Big Rigs Nov 13, 2020

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2020

L A I C E SP R E F E AT U

NATIONAL ROAD SAFETY WEEK

ONLINE www.bigrigs.com.au

EMAIL info@bigrigs.com.au

GATE STOUSH AT MARKETS Page 3

Pages 21-32

STATES ANSWER DRIVER SHORTAGE Pages 4-5

STEPPING UP A GEAR NEW PROGRAM GIVES OPERATOR WINNING EDGE: PAGE 23

2 NEWS CONTACT US Address: 11-15 Buckhurst Street, South Melbourne, VIC 3205 Phone: 03 9690 8766 Email: editor@bigrigs.com.au Web: bigrigs.com.au Accounts: 03 9690 8766 Subscriptions: 03 9690 8766 Classifieds: 0403 626 353 Circulation and distribution queries: 03 9690 8766 info@bigrigs.com.au EDITOR James Graham: 0478 546 462 james.graham@primecreative.com.au REPORTER Danielle Gullaci danielle.gullaci@primecreative.com.au MANAGER Peter Hockings: 0410 334 371 peter.hockings@primecreative.com.au MEDIA SALES CONSULTANT Marie O’Reilly: 0403 626 353 marie.oreilly@primecreative.com.au CLIENT SUCCESS Katharine Causer: 0423 055 787 katharine.causer@primecreative. com.au CONTRIBUTORS Tassie Truckin: Jon Wallis, 0414 797 513 Truckin in the Topics: Alf Wilson, 0408 009 301 David Meredith; Brent Davison; David Vile; Ian Lee. Big Rigs National Road Transport Newspaper is published by Prime Creative Media. All material is copyright and no part may be reproduced or copied in any form or means. The opinions expressed in Big Rigs are not necessarily the opinions of, or endorsed by, the publisher.

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

Simulator helps drivers overcome tricky situations THE AUSTRALIAN and South Australian governments have partnered with the South Australian Road Transport Association (SARTA) to develop a state-of-the-art driver training simulator.

The $450,000 HVSim project will be the first in the country used by the industry for training on specific highrisk routes, including the notorious South Eastern Freeway as well as other problematic routes Australia-wide.

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s (NHVR) Heavy Vehicle Safety Initiative 2020 Grant program allocated $350,000 for the technology, while the South Australian Government contributed a further $100,000.

SARTA President Sharon Middleton AM said the simulator will be the first in Australia to be used by the industry for training on specific highrisk routes. “The HVSim will enable us to conduct training of heavy vehicle drivers in defensive driving, avoiding rollovers on sharp bends, and in improving skills in areas such as reversing trucks with multiple trailers,” she said.

SARTA Executive Officer Steve Shearer explained that simulations will be specifically developed for defensive driver training. “The reason for that is we know from lots of studies over the years, that 80% of the time or more, when a crash occurs between a car and a truck, it is the motorist that’s at fault.

For years we have said that we can’t do anything about that.

Now with the simulator we will be able to throw curve balls at drivers that will enable them to anticipate the bad decisions of other drivers. If we can help get rid of the 80% of fatal truck crashes that we don’t cause, then that’s a huge safety gain,” he said.

“With the anti-rollover training, just half a kilometre can be the difference between a truck rolling over or not. In the simulator, drivers will be able to experience this without getting hurt.”

As part of the project, SARTA will also undertake research with the Centre for Automotive Safety Research at the University of Adelaide and other academic driving institutions. Along with driver training, it will look at driver

Sharon Middleton AM, President of SARTA; Minister for Road Safety Vincent Tarzia; and Barry Jungfer, SARTA Board member and owner of Far Fields Transport, who drove the HVSim during the launch.

behaviour too. “Why is it that some drivers make the wrong decision? 99.999% of trucks come down the freeway safely but for the minority that don’t, what’s the behavioural problem? The simulator looks at driver distraction and what’s occurring with driver behaviour when they’re distracted by mobile phones.

We’ll be working with NTI and NHVR on this research,

so for the very first time, the trucking industry itself will be leading the research, using state-of-the-art technology,” said Shearer.

