Truck Driver Pay Rates Australia 2026-27
Driving work is covered by the Road Transport and Distribution Award 2020, which sets 10 transport worker grades. Two things sit outside it: long distance work, paid by the kilometre under a different award, and the oil distribution group, which works a shorter week.
Two things decide whether these rates are yours
The first is the kind of work. This page publishes MA000038, the Road Transport and Distribution Award 2020, which pays by the hour. Long distance operations are covered by the Road Transport (Long Distance Operations) Award MA000039, a separate award that pays by the kilometre travelled instead. This site has not extracted MA000039 and publishes no figure from it, so if the work you drive is a long distance operation as that award defines it, no number on this page is your entitlement. Coverage follows the work performed rather than the job title or the truck, and the definition is in that award. Read it in the Fair Work award library or check the Fair Work Ombudsman pay calculator.
The second is the length of the week. The two groups are paid the same weekly rate at the same grade. Only the hourly rate differs, and it differs because the ordinary week does: 38 hours for a transport employee against 35 for an oil distribution worker. The same weekly wage over fewer hours is a higher hourly rate. Both tables are below, each divided by its own week, which is why the same grade appears twice at two different hourly rates.
The short answer
A truck driver is paid $26.87 an hour at Transport Worker Grade 1, or $1,021.00 a week full-time on a 38 hour week. The scale runs through 10 grades to $31.55 an hour at Transport Worker Grade 10. A casual at the lowest grade is paid $33.59 an hour, including the 25% loading. On the 35 hour oil distribution week the weekly rates are the same but the hourly rate is higher, from $29.17 an hour. Long distance work is paid by the kilometre under a different award and is not on this page.
Award floor
$26.87
Transport Worker Grade 1, an hour
Top transport grade
$31.55
Transport Worker Grade 10, an hour
Casual, at the floor
$33.59
Includes the 25% loading
Take-home a year
$45,583
$1,753 a fortnight, at the floor
These are legal minimums set by a modern award, not a market average. This site does not publish average or advertised salaries, because the number that matters on a payslip is the floor an employer cannot go below. Many employers pay more, and an enterprise agreement can set a higher rate again.
Truck driver rates, grade by grade.
Adult base rates for all 10 transport worker grades, published twice because this award runs two working weeks. Read the table for the week you actually work. Every figure was cross-checked against the award’s own rates summary, schedule C, so none of them is derived. None of them includes overtime or a shift loading.
Transport employees
1 July 2026 · PR799318 · 38 ordinary hours a week
The standard ordinary week for this award. Grades 1 to 10, divided by 38 hours.
| Classification | Weekly | Hourly | Casual hourly | Take-home a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transport Worker Grade 1 | $1,021.00 | $26.87 | $33.59 | $45,583 |
| Transport Worker Grade 2 | $1,045.50 | $27.51 | $34.39 | $46,449 |
| Transport Worker Grade 3 | $1,057.60 | $27.83 | $34.79 | $46,877 |
| Transport Worker Grade 4 | $1,076.20 | $28.32 | $35.40 | $47,534 |
| Transport Worker Grade 5 | $1,089.60 | $28.67 | $35.84 | $48,008 |
| Transport Worker Grade 6 | $1,102.00 | $29.00 | $36.25 | $48,447 |
| Transport Worker Grade 7 | $1,118.00 | $29.42 | $36.78 | $49,012 |
| Transport Worker Grade 8 | $1,150.50 | $30.28 | $37.85 | $50,162 |
| Transport Worker Grade 9 | $1,169.70 | $30.78 | $38.48 | $50,841 |
| Transport Worker Grade 10 | $1,198.80 | $31.55 | $39.44 | $51,870 |
Minimum rates—oil distribution workers
1 July 2026 · PR799318 · 35 ordinary hours a week
The same 10 grades, on the shorter week this award sets for oil distribution work. The award’s own words for it: ordinary hours of work are: (a)35 hours per week.
