A convoy of more than 200 trucks has travelled through Canberra to protest against new minimum pay rates mandated by the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT).

Key points: Truck driver say new rates will send them broke

Truck driver say new rates will send them broke Federal Government plans to abolish the tribunal

Federal Government plans to abolish the tribunal Opposition says that would be a 'reckless' move

The Federal Government is pushing to axe the RSRT when Parliament resumes on Monday, following the independent body's attempt to introduce new pay rates for truck drivers.

Some crossbenchers have urged the Government to give it priority over its bid to get the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) Bill through the Upper House.

Employees who drive for big fleets like Lindsay Fox and Toll are already covered under an award rate system, and the Transport Workers' Union says contractors need the new rate to compete and stay safe on the roads.

But so-called owner truck drivers argue the obligation to charge clients to cover the increased pay rates will force thousands of them out of business.

Truck driver Gordon Mackinlay said the new rates would send small operators broke within months.

"I already haven't worked for a week," he said.

"This is not about politics; this is about people's lives and it's about our ability to feed our family basically."

He said it made his business model unsustainable.

"For me to legally charge out under the new rates I have to increase my Sydney to Melbourne (charge) by 60 per cent," he said.

"When there's an option for a customer to use a fleet truck and not charge that 60 per cent it doesn't take Einstein to work out that we're in a hell of a lot of trouble."

The group made its way through the outskirts of the ACT and arrived at Parliament House on Sunday morning.

Government plans to abolish tribunal

The Federal Government appears to have secured the six Senate crossbench votes it needs to pass legislation scrapping the tribunal.

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash told the assembled truck drivers the Government would do everything in its power to get rid of the "so-called Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal".

"There is nothing fair or anything safe about the recent pay order that has come down," Ms Cash said.

She said she was confident the drivers were not reckless on the roads.

"Quite frankly it is an insult to hear the Labor Party and Bill Shorten in particular accuse you of being drug addicts or accuse you of not driving safely," she said.

"I know because I've seen it, as have all of my team here today, the copious amounts of regulation that you have to comply with day in, day out."

Trucks honk their horns on their way to Parliament House this morning. ( ABC News: Alexandra Beech )

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce called on the Opposition to support the abolition of the tribunal.

"It's quite simple, the Greens and Labor and people in the past who voted for this, Mr Windsor, have got to acknowledge they did the wrong thing," he said.

"You can't put people out of business."

Mr Joyce said the issue was an example of what happened when the Senate became "chaotic".

But he said he felt sorry for the truck drivers caught up in the matter.

"They should be on the road making money, not having to do this shit," he said.

"But they've got to do it because they've got to get their business plan back in place.

"We have got to be able to govern and if we can't govern, this is the alternative."

Opposition warns against 'extraordinary approach'

But Labor's workplace spokesman, Brendan O'Connor, warned abolishing the tribunal would be "reckless" and would set a dangerous precedent.

"If he's willing to abolish the independent umpire because he doesn't like a decision, what would stop the Prime Minister, if elected, intervening or interfering on a national wage case or intervening in a penalty rates case by way of Parliament," he said.

"It just seems to me a very extraordinary approach to take."