Though the simulator is based in South Australia, it is being built onto a trailer so it can be transported across the state and interstate. According to Shearer, there are also plans to make the simulator available to training institutions,

with details currently being finalised. “There are costs in operating and maintaining the simulator, so we’re establishing fees at the moment with the intention of setting a moderate fee for people to access it so we can generate appropriate revenue streams to fund it,” he said.

• Turn to page 21-32 for our National Road Safety Week Special.

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BIGRIGS.COM.AU FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020

Operators slugged with gate fee hike in Melbourne

BY JAMES GRAHAM

TRANSPORT operators are rallying in protest at a 137 per cent increase in gate fee card charges to enter the Melbourne Markets this year.

One operator Big Rigs spoke to is so incensed by the jump from $32.20 to $76.20, inclusive of GST, per driver, that he’s instructing his truckies to park up their B-doubles at the gate to block access.

The cause of the stink is the Melbourne Markets’ new marketing program called A Better Choice, which the Melbourne Markets Authority, the governing body, is asking transport companies to help pay for via the new surcharge.

In a letter to all market suppliers, the MMA said that the compulsory annual fee component of $44 is the “fairest way to ensure that everyone who benefits from the program contributes to its success”.

But Darren Nolan, director at Gatton-based Nolan’s Interstate Transport, disagrees, and has lodged his protest at the price hike in a series of emails to the MMA and the Victorian

Transport companies had until the end of October to pay their gate surcharge or would face lengthy delays to access the Melbourne Markets.

Small Business Commission and ombudsman.

“There is a big difference between those in the market who are their tenants and those who are delivering their clients’ product into the market,” said Nolan.

“This is an absolute price gouge - it doesn’t make sense.

“How is a 137 per cent increase justified, and how is that a reasonable cost increase in the current climate?”

Nolan said he would not be taking up the alternative suggestion by the MMA that in lieu of paying the card fee, he could advertise the market on his fleet of trucks.

Gary Mahon, CEO of the Queensland Trucking Association, said marketing of any MMA campaign is the responsibility of the grower or state government, not the transport operator.

“The road freight industry is not the go-to ATM,” said Mahon.

Les Blennerhassett, director of the busy North Queensland-based Blenners Transport, said he’s now refusing to pay the advertising/ marketing component of the gate fee card.

According to the MMA correspondence to card holders, that would mean operators can still gain access, but drivers have to sign in at the security gatehouse each time.

This would entail a full sign-in process, visitor induction and alcohol breath-testing.

“I’ll make the boys park it up in the driveway and spend half an hour doing the induction, and they won’t be able to get any other traffic in or out,” said Blennerhassett.

Peter Anderson, CEO of the Victoria Transport Association, said the gate pass surcharge is taking unfair advantage of those who use the market and can’t distribute their produce any other way.

“Once again we see the transport industry used as the “Tax Collector” in a monopolistic commercial environment,” said Anderson.

Anderson said The Melbourne Market Authority was originally established to ensure fairness in the wholesale trading of the food and flower sector.

“What the MMA is doing in this instance goes against this philosophy.

“The VTA does not approve of the actions by the MMA by increasing the HV entry fee by 137% and the arrogant attitude being shown to this industry sector.

“The industry does not object to reasonable increases being imposed but this increase is out of balance and displays nothing but greed and avarice from the Melbourne Market Authority.

“Its Chairman, Peter Touhey, needs to revisit this decision and ensure that the MMA stays true to its principles.”

Melbourne Markets did not respond to our request for an explanation before deadline for this issue.

The MMA had given operators until October 31 to pay the gate surcharge or their access by card would be revoked.

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FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

WA peak body devises plan to fix chronic driver shortage

THE Western Roads Federation (WRF) isn’t relying solely on the relaxing of border restrictions as the best fix for the chronic driver shortage in

Western Australia.

The peak body is instead taking a long-term, post-pandemic view on steps it needs to take to entice newcomers behind the wheel of a B-double or road train, and to keep them there.

With unanimous support from its members and other key stakeholders, the WRF has just released a draft blueprint for a structured industry workforce development scheme.

Program architect Barry Davis, former national HR

manager for WA Freight Group and Road Trains of Australia, said that one of the most important elements within that framework is the establishment of a recognised pathway for an existing HR licence holder to become an

employable HC/MC driver after just five weeks of training.

