The Transport Workers Union is urging the NHVR to fully investigate the supply chains of the companies involved in this morning’s catastrophic near tragic accident 30km south of Goulburn on the Hume Hwy involving multiple trucks, as it ramps up its campaign to lift standards in what it appropriately claims is Australia’s deadliest industry.
NSW Police said that the fact that the six drivers involved in the fiery crash at a truck rest area alongside the Hume, was nothing short of a ‘miracle’
The TWU says it is calling for an investigation of the entire supply chains involved, not just companies but the clients they are providing services to, which it says is the missing link in many deadly pressures involved in road transport.
The national Union said that in trucking, pressures of underpayments, fatigue, speeding, and overloaded trucks linked to the low-cost contracts demanded by wealthy retailers, manufacturers, and oil companies at the top of the supply chain.
The Union points out that so far in 2026, 88 people have been killed in truck-related crashes, with 23 of them being truck drivers.
This year, the TWU says it has co-ordinated more than 200 enterprise agreements to expire at once, so that “tens of thousands of workers can take action together to lift rock-bottom safety standards in road transport”.
TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said that today has seen another horrific trucking accident in Goulburn, and that this is an all-too-
common tale in what is Australia’s deadliest industry.
“While the community grapples with the extent of the devastation caused in this incident and how it happened, we know that there are huge and deadly pressures in this industry with dreadful consequences for workers and the entire community,” said Kaine.
“The call cannot be clearer, the NHVR must investigate this incident which could have had catastrophic consequences for these drivers and the broader public. They must investigate the whole supply chains involved—not just the drivers and the companies, which have the least power,” he added.
“We need to lift standards in trucking, where transport clients are demanding faster and cheaper transport, piling pressure on workers to rush, delay vital truck maintenance and skip rest breaks.
“Every road transport worker has a story about someone who has died in this industry.
“That should not be happening and with more than 200 agreements now expiring around the country, we are pushing this year to dramatically lift standards in road transport so that workers have fair and decent conditions, and aren’t under deadly pressure on our roads,”
The 10s of thousands of workers have made it clear they are willing
