27/09/2026
🚨 TRANSPORT OPERATORS — WE NEED MORE OF YOU TO SPEAK UP ON FUEL
The clock is running down and the NRFA is preparing the evidence we will take to the Fair Work Commission on fuel cost recovery.
We have already heard some very clear themes from operators.
Fuel goes up immediately. Freight rates don’t.
Some operators have managed to negotiate a fuel levy. Others have received only part of the increase. Some have received nothing at all.
We are hearing about operators having to absorb thousands of dollars in additional fuel costs, cash flow being squeezed because the fuel bill falls due before the freight account is paid, margins disappearing, work being lost because customers will not accept higher rates, and freight movements that simply don’t stack up anymore.
One of the clearest problems is the time lag.
The truck needs fuel today. The fuel supplier wants payment. But recovering that increase through a customer can take weeks or may not happen at all.
That is exactly why the NRFA believes the Fuel Cost Recovery Order needs to be put back into operation.
But we also want to go further.
# # # NRFA’s goal is a permanent automatic trigger.
Our position will be that we should not have to come back and fight this battle every time diesel spikes.
We want a mechanism where, if the relevant diesel price remains above $2.00 per litre for more than two consecutive weeks, the fuel cost recovery requirements automatically activate and the increase is required to flow through the contractual chain.
When the trigger is reached, everybody knows what happens.
No waiting months.
No starting another fight.
No expecting the operator at the end of the chain to finance the increase.
Importantly, we also want to hear from operators for whom the previous Order didn't work. Some of the evidence we have received says it helped get a fuel levy introduced. Other operators say they saw little or no benefit reach them. That evidence matters too, because any future system needs to work all the way down the chain to the person actually buying the diesel.
This is where the industry needs to work together.
NRFA can attend the hearing. We can make submissions. We can argue for a better system.
But evidence from real transport businesses is what gives that argument weight.
If fuel increases have affected your business, take a few minutes and tell us what happened.
You don't need to be an NRFA member.
You don't need to be a lawyer.
You don't need to write pages.
Tell us what fuel was costing you, what it costs now, whether your rates moved with it, and what happened to your business when they didn't.
👉 Complete the NRFA Fuel Cost Witness Statement:
https://www.jotform.com/form/262467452780868
Don't leave it to somebody else. If the industry wants a workable fuel recovery mechanism, this is the time to put the evidence in front of the Commission.
Please share this with every owner-driver and transport operator you know.
National Road Freighters Association
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