At present, Heavy Rigid licence holders have to wait for a year before they can upgrade, but by that stage many still don’t have the skills that

Valid to 31st Dec 2020

An urgent fix for the driver shortfall is needed in WA to keep the trucks on the road.

employers need, or they lose interest and leave the industry altogether, well before advancement.

The proposed WRF system would see 12 existing HR licence-holders at a time go through the intensive program, which is a mix of classroom theory and practical training on everything from load restraint to carrying out servicing and maintenance and coupling trailers.

Week five of the training also includes the option of securing a forklift licence and traffic management training when transporting dangerous goods.

Davis is also hopeful of enlisting the help of few retired truckies to act as mentors for the new recruits before graduation.

“We’re not going to do much different than what the likes of Toll, Linfox and Centurian are already doing with their own training,” he said.

“This is going to be over and above that and allow us to feed more [drivers] in.

“The most important thing is to get 12 at a time through the system and select

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Program architect Barry Davis is encouraged by industry feedback.

the right candidates who have a good attitude.”

With an estimated shortfall of drivers in the state numbering at least 200, Davis said it’s vital that the industry take action now.

“There is a huge shortage in the Pilbara. I know of two contractors there who are about to get a contract worth 60 to 80 drivers and they haven’t got any.

“There is a fair bit of pressure on to get this [training] up and running.

“If we didn’t have Covid it wouldn’t be as bad, but we still need to go through this process and get drivers for longevity.”

Davis said the course would be funded by existing federal government wage subsidies and initially be based in Perth, with the first intake expected to begin their training this month.

All going well, the course is aiming to have 12 trainees

start in the system every three weeks, building to a projected 120 graduates within six months.

He added that Main Roads Western Australia has already looked at the concept favourably and are on board with the rubber stamping to fasttrack the timeframe.

Davis said the early reaction to the program has been very encouraging and is taking heart from the backing of would-be employers in the state.

At a recent meeting of transport bosses chaired by WA Labor Senator Glenn Sterle, every hand in the room shot up when asked for a show of support.

“I just had contact yesterday from a guy who drives a quad tipper on a mine site.

He hasn’t got his HR, MC or HC, but has a licence signed off by the mine manager.

There are quite a few like that.

“We can feed them in and give them the opportunity.

“Of the first 12 recruited, I know I’ve got eight jobs for them, and it hasn’t even started yet.”

Davis has already had success with a WA program training those with even less experience, with an input into the new driver training program at the South Regional TAFE in Collie, backed by the WRF, RTO Keens Truck Driver Training and the state government.

The first intake has already gone through the free five-week course designed to give participants eight units of competency from the Certificate 111 in Driver Operations and a leg up to complete the full qualification.

“Hopefully we can then take some of those graduates and put them through this system,” said Davis.

Davis has found jobs for eight before the first course has started.

Call for urgency on a licensing overhaul

IF people want safe trucks, we’ve got to change the driver licensing system, because it just doesn’t work.

That’s the message from Paul Freestone, owner of busy Melbourne-based Freestone’s Transport, who is among a consortium of state transport bosses pushing for an urgent overhaul of the qualifications needed to drive a heavy vehicle.

With support from the Victorian Transport Association, Freestone is working hard behind the scenes to introduce a skills-based system, modelled on the mandatory entry-level truck driver training (MELT) program in Canada.

Canada overhauled its licensing model after an inexperienced truckie ploughed into a hockey team bus in 2018, killing 16 people and injuring a further 13. Until then, new recruits there could get behind the wheel of semi-trucks with little to no training.

“Just because you hold a semi or b-double licence doesn’t mean you can operate a truck and that’s the biggest problem we have,” said Freestone.

“We want to put safe drivers in safe trucks all the time, and we can’t achieve that at the moment with the licensing system because basically it’s just a tick and flick.

“The graduating licensing

Victoria has had phenomenal success with its Driver Delivery Program through Armstrongs in Melbourne.

system is an absolute, 100% dismal failure, it’s as simple as that. It has nothing to do with putting safe drivers in safe trucks, no way.”

Freestone said there needs to be an urgent bipartisan effort by everyone in the industry to get it right.

