Owner-operator truck drivers fear they will be unable to compete against major transport companies when new laws force them to charge their clients at or above a new minimum rate.

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Trucking companies that employ drivers will not be required to stick with the same minimum rate, meaning they will be allowed to charge clients a lower rate than what owner-operators are forced to charge.

Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association national president Kevin Keenan, himself an owner-operator truck driver, said the new regulations would put self-employed truckies at a disadvantage when competing against bigger transport companies.

"It is really going to screw the one-truck, or small family trucking business in favour of anyone that has employees," he said.

"[It will disadvantage] the mum and dad small truck operators that operate through rural and regional Australia."

Mr Keenan said it was unfair that new rules were being applied to smaller operators, but not bigger companies.

The changes come into effect on April 4, following a decision by the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal in December.

The new rules are designed to prevent major clients, particularly supermarket chains, pressuring owner-operator truck drivers to take contracts for small payments that barely cover costs and, as a result, cause unsafe practices.

A statement from the tribunal last week said the new rules would apply to "contractor drivers" for trips in which they are involved in "the distribution of goods destined for sale or hire by a supermarket chain".

The rules also apply to "long distance operations in the private road transport industry".

The new rules force clients in those situations to pay a minimum rate to owner-operator drivers, calculated based on the specific task.

However, the new rule will not apply to transport companies that employ drivers, effectively leaving those companies free to charge less than owner-operators.

Pushing for a safer system

The Transport Workers Union supports the new rules and argues they will ease financial pressure on small operators, which in turn will improve safety.

The union's national assistant secretary Michael Caine said despite the concerns held by owner-operators, they would be better off because they would be able to charge more.

"What happens in this industry is that the very large clients, like the retailers at the top of the supply chain, are just squeezing so hard economically that the transport operators that they use to cart the goods are having to push their drivers too hard or too fast, or having to cut corners on their pay or on safety and the results of that are catastrophic for all Australian road users," he said.

Mr Caine said a similar system was already in place in New South Wales and had not resulted in owner-operators being unable to compete against bigger transport companies.

Small business held back

Despite the union's faith in the new rules, a growing number of organisations claim the end result will mean major companies will be able to charge clients a lower rate than the rate owner-operators will be forced by law to charge.

The livestock transporters association, the National Farmers Federation, the Council of Small Business Associations and the Australian Industry Group are all opposing the change.

Council of Small Business Association chief executive officer Peter Strong said the new system creates an unfair playing field.

"The biggest concern I've got is that it puts an imposition on an owner-driver and takes control of their capacity to run a business," he said.

"It says if you are a big business you can charge whatever you want, and if you are a small business you have to charge what [the government] tells you to charge.

"It's an extraordinary thing that a government agency, or a board or whatever it is, would interfere in the running of a small business when it's got nothing to do with safety or anything else.

"It's just about market domination by big players."