators pushed to the brink by soaring fuel costs to save their businesses, ahead of a looming fuel debt cliff.

The order will take effect tomorrow 21 April.

The order, following an application by the TWU and ARTIO, will require clients of transport—retailers, manufacturers and mining companies—at the top of the supply chain to conduct fortnightly fuel reviews and pay enough for owner drivers and transport businesses to cover skyrocketing fuel prices.

This funding will then need to be passed all the way through the supply chain to ensure all parts of the chain remain sustainable and viable. This is the first time transport clients have been held to enforceable standards for the transport services they use to cart their goods.

It will be pinned to diesel prices as published by the Australian Institute of Petroleum, and remain in place as long as diesel prices are above $2 per litre.

The order is the first Contract Chain Order made by the FWC under laws passed by the Albanese government, which allow the FWC to make enforceable orders encompassing the entire transport industry.

Though owner drivers and transport businesses are still facing huge fuel bills, this order will now provide confidence in the industry that they’ll be able to cover their costs going forward.