What a truck driver is paid in Australia: the legal minimum under the award, the classification ladder either side of it, and what the market actually pays. Every figure sourced and dated.
Award floor
$29.00 to $30.28
The classification we quote is described in the ladder below. Award, Road Transport and Distribution Award MA000038. Effective 1 July 2026.
Market band
$115,000 to $135,000
National advertised range, SEEK, refreshed 1 July 2026. Indicative day rate ~$550.
Every rung of the award, not just the one this role usually sits on. The highlighted row is the classification we quote as the floor for truck driver.
| Classification | Hourly minimum | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Transport worker grade 1 | $26.87 | |
| Transport worker grade 3 | $27.83 | |
| Transport worker grade 5 | $28.67 | |
| Transport worker grade 6 | $29.00 | |
| Transport worker grade 7 | $29.42 | |
| Transport worker grade 8 | $30.28 | |
| Transport worker grade 9 | $30.78 | |
| Transport worker grade 10 | $31.55 |
The grade is set by the vehicle, not by the licence class on its own. Grade 6 covers heavy combination work, grade 7 a B-double up to 53.4 tonnes, and grade 8 a multi combination or B-double above that. The pay guide publishes the grade names and rates but not the tonnage bands, which sit in the award classification schedule, so the guide alone will not tell you which grade a given run falls into.
The floor is the law and the market is what roles actually close at. On this role the distance between them is $57,696 a year at the bottom of the band, which is the number worth knowing before you set an offer. Ordinary hours only: no overtime, no penalty rates, no superannuation.
Heavy combination and multi combination licence classes, issued by each state road authority, and they are sequential: time is required on a lower class before the next one can be obtained, which is a genuine bottleneck. Fatigue management accreditation is commonly required for long distance work, and dangerous goods carriage needs its own licence again. Forklift and load restraint tickets are frequently expected on top.
The 2025 Occupation Shortage List rates 733111 Truck Driver (General) as in shortage nationally and in every state and territory. That list is the official assessment, published by Jobs and Skills Australia, and it is the only shortage figure we will quote. Source, checked 27 July 2026.
A multi combination driver cannot be created on demand. State rules require time held on a lower licence class first, so the pipeline into the top grades is measured in years. Add an ageing driver workforce and the pool at the heavy end is structurally tight regardless of what an employer pays.
Advertising for an MC driver and paying a grade 6 rate, which is the wrong grade for the vehicle. The second is not stating the run: local, interstate and away work attract entirely different people, and drivers filter on that before they filter on money. The third is leaving fatigue management and dangerous goods requirements out of the advertisement and discovering the gap after the offer.
Grade 6 covers heavy combination work and grade 8 covers multi combination and larger B-doubles, with grade 7 in between. The gap between grade 6 and grade 8 is about a dollar thirty an hour at the floor.
Not on its own. The award grades on the vehicle actually driven and its mass, so a driver holding an MC licence but driving a rigid is not automatically on the MC grade.
The award minimum is national. Market rates vary considerably by run type, by sector and by whether the work involves away nights.
Award rates are the adult full-time minimum for the classification named, effective the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, from the Fair Work Ombudsman pay guides. Casual loading of 25 per cent sits on top. This award publishes base rates, so allowances are paid on top of the hourly figures shown. Market bands are the national advertised ranges published on SEEK salary pages, refreshed 1 July 2026, quoted as published. Annual conversions use 38 ordinary hours a week over 52 weeks and exclude overtime, penalty rates and superannuation. Award minimums are national, so these figures do not vary by state. Checked 27 July 2026. The award that applies to any individual is decided by the work actually performed and by the employer's industry: see our award finder, or ask the Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 13 94.