For the first time, the people delivering Australia's dinner on e-bikes have a legal wage floor. The Fair Work Commission's Minimum Standards Order for on-demand delivery workers took effect on 17 August 2026, covering an estimated 250,000 gig economy workers across platforms like the major food delivery apps.
The headline number for riders: $31.30 per hour of engaged time for bicycle and e-bike couriers. Motorcycle couriers get $31.80 and car drivers $32.00. Engaged time means the clock runs while a worker is actually performing a delivery, which is the mechanism that lets the order coexist with app-based, task-by-task work.
More than a pay rate
- Platforms must provide a reasonable minimum level of personal accident insurance for their delivery workers
- A dispute resolution pathway and a worker feedback forum are established under the order
- Workers gain a right to unpaid time away from the app without penalty
Why this is e-bike news
The delivery fleet is overwhelmingly an e-bike fleet in Australian cities, and the economics of that fleet just changed. A guaranteed hourly floor plus mandated accident insurance shifts the calculation for riders who currently absorb their own downtime, repairs and crash risk. It also raises the stakes for the hardware itself: a courier doing paid hours on a bike needs it to be legal, since the same fortnight this order arrived, NSW switched on powers to seize and crush non-compliant machines.
Sources
- Fair Work Ombudsman, minimum standards for delivery drivers
- RMIT University, expert commentary on the minimum standards order
Rates and conditions are from the Fair Work Ombudsman media release of 17 August 2026 and RMIT University commentary quoting the Fair Work Commission order.