A young Lochinvar woman whose parents operate their own trucking business, is waging a war against Labor’s push to reintroduce the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT), a move she said will bring truck owner drivers to their knees.
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Brittney Bayliss, 25, recently took her campaign to a national level, speaking at a rally opposing the RSRT alongside Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Mr Turnbull has reinforced the Coalition’s election pledge to ensure the controversial RSRT remains inactive, to thwart the Opposition’s revitalisation plans.
Prior to the election, the Coalition axed the RSRT amid concerns about adverse impacts on road transportation costs, including agricultural products and loss of employment.
The RSRT put in place a minimum wage bar which affected about 35,000 owner operator truck drivers by meaning they had to charge a minimum amount for transportation.
“This means that the big companies like TOLL can come in an undercut the owner driver,” Ms Bayliss said.
“I spoke to Mr Turnbull and Senator Michaelia Cash about this at a rally in Sydney recently and explained how it will affect my family,” she said.
Ms Bayliss said her father has been driving trucks for 40 years, her mother also a former driver, now doing book work for the family business.
“It’s a tough enough life on the road away from home for five days at a time. Owner drivers do not need this extra burden on their businesses,” she said.
Mr Turnbull said the RSRT had nothing to do with road safety and was only designed to support and promote the union.
“We believe that 35,000 owner driver trucking businesses being put out of work is a disgrace - it's a scandal,” he said.
“Only a Labor Party that is led by a man who says he wants to lead Australia like a trade union leader would be untroubled by 35,000 family businesses being put out of work. I don't believe that any Australian would regard that as being fair or just or proper but that's what happened,” Mr Turnbull said.