“What we found was the RSRT order caused significant financial and emotional distress for small business owner-drivers; many lost work, resulting in a loss of income that impacted not only on their business, but their entire family.”
Small business owner-truck drivers impacted by the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal’s (RSRT) Payments Order suffered significant financial and emotional distress as a result of the now defunct Order, according to the findings of an inquiry undertaken by the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) Ms Kate Carnell.
The ASBFEO was instructed by the Small Business Minister in May to undertake the inquiry looking into the ramifications of the Order for small businesses.
Carnell said the inquiry drew on industry feedback, written and verbal submissions from owner-truck drivers and incorporated evidence from community forums held around the country.
“The stories we heard were heartbreaking; fundamentally what we found was the Order caused significant financial and emotional distress for small business owner-drivers; many lost work, resulting in a loss of income that impacted not only on their businesses, but their entire family,” Carnell said.
“Tragically, the inquiry also heard evidence that a small number of people found the Order compounded their mental health battles and financial difficulties to the extent that they took their own lives, so it’s our strong recommendation that mental health implications be considered when regulation like this is developed in the future.”
“While the Order was only operational for a short time, some businesses continue to struggle in its aftermath, with many unable to secure work again due to the uncertainty and confusion the complex Order created within the industry,” she said.
Carnell said given the Payments Order only set minimum rates of pay for owner-drivers, it was found to have had a discriminatory impact on mum-and-dad operators.
“These pay rates did not apply to big business logistics companies with employed drivers; only mum-and-dad owner-operators were impacted by the Order. This, of course, created an unfair system whereby small business drivers weren’t able to compete on a level playing field,” Carnell said.
“To suggest that road safety will improve by implementing a payments system that only affects owner-operators, not the big companies, is extremely misguided; road safety is an issue for all drivers,” she said.
“We found no evidence that owner-operators are less safe than employed drivers. In fact, evidence shows that the number of accidents involving trucks has decreased, and many of the accidents that do occur, are the fault of motor vehicles,” she said.
Carnell said the ASBFEO inquiry also investigated the conduct of the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal, and found it was overly legalistic and adversarial in its operation.
“For many owner-drivers, this was their first experience with this kind of process; they were unaware of proper procedures, and as a result were unprepared for what followed,” Carnell said.
“I’ve been around business and politics for a lot of years and I have never encountered anything like these tribunal hearings. Some of the stories of those involved in the Tribunal were certainly eye-opening; a lack of respect for owner-drivers, unreasonable treatment of people who were not lawyers or barristers, and not listening to people who were just telling their story simply because they didn’t say it in legalese, were just a few of the observations relayed to us,” Carnell said.
“It was obvious through the evidence that we gathered, that tribunals like this aren’t the answer when it comes to developing regulation of this kind, and that the development and implementation of future regulation – by any government agency – that impacts on small business, should involve extensive consultation with the sector,” she said.
Inside Small Business