“Our goal is to get rid of the current licensing system and produce one that will produce well-trained drivers and it doesn’t matter if they’re 18 or 69,” said Freestone.

“I’ve spoken to outback companies in northern Queensland who have always done this. The bring in a young bloke out of school, get him working in the yard, servicing trucks, and knows how to fix things, does all the basics to get himself out of jail.

“These days, the only toolbox most drivers carry is a phone.”

Peter Anderson, CEO of the Victorian Transport Association, said you only have to look at the success of its Driver Delivery Program, supported by the Victorian Government and run in conjunction with Armstrong’s Driver Education, to see the benefits of a module-type system.

“We’re not just looking for truck drivers, we’re looking for people who know what they’re doing and have the right attitude,” said Anderson, who also helped WA with its new driver training framework.

“All we’re looking for is the government to acknowledge this. It would be a ground-breaking change for the industry in a positive way.”

Anderson said that until truck driving is recognised as a profession with a clear pathway, it devalues what we really do in the workplace.

“That’s what’s missing, that’s the gap. This process deals with that and completes the gap. It will enable others to see our industry in a different way.”

Austroads told Big Rigs that its final stage of its long-winded review of the current National Heavy Vehicle Driver Competency Framework is expected to be finished by mid-2022.

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IN BRIEF QTA award nominations The Queensland Trucking Association (QTA) is calling for nominations for its 2020 Annual Industry Awards, which aims to celebrate those who display excellence, dedication and commitment to the industry in Queensland.

Usually presented at the QTA’s Annual Dinner and Awards night, this year they will instead be announced during a special online presentation.

Any financial member of the QTA can nominate a person or an organisation, providing they meet the relevant Award Criteria.

Nominations close Friday, 20 November 2020.

Ports monopoly Peak transport and logistic groups have had enough of the monopoly power of privately-owned ports and are calling for the state and federal governments to take urgent action.

The coalition’s renewed plea for assistance comes after ACCC chair Rod Sims told the National Press Club in Canberra that the unfettered market power of some ports is costing our nation dearly.

The industry coalition said port infrastructure and access surcharges and empty yard fees, as a percentage of total operating costs, had risen exorbitantly over the past three years, but had failed to deliver productivity gains.

Penske committed Though US-based Team Penske won’t return to compete in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship in 2021, Penske confirmed its long term commitment to the Australian and New Zealand markets.

“Since Team Penske partnered with Dick Johnson to form DJR Team Penske several years ago, we have seen tremendous success on the track and in the boardroom,” said Randall Seymore, President of Penske Australia and New Zealand.

“Our team at Penske Australia and New Zealand will continue to build on our customer partnerships.”

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

Go green or go home: ANZ Bank takes tough stand ANZ Bank will impose low-carbon deadlines as part of its support for the Paris Agreement goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

TRUCKING companies wanting to borrow money from the ANZ Bank may be out of luck unless they can show they have a low-carbon transition plan.

In its climate change statement released last month, the bank announced it will impose low-carbon deadlines for the transport, agriculture,

food and beverage, building and energy sectors.

The move is part of its support for the Paris Agreement goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

Under its 10-year strategy, released to coincide with the bank’s annual result, ANZ said it would “move away from working with customers

that don’t have clear and public transition plans”.

Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, Michael McCormack, said the announcement is sheer “virtue-signalling”.

“These are the industries which produce the food we eat, keep the lights on, build our homes and transport our

Updates to national safety management system REVISED National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme (NHVAS) Business Rules and Standards are set to roll out from February 2021, designed to better align with modern safety systems, according to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR).

The reforms for more than 7600 NHVAS customers had been finalised following a review of the scheme and widespread industry consultation, revealed NHVR CEO Sal Petroccitto.

“Through the NHVAS review and our engagement with industry, we identified several areas where we were able to improve the structure of the system to make it more logical and easier to understand, and to remove gaps within the framework,” he said.

“In particular, key changes have been made to more closely align NHVAS with safety management systems to better assist customers to meet their requirements under the Chain of Responsibility laws.”

NHVAS operators will continue to receive benefits from productivity improvements linked to increased mass, maintenance and more flexible fatigue modules.