| Classification | Weekly | Hourly | Casual hourly | Take-home a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transport Worker Grade 1 | $1,021.00 | $29.17 | $36.46 | $45,583 |
| Transport Worker Grade 2 | $1,045.50 | $29.87 | $37.34 | $46,449 |
| Transport Worker Grade 3 | $1,057.60 | $30.22 | $37.78 | $46,877 |
| Transport Worker Grade 4 | $1,076.20 | $30.75 | $38.44 | $47,534 |
| Transport Worker Grade 5 | $1,089.60 | $31.13 | $38.91 | $48,008 |
| Transport Worker Grade 6 | $1,102.00 | $31.49 | $39.36 | $48,447 |
| Transport Worker Grade 7 | $1,118.00 | $31.94 | $39.93 | $49,012 |
| Transport Worker Grade 8 | $1,150.50 | $32.87 | $41.09 | $50,162 |
| Transport Worker Grade 9 | $1,169.70 | $33.42 | $41.78 | $50,841 |
| Transport Worker Grade 10 | $1,198.80 | $34.25 | $42.81 | $51,870 |
This award does not run one working week, so each table is divided by its own: Transport employees: 38 a week, Minimum rates—oil distribution workers: 35 a week. Dividing a weekly rate by the wrong week publishes the wrong hourly rate. Take-home is an estimate for a single Australian resident for tax purposes with no study loan debt and no Medicare levy surcharge, worked out with the same Wage Calculator used across this site. Superannuation is paid by your employer on top of these rates and is never deducted from them.
Which award covers a truck driver, and which week applies.
The Road Transport and Distribution Award 2020 (MA000038) is the national award for road transport and distribution work, and a driver is classified in it as a transport worker, grades 1 to 10. Those 10 grades are the driving scale and both tables above publish all of them. The award also carries a separate scale of 4 distribution facility employee levels, which is not the driving scale and is left off this page. It is published in full on the Road Transport Award Pay Rates page.
The two groups are paid the same weekly rate at the same grade. Only the hourly rate differs, and it differs because the ordinary week does: 38 hours for a transport employee against 35 for an oil distribution worker. The same weekly wage over fewer hours is a higher hourly rate. That is the single most common way a published truck driver rate goes wrong: one figure is quoted for the whole award, right for most of it and understating the oil distribution group by at least $2.30 an hour. The award states the shorter week in its own terms, quoted against the second table above, so neither hourly figure on this page is an interpretation.
What puts a driver on one grade rather than another is set by the award’s classification definitions, which this site has not published yet. This page will not infer a grade from a vehicle, a licence class or a job advertisement. If your payslip names a grade, read the rate off the table for your week and check it against the grade you are actually working at.
Two whole categories of driving sit outside this award. Long distance operations are covered by the Road Transport (Long Distance Operations) Award MA000039, which pays by the kilometre travelled, and this site publishes nothing from it. An owner driver who contracts rather than being employed is not paid under a minimum wage classification at all: rates for contract carriage are set by other instruments again, including Victorian owner driver rate schedules and New South Wales transport instruments, none of which are published here.
Modern awards are national, so the weekly figures above are the same in every state and territory and there is no state truck driver rate inside this award. The state systems are a separate question. Western Australia runs its own industrial relations system, and an employer there that is not a constitutional corporation can fall outside the national system and under a Western Australian transport award instead. New South Wales has its own transport instruments as well. This site publishes no figure from any state award. Enterprise agreements matter more here than on most of these pages: much line haul, supermarket distribution and fuel distribution work runs under a registered agreement that displaces the award rate.
Every classification in this award, including the ones this page leaves out, is listed on the Road Transport Award Pay Rates page.
Where these figures come from.
Provenance
Verified- Award
- Road Transport and Distribution Award 2020 (MA000038)
- Effective from
- 1 July 2026
- Consolidated to
- 1 July 2026
- Determinations
- PR799280, PR799318, PR799475
- Retrieved
- 9 September 2026
- Ordinary hours
- 38 and 35 a week, by group
Every rate above was read from the award text at the Fair Work award library and nothing on this page is copied from another pay site. Rates change from the first full pay period on or after the effective date, so a payslip covering the changeover can lawfully carry the older figure for part of the period.
What this page does not cover.
Listed as plainly as what it does, because a rate page that hides its gaps is how the wrong number ends up on a payslip.
Long distance operations
Covered by the Road Transport (Long Distance Operations) Award MA000039, which pays by the kilometre travelled rather than by the hour. That award is not extracted and no figure from it is published on this site.
