Hustle guides

The gig delivery minimum pay order, explained: what riders actually get (and don't)

Short answer: the Fair Work Commission has published a draft minimum pay order for food delivery riders, and almost every headline about it is misleading. It is not law. It is not an hourly wage. And for a lot of riders it will change nothing at all. But it is real, it’s proposed to start on 10 August 2026, and submissions close in a matter of days — so it’s worth understanding properly rather than through a headline.

What was actually published, and when

On 8 July 2026 the Commission’s Expert Panel published a decision (cited as [2026] FWCFB 167), a notice of intent, a draft On-Demand Delivery Employee-like Worker Minimum Standards Order, and a fact sheet for delivery workers.

A “notice of intent” is exactly what it sounds like: the Commission signalling what it proposes to do and inviting comment before it does it. Nothing binds anyone yet.

The order arrived there by an unusual route. It wasn’t imposed on the platforms after a fight — it was a consent position. The Transport Workers’ Union lodged a proposed order on 24 November 2025 that both Uber and DoorDash support, which the Commission’s own quarterly update confirms. That’s why this case has moved so much faster than the others.

It’s also intended to be temporary, subject to review once the related parcel and last-mile cases (MS2024/1 and MS2024/2) reach their own draft-order stage.

The proposed rates

Four vehicle categories, not two — a detail most coverage skips:

From 1 January 2028 the rates would index annually in line with the National Minimum Wage increase.

One honest caveat: these figures are taken from the consent proposed order lodged on 24 November 2025, which the Commission hosts publicly. The Commission's own media release about the July 2026 draft contains no dollar figures at all, so we cannot independently confirm the draft adopted this table unchanged. If you're relying on a specific number, read the draft order itself from the Commission's case page before you act on it.

The part that matters most: “engaged time”

This is where the headlines fall apart.

The order does not say “riders get paid $31.30 for every hour they work.” It creates an earnings floor. Within each Earnings Period, the platform compares what you actually earned against (your engaged-time hours × your applicable rate). If you came up short, they pay the difference as a top-up. If you were already above it — as plenty of riders in busy areas at busy times are — you get nothing extra.

Engaged time runs from the moment you accept a delivery request to the moment you complete it. Under the proposed order, the following is excluded:

• time logged into the app waiting for an offer
• orders cancelled after you’re notified
• engagements you abandon
• breakdowns and accidents
• rest breaks
• waiting around because the food or groceries weren’t ready
• delays you caused
• engagements the app didn’t record
• unreasonably circuitous routes, including stationary stops of five minutes or more unrelated to the delivery

That last cluster — particularly waiting for an order that isn’t ready — is unpaid time that most riders would call working.

Professor Alex Veen of the University of Sydney put the practical consequence plainly when the deal was announced: when riders are working in periods of low demand, they are unlikely to actually make that as their hourly pay.

The 21-day reconciliation

The Earnings Period is set by the platform and can be up to 21 days long. Any top-up is payable within seven days of the end of the next Earnings Period.

So in the worst case, work done at the start of one period could be topped up more than a month later. That’s a meaningful cash-flow point for anyone treating delivery as their main income.

Watch out for a confusing coincidence: the Commission's media release also mentions "21 days," but that refers to reviewing the order once the related parcel cases publish their own drafts. It is a completely different 21 days from the Earnings Period. Several summaries have conflated the two.

What else is in the package

• Personal accident insurance, funded by the platform. Notably, it explicitly need not match workers’ compensation scheme levels, doesn’t apply where other statutory insurance already exists, and benefits are offset against other entitlements.
• Compulsory third-party vehicle insurance — at the worker’s own expense.
• Pay transparency and information sharing, dispute resolution, consultation and worker feedback forums, union representation rights, deactivation protections, and cost and fuel recovery.

What is not in it: superannuation, penalty rates, and payment for waiting time. Overtime rates and rostering couldn’t be included even if everyone wanted them — the Fair Work Act expressly excludes them from what a minimum standards order can cover.

Who this covers — and who it doesn’t

The order applies to employee-like workers “involved predominantly in the on-demand delivery of consumables or supermarket groceries,” and the platforms that engage them.

Menulog is no longer relevant — Just Eat Takeaway.com shut its Australian operation in November 2025.

Where this came from

The Commission can do this because of the “employee-like worker” provisions inserted by the Closing Loopholes legislation, which commenced on 26 August 2024. Section 536JY of the Fair Work Act lets the Commission make minimum standards orders for employee-like workers and regulated road transport contractors.

An order may cover payment terms, deductions, record-keeping, insurance, consultation, representation, delegates’ rights, cost recovery and dispute resolution. It must not cover overtime rates, rostering, anything that would convert contractors into employees, work health and safety matters already covered by other laws, or purely commercial matters.

One thing worth knowing regardless of how this order lands: since August 2024, employee-like workers have been able to apply to the Commission over unfair deactivation and unfair contract terms. That’s a live right today, not a proposal.

Why “a 25% pay rise” is the wrong description

The framing you’ll have seen — that delivery drivers are “set for a pay rise to at least $31.30 an hour” — is wrong on two counts.

It’s not settled: it’s a draft, open for submissions until 29 July.

And it’s not a pay rise in the wage sense: the floor applies only to engaged time and is reconciled over up to 21 days, so a rider already earning above the floor across a period receives nothing. The “25%” figure also rests on an assumed current average of around $24 an hour that we could not verify from any primary source.

The characterisation appears to have originated with the Employment Minister and been picked up widely from there. At least one outlet running the story carries an explicit AI-generation disclaimer and states both the commencement date and the rate incorrectly — a good reminder to read the Commission’s own documents rather than a summary of a summary.

If you deliver for a living, do this before 29 July

Submissions close at 4pm AEST on Wednesday 29 July 2026, and the Commission has invited them from workers, businesses and other stakeholders — not just the parties. You do not need a lawyer or a union to make one.

1. Read the draft order and the rider fact sheet on the Commission’s MS2024/1–3 major case page.
2. Work out your own engaged-time ratio. Over a typical shift, how much of your logged-in time is actually between accepting and completing a job? That single number tells you whether this floor would ever pay you a cent.
3. If it wouldn’t, say so, with numbers. Concrete evidence about unpaid waiting time — especially waiting for orders that aren’t ready — is exactly the kind of thing a consultation is for.
4. Lodge it through the Commission’s regulated worker submission process, or contact the regulated worker standards team at the Commission.

What happens next

If the order is made in its current form, it starts 10 August 2026. It’s intended to be temporary and reviewable once the parcel cases catch up. The rideshare case is years behind it.

For most riders, the honest summary is this: it’s a floor, not a wage; it covers less time than you actually spend working; it arrives as a periodic top-up rather than better per-delivery pay; and it’s the first thing of its kind in the world, which means the version that gets made now will shape every one that follows. That’s a good reason to put your experience on the record while the window is open.

This article explains a proposed instrument as at 26 July 2026 and is general information, not legal advice. The draft order may change before it is made. Check the Fair Work Commission's case page for the current documents and dates.

This article is general information only, not tax, legal or financial advice. It doesn't consider your personal circumstances. For advice on your situation, speak to a registered tax agent or licensed adviser, and always check current requirements with the official source linked above.