“It is pleasing to see that operators enrolled in NHVAS are regularly shown to be safer and have fewer compliance breaches than non-participating operators. This was also highlighted in the most recent industry safety survey undertaken earlier this year,” said Petroccitto.

The NHVAS changes will be effective for new partici-

pants from 22 February 2021.

The NHVR will also work with existing participants to transition to the revised Rules and Standards over one accreditation cycle, which can be up to two years.

Some of the other key reforms being introduced include: • Requirements for crash and incident reporting of major and significant events; • A register of infringements and defects notices received; • Fit and proper person requirements as part of the assessment criteria.

The updated NHVAS is designed to align with modern safety systems.

goods around the nation,” he said.

“Transport, fertiliser and fuel companies snared by these new rules could have no choice but to pass on costs along the agricultural supply chain, only to have farmers pick up the bill at the end.

“Imposing largely Euro-centric standards to satisfy shareholder activists while our nation recovers from a global pandemic is grossly unfair.”

McCormack said the move is a complete over-reaction given Australia has beaten its Kyoto-era targets by up to 430 million tonnes and our emissions are now more than 14% below 2005 levels.

“The Nationals will always support a competitive banking sector and encourage banking

customers to consider lending options which best suit their sector and its costs and needs.”

Truck drivers and operators have also hit back at ANZ’s decision, taking to our Facebook page to share their thoughts. “That is none of their business, ANZ needs to pull its head in. Not everyone can start a business in a brand new 200,000 dollar truck FFS,” wrote Steve Harry.

“Tell ANZ to stick to banking. And the transport industry will stick to transport.

Plenty of other lenders about,” commented Jim Bob. “Since when has the banking industry been the voice of the people??? Are we getting a little judgemental in our lending now, in an effort to appear virtuous??” added Trevor Rose.

HVNL review consultation period extended THOSE in the industry are being called on to have their say on what they want to see for the future Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL), with the closing date for submissions to the HVNL review consultation regulation impact statement (RIS) now extended until Friday, November 20, 2020.

The consultation RIS includes over 40 reform options to improve the HVNL. This set of workable policy solutions have been put together following hundreds of submissions already received and close collaboration with government and industry representatives, the police, the regulator and others.

Feedback can be provided by using the short submission form on topics of interest or relevance to you at hvnlreview.ntc.gov.au/ options-future-law. On the platform you can provide

feedback regarding primary duties and responsibilities, regulatory tools, technology and data, assurance, fatigue, access, and safer vehicle design and roadworthiness.

Alternatively, a formal written submission can be provided via www.ntc.gov. au. Submissions already received are also available to read on the National Transport Commission (NTC) website.

The NTC has released a series of short explanations of key HVNL reform options and how they might affect you on the HVNL review website. These are designed to complement the RIS and the HVNL 2.0 document.

The feedback provided will be considered when finalising the policy options to present to ministers for approval in the first half of 2021.

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BIGRIGS.COM.AU FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020

Truckies keep pressuring for NorthConnex toll relief

BY IAN LEE

EARLY in the morning, on the last day of October, the NorthConnex tunnel commenced operation.

A controversial project from the beginning, this latest piece of infrastructure in the Sydney road network, with a nine kilometre tunnel,

allows commuters to bypass Pennant Hills Road.

This creates a way to travel around, and pass by, Sydney without encountering a single set of traffic lights.

The effect the tunnel will have on the trucking industry is a matter of opinion, with the TWU holding a press conference on the Friday pre-

ceding the opening, to showcase the issues that the opening of the tunnel will create.

What will make life easier for some truckers, will make life harder for others.

The press conference allowed for the TWU and some of the operators negatively affected by NorthConnex’s opening, to highlight

Rob Woolley estimates that he could be out of pocket by as much as $50,000 a year.

some of the issues that will arise from the opening.

We caught up with Rob Woolley after the conference, for more information on what he is facing now the tunnel is open.

“It’s easy for me to do six legs in that tunnel every night, at $23.98 a leg it will add up quickly,” said Woolley.

“The difference between me taking the tunnel, and taking the Pennant Hills road was only roughly 3-4 minutes per leg travelled.