Owner drivers and contract carriage
An owner driver who contracts rather than being employed is not paid under an award classification. Contract carriage rates sit in other instruments, including Victorian owner driver rate schedules and New South Wales transport instruments.
State awards
A Western Australian employer that is not a constitutional corporation sits outside the national system, and New South Wales has its own transport instruments. No figure from a state award is published here.
Penalty rates, overtime and allowances
Overtime, shift, weekend and public holiday loadings, and every allowance this award sets, are additional to the rates above and are not in these tables.
Classification definitions
What puts a driver on one transport worker grade rather than another is set in the award and is not published on this site yet, so no grade is inferred here from a vehicle or a licence class.
Junior rates
This page publishes adult rates. Where an award sets a junior percentage of the adult rate, this site does not publish it, so do not read a figure here as the minimum for an employee under 21.
Distribution facility employees
The award carries a separate scale for distribution facility work, which is not a driving classification. It is on the award page rather than here.
Enterprise agreements
Much line haul, supermarket distribution and fuel distribution work runs under a registered agreement that sets its own rates and rosters, and those are not published here.
Market or advertised pay
This page publishes the award floor only. It is not an average, a median, or what a given operator actually offers.
Truck Driver Pay Rates questions, answered.
How much do truck drivers get paid in Australia?
Under the Road Transport and Distribution Award 2020 (MA000038), between $1,021.00 and $1,198.80 a week, depending on the transport worker grade. Over a 38 hour week that is $26.87 to $31.55 an hour. Those are national minimums and the same weekly figures apply in every state and territory. An oil distribution worker is paid the same weekly rate at the same grade but works a 35 hour week, so that group runs from $29.17 to $34.25 an hour instead. Long distance work is covered by a separate award and is not paid by the hour at all.
What is the hourly rate for a truck driver in Australia?
$26.87 an hour at Transport Worker Grade 1, rising through 10 grades to $31.55 an hour at Transport Worker Grade 10. Those figures are the weekly rate over a 38 hour week. The two groups are paid the same weekly rate at the same grade. Only the hourly rate differs, and it differs because the ordinary week does: 38 hours for a transport employee against 35 for an oil distribution worker. The same weekly wage over fewer hours is a higher hourly rate. An oil distribution worker at Transport Worker Grade 1 is therefore paid $29.17 an hour, not $26.87, and any page that divides every weekly rate in this award by 38 publishes the wrong figure for that group.
Do these rates apply to long distance truck drivers?
No, and it is the most important limit on this page. Long distance operations are covered by the Road Transport (Long Distance Operations) Award MA000039, a separate instrument that pays the work by the kilometre travelled rather than by the ordinary hour. This site has not extracted that award and publishes no figure from it, so do not read an hourly rate here as an entitlement for long distance work. Coverage follows the work performed, not the job title, the employer or the truck, and the definition of a long distance operation sits in that award. Check the award text in the Fair Work award library, or the Fair Work Ombudsman pay calculator, before relying on an hourly figure.
What is the casual rate for a truck driver?
A casual is paid the rate for their grade plus a loading of 25 per cent, which this award publishes as its own column rather than leaving it to be worked out. At Transport Worker Grade 1 on the 38 hour week that is $33.59 an hour, and at Transport Worker Grade 10 it is $39.44 an hour. On the 35 hour oil distribution week the same two grades are $36.46 and $42.81 an hour. Overtime, shift and weekend loadings apply on top of those figures and are not published here.
Is truck driver pay different in NSW, Victoria or WA?
Not under this award. Modern awards are national instruments, so $26.87 an hour at Transport Worker Grade 1 applies in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and both territories alike. There is no state rate inside this award. What does change from job to job is whether this award applies at all. Western Australia runs its own industrial relations system, so an employer there that is not a constitutional corporation, a sole trader or a partnership rather than an incorporated company, can sit outside the national system and under a state award instead. New South Wales and Victoria carry their own instruments for some owner drivers and contract carriers. This site publishes no figure from any of them.
What grade is a truck driver on?
The award sets 10 transport worker grades, and what puts a driver on one rather than another is decided by its classification definitions, which this site has not published yet. This page will not infer a grade from the size of a vehicle. Read the grade named on your payslip against the table above, and if your payslip names no grade at all, that is worth asking about, because the grade is what sets the rate.
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