A truckload of troubles

The new laws will mean owner-operators will be disadvantaged when competing with companies who employ truck drivers.

Peter Dawson, who owns five trucks operating out of Wagga Wagga and employs his two sons as drivers along with subcontractors, is devastated by the new laws.

“It’s virtually all over for me,” he said, enroute to Adelong with a load of cattle.

“I just can’t get over the fact that I’ll have to sack my children.”

The definition of owner-driver according to the new laws means Mr Dawson could continue his business with new employees not related to him.

“Stock drivers are not just drivers, they’re stock men and they’re looking after the welfare of the stock.

“They’re very reliable, they make my business, that’s why we invest so much money and time in them,” he said.

“We tick all the boxes, maintenance schemes, fatigue-management schemes, you name it, we’re doing it.”

Mr Dawson said until now he had met every regulation in a heavily regulated industry.

David Hayter, who in partnership with his wife Annette and sons Thomas and Jeremy owns seven trucks, doesn’t understand the new laws.

“We’re right in the firing line and nobody can explain what it means for us and our business,” he said, hauling a load of cattle to Moss Vale sale yards.

“At best it’s bureaucratic bungling, Labor had pushed us out of the game.

“The public perceives us as killers – fat-gutted, drug taking, second-class citizens,” he said. “But everything the public has every day, milk, bread, newspapers, they all arrive by truck and we’re treated like dogs.”

Mr Hayter said operating a business of complex logistics – moving multiple loads of cattle simultaneously to multiple destinations – was manageable, but the new laws were not.

“This is going to kill a lot of businesses, because every owner-driver operation is different.”