Boost for truckies amid escalating global fuel crisis
· Michael West
Truck drivers will receive fast-tracked support as hundreds of petrol stations run out of fuel because of the Middle East war.
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The federal government will amend the Fair Work Act to allow truck drivers and transport businesses to make emergency applications for a contract chain order in response to spikes in fuel prices.
The change removes the six-month minimum wait time for such orders to enable faster intervention as global instability drives up costs and pressures the sector.
The changes will spread costs more fairly across supply chains, the federal government says. (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS)The changes would help spread costs more fairly across the supply chain and support a critical industry, Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth said.
“Truckies and transport operators need to be protected from fuel price rises and it’s important that costs are shared fairly,” she said in a statement.
The measures were vital to keeping essential goods transported around the country, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Catherine King said.
“Fuel price spikes are affecting everyone, but no one is feeling it more acutely than those whose livelihoods are behind the wheel,” she said.
On Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a joint statement with Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong, affirming the two nations’ commitment to energy security and sharing their concerns over the situation in the Middle East.
Mr Albanese said the economic impacts from the conflict would continue after it ended due to the widespread destruction of oil and gas infrastructure.
“Even if we were to wake up tomorrow to the welcome news that this conflict was over, there would still be a long economic tail to reckon with,” he said at a minerals industry dinner on Monday evening.
“All of this underlines a simple reality. The stable, predictable world of ever-expanding free trade is gone – and it will not be returning any time soon.”
It comes as service stations grapple with fuel supply, with Energy Minister Chris Bowen telling parliament 109 Victorian outlets had run out of at least one grade of petrol.
He said 47 outlets in Queensland had no diesel and 32 were without regular unleaded, while 37 stations in NSW had run out of petrol.
The shortage would worsen by April as the war dragged on, opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan said.
“People should be deeply, deeply concerned with Chris Bowen’s management of this issue,” Mr Tehan told Sky News.