“We are seeking relief, possibly in the form of a curfew, as I travel Pennant Hills Road at night, when congestion on that road is not an issue. I was talking to one of my mates, who did four legs up and down the tunnel yesterday.”

Woolley estimates that he could be out of pocket by as much as $50,000 a year as a result of running just two bulk tankers from the Central Coast into metropolitan Sydney each night.

“It’s easy to say pass it [the

toll cost] on but that won’t happen in a lot of cases,” he said.

“Even pre-Covid, and pre-recession it was economically difficult, so we’re calling on some relief and flexibility.”

Toll pricing is not the only issue Woolley has with the NorthConnex opening, pointing out the fatigue related problems on the tunnel’s opening.

“Without Pennant Hills Road, there is nowhere directly to pull up into for a rest stop, where you can have a bite to eat on the way through.

“We have also lost the rest stop on the Berowra entry to the M1, which was a good place to stop and check loads before heading north. The distance between stops is too much, with the special light displays in the tunnel adding weight to our argument that fatigue will be an issue with the tunnel operating.”

To get the TWU view of a resolution to the financial issues they were raising, we had a chat with Richard

Olsen, State Secretary of the TWU. “The optimum situation for us would be a freeze on the toll for a minimum of six months, in order for industry to get out of the COVID situation, as well as the recession we are facing,” he said.

“When people are sleeping at 2am, there are a lot of truck movements, it makes commercial and business sense to allow for use of Pennant Hills Road.

“Or there should be a cap on the amount of trips charged in a 24 hour period. Many will be using the NorthConnex tunnel multiples times every day, they aren’t in a position to pass on the charges to their customers.

“This means thousands of dollars a month, which will be non-recoverable, and we will see people go to the wall over this. The cost of this is enormous to the little bloke, and with a 1% price increase on the toll each quarter, who is going to have to cover all these costs?”

Dubbo bridge fears hit fever pitch at petition ceremony THE planned $140 million River Street Bridge across the Macquarie River has become a bone of much contention for Dubbo residents, who voiced their concerns loud and clear during a petition handover ceremony at Wiradjuri Park in Dubbo on October 29.

At the ceremony, Dubbo mayor Ben Shields discussed why the Dubbo Regional Council was against a bridge at River Street but supported a Troy Bridge bypass.

The ‘Stop The River Street Bridge’ Facebook group has revealed it has received over 10,000 signatures on its petition for the planned bridge to be moved to Troy Bridge Road.

“The reason that we started

the petition was because many members of the public were angry and needed an avenue in which to redirect their anger into positive action. Also, many members of the public were still unaware of how unsuitable the location chosen for the new Newell Highway bridge was and how it would cause far more problems than it would solve,” said petition organiser Karina McLachlain at the ceremony, labelling the River Street proposal “a disaster waiting to happen”.

“We did not want people to wake the day after the new bridge opened, faced with worse traffic or to find the bridge inaccessible in a flood due its submerged approach roads and think ‘I wish I had

taken more notice of this project when we still had a chance to stop it’.”

According to McLachlain, the NSW Government announced River Street as its preferred location without community consultation. “As a national highway, the A39 extends from Queensland to Victoria. The Newell is important to the economies of Brisbane, Melbourne and many towns and cities in between. The road transport industry that uses the Newell is directly affected by what happens in Dubbo and yet they have been excluded from consideration,” she said.

“When I went to the Bathurst Truck show last year to speak to drivers, they only

needed to hear the words “bypass for Dubbo” before they were almost snatching the petition out of my hand in their race to sign it. I collected 380 signatures that day.”

McLachlain also made it very clear that the group weren’t trying to improve the current design of the River Street Bridge. “It can’t be done,” she said. “Sending pedestrians and cyclists onto a bridge with no safety barriers is only luring them to their deaths. Trying to design flood detours to get traffic around the flooded approach roads will only send the traffic onto other flooded roads or further impede traffic flow for the already grid-locked LH Ford Bridge.”

The petition handover ceremony took place at Wiradjuri Park in Dubbo on October 29. Credit: Stop The River Street Bridge Facebook group.

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08 OPINION

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

Take the safety pledge

EDITOR JAMES GRAHAM

FEATURE LETTER

University academic is out of touch: truckie I was just reading the article about pressure to improve safety standards [see story on left].

