One of the companies transporting gear onto the Gorgon supply base in Karratha is South Australian firm BT Transport.

I'd spoken over the phone to the owner of the company, a bloke by the name of Mal Beattie but I'd never met any of his drivers.

However, I came across a husband and wife team, who were driving two-up for them, not long after I arrived in Karratha in early November.

They were taking turns to shower under a truck with water from a belly tank. Now I don't know about you but I call that pretty primitive?

They were parked up, with four others, alongside the Shell Road House in the red dirt shit-hole that some people call a truck parking area.

The only amenities available to them were the roadhouse toilets. We inspected them and they were an absolute disgrace.

It was stinking hot and they were expected to camp overnight waiting to offload the accommodation dongers they had trucked from Adelaide.

They had been on the road for four and a half days.

I was appalled to find truck drivers still being treated like that in the 21st Century.

So I got onto Agility, who had won the contract to control all truck movements on and off the Gorgon project.

I laid down the law and said I wanted the drivers put up in decent accommodation.

I took a hard line and Agility eventually agreed to move all six drivers into clean rooms with beds and ensuite facilities.

We were also assured that, whenever drivers were held up overnight in Karratha, they would be provided with similar cabins.

I then organised a meeting with Mal Beattie and his offsider Syd Redfern to talk about pay rates and a few other issues.

The talks went well and we negotiated increases that would give the drivers an extra $250 - $300 per trip.

All 18 BT Transport drivers have joined the TWU. And who wouldn't when $7.65 a week gets you a pay boost that BIG!