The Federal Government wants to override the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT) to delay the introduction of new minimum payment rates for trucking contractors.

The RSRT’s new rates were due to come into effect this week, but the National Road Transport Association successfully filed an injunction in the Federal Court.

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash now says legislation will be introduced to Parliament on April 18 to delay the introduction of the new rates until January 1, 2017.

In an interview with the ABC on Tuesday, Senator Cash said safety and pay were not linked.

“The two reports that this Government has just released... both say there is no link,” she said.

“Merely paying someone more does not suddenly mean they are going institute safe work practice.”

She said owner-operators were being forced to charge a level of rates, “which they can’t, because they’ve already been told the bigger companies will not be paying these rates.”

“This is all about making owner-drivers uncompetitive... a tribunal stepping in and saying; ‘We’re going to tell you what to change even if that prices you – which it will do – out of the market’.

“Let’s just stay this order until the 1st of January 2017, so that we can work through all of the issues with owner-drivers.”

Senator Cash suggested the pay changes were designed to force all owner-operators to become union members.

Victorian Independent senator John Madigan is organising a meeting between concerned drivers in regional Victoria and the Transport Workers Union.

“If there are problems that people may not have been aware of let's discuss them in a calm, rational manner, and find solutions to address those issues,” Senator Madigan told reporters.

The Greens say the new rates should be maintained.

“They're under pressure to deliver on time, they're under pressure to work around the clock, and if you want safe roads you have to have regulation,” Greens MP Adam Bandt said.

The RSRT was set up by a Labor government to look at issues of road safety and standards in the transport industry.

But the Government now says it is in consultation about the RSRT’s future.

University of New South Wales’ professor Michael Quinlan - an expert on occupational health and safety (OHS) and risk – says the RSRT’s new pay order will balance inequality in the industry.

“The transport industry has always had small operators. There will always be small operators but setting a safety and pay standard will not drive them out of business,” Quinlan told transport industry reporters this week.

“People who have been sceptical must take a community wide view to understand how this Order will change the lives of truck drivers and people related to industry.

“It’s not just about driver safety. It’s also a matter of public safety.

“The current system allows drivers to work under unacceptable standards, which not only put their lives at risk but also the lives of people who share the roads with them.

“Setting standard minimum pay will bring about resourcing efficiency and also improve the efficiency of the entire supply chain industry.

“Many people in the industry want people to think that the sky will fall if the Order is implemented but it is unlikely that something as huge as that could happen.

“Yes, there will be changes. The industry will be required to reorganise its operations and those changes aren’t always simple.

“But ultimately, those changes will improve the safety of truck drivers.”

Prof Quinlan says this week’s furore is just like the concern around minimum wage legislation decades ago.

“Hundred years back when the country initiated the minimum wage rule, there was similar angst and outcry in the community,” he said.

“Many industry members wanted people to think that it will ruin hundreds of business owners, but that change only worked in favour of Australia.

“It set a standard. It improved the wages of all workers across the board.