I can’t believe that so called experts such as Dr Walker thinks that you can just go and buy a truck and don’t have to prove to be financially viable this is just not true!

How many trucks has Dr Walker bought?

As for trying to regulate the industry similar to taxi industry, well you need to talk to a few taxi owners to see how that worked out.

As for having companies such as Woolworths and Coles demanding that trucks are maintained properly, I think there is enough evidence to prove that the RMS and police do enough roadside checks for

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WE have safer roads, trucks and more technology than ever before, yet far too many truckies are still losing their lives on our roads each year.

A recently released report by the NTI’s National Truck Accident Research Centre discovered there were almost 100 more serious accidents in 2019 compared with two years prior, and the number of truckies who died in 2019 was 2.5 times higher than in 2017.

In any other industry, there would be a Royal Commission into why, yet in for trucking it’s just the cost of doing business?

Sorry, but that’s just not good enough.

Authorities need to step up and do more, and not just fob us off by telling us they’re building more roads and better bridges to compensate.

How about fixing the busted licensing and fatigue management systems and crackdown harder on those taking shortcuts in the race for the bottom line.

With the freight task only tipped to grow in the next few years, we must act now.

Until then, it’s up to us all to do our bit to make this industry safer and not wait for overdue regulation.

Check out some of the important messages along those lines in our National Road Safety Week (Nov 15-22) special feature from pages 21-32, and please join us in taking the campaign pledge.

I pledge to drive as if my loved ones are on the road ahead.

I will remove all distractions and never use my mobile phone while driving.

I will not put other people at risk by speeding, driving while tired or under the influence of alcohol/drugs.

I will protect all vulnerable road users, especially those whose job places them in harm’s way, by slowing down and giving them the space they need to be safe.

compliance let alone bringing in customers of transport companies being bought in to regulate such things.

If they really cared about road safety, for example, you go to Woolworths or Coles you wait for hours on end to get on a dock.

You cannot lay down. You have to sit and wait to see if your rego number is flashed up on a board to let you go in.

Places like these where you get held up need to use a tug truck so if you going to be waiting for hours you unhook, park up, they call you when unloaded.

This would save driver fatigue, take pressure off drivers to get to next pick up and get delivery done with much less

stress.

As for saying that you only need to get a truck licence and ABN to start a trucking company, well anyone in this industry knows it’s not that simple.

This attitude is of people who have no idea and only read books and surveys to get knowledge, not out there actually learning what goes on in practical way of life.

I really think that our industry is far too over regulated and it is the taxes and fees in rego, tolls, etc, that put so much pressure on the transport industry.

So the last thing we need is to have customers putting more pressure on.

This is not their job.

Thank you Brett Green

HOT TOPICS 9

BIGRIGS.COM.AU FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020

HOT WEB TOPICS 228 defects were reported as part of a compliance operation on the Augusta Highway.

SA compliance operation

ENFORCEMENT officials reported 228 defects and 295 expiations were issued as part of the recent four-day Operation Crossroads compliance campaign on the Augusta Highway in South Australia.

NHVR Director Southern Region Paul Simionato said the primary focus of the exercise was to monitor the safety and compliance of heavy vehicles travelling on the Augusta, the ‘crossroads’ of Australia.

But many of our followers were left questioning exactly what these defects were. On our Facebook page, Bradley Semler begged the questions, “How many vehicles did they inspect? How many defects were major or minor i.e. a slack adjuster missing as against a marker light not working. How many of the diary infringements were major? And even then the stats probably won’t be accurate because certain trucks and companies are targeted.”

Steve Miller shared a similar view, “Be good if the truckies involved in the defects could put them all up on here. Be a good chance to see if they were warranted or not.”

Mike Williams agreed, “What offences were the fines for and how many were issued to the same driver/company? How many trucks were intercepted?” he asked.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONTRIBUTE TO READER CORNER? EMAIL US AT EDITOR@BIGRIGS.COM.AU

Sh*t shovel highlights issue

Snakes on a truck

THE problem with rest area facilities is the bane of many truckies and a piece recently penned by TWU NSW State Secretary, Richard Olsen, added fuel to the fire.

He pointed to a sh*t shovel that hangs on a tree at a well-used rest area in Mount Boyce NSW. “Facilities at rest areas across the country are inadequate. In NSW we know of one driver who carries a milk crate with a toilet seat cable tied to the top,” said Olsen.

Frustrated operators shared their frustration. “So few facilities, too many caravans and no respect. That’s what the drivers face. I wrote an email to SA government about their lack of facilities for truck drivers crossing from Broken Hill to WA boarder. The reply was, you just have to manage your toilet breaks,” responded Fiona Goodman.

Ivor Nelson added, “Those in government don’t give a stuff about building rest areas.

Huge amounts of highway upgrade going on Wollongong to Nowra now and over last few years but only truck related component is another inspection bay, that they no doubt will lock up when they’re not there. This will make 5 inspection bays in around 100km but only 1 rest area, tacked onto the back of car area so toilets when they work.”

WELL just one snake in this case actually, a large eastern brown in the back of a Toll truck.

Former truckie-turned snake catcher Ben Avery from Bayside Snake Catchers in Brisbane had to call on all his skills to safely wrangle this snake from the back of a truck at the Port of Brisbane.

According to Avery, the snake gave the driver a hell of a fright after he discovered it hiding in one of his trailers, having hitched a ride all the way from Townsville. “This snake is about 5.5 feet and was very annoyed after being locked in a hot truck for two days,” he said.

We shared footage of the dramatic capture online and here’s what some of our readers had to say.

“Heaps of eastern browns getting up and down the highways,” said Steven Atkinson.

“Mine wasn’t that big but this little brown fella was in the back of mine, released him into the scrub,” commented James Tracey, sharing a photo of the tiny reptile he refers to.

The snake will head to the Australian Reptile Park in NSW to be part of a venom extraction program, where it will be used for research into making anti venom.

This shovel is the answer to rest areas amenities,100km to the west in Mt Boyce.

TRUCK WINDSCREEN SPECIALIST

In Queensland, fines of up to $10,676 can apply for damaging infrastructure and ignoring low clearance signage.

Combatting bridge strikes

QUEENSLAND Rail recently called for feedback from truck drivers, in the form of a survey, as part of its effort to reduce bridge strikes and support safety on their network.

During the 2019-2020 financial year, Queensland Rail was affected by a significant number of over-height vehicles and loads colliding with low clearance rail bridges. A total of 68 rail bridge collisions were reported in South East Queensland.

Some of our followers weighed in on the issue.

“Is it possible too many drivers are relying on a GPS to plan a route? Back in the day before GPS navigation we carried a street directory for every capital city we travelled to. If you were going to an unfamiliar area you would pull out the directory and plan your route checking for low bridges and that you wouldn’t end up a dead end. I did fridge work for years, never hit a bridge, never had to back it up,” wrote Lionel Cook.

Scott OHare agreed, “Check your height, check your route, Google provides this. People don’t think. They think she’ll be right.”

“Simple. If you don’t know the height of your truck then hand the keys back,” commented Graeme Welch.

A 5.5ft eastern brown snake in the back of a truck gave this driver a mighty fright.

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10 NEWS

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

Former truckie-turned Senator back behind wheel

Senator Glenn Sterle, left, and Cam Dumesny made the long haul in support of local families in the East Kimberly.

LABOR Senator Glenn Sterle dusted off his driving kit to deliver a road train full of preloved and unwanted furniture from Perth to Kununurra to support local families in the East Kimberley.

Before he entered politics, Sterle used to run furniture from Perth to Darwin, but this time his destination was the Revive Recycling Centre 3000km away, with Western Roads Federation CEO Cam Dumesny riding shotgun.

Established in mid-2017 by East Kimberley Job Pathways (EKJP) (owned in partnership

by Wunan Aboriginal Corporation and the Kununurra Region Economic Aboriginal Corporation), Revive operates as a ‘Waste to Wages’ social enterprise.

While on wages with Revive, job seekers are supported to gain skills and experience to obtain sustainable employment in the open labour market, which in turn creates opportunities for successive job seekers.

The ‘Waste to Wages’ program trains and employs Aboriginal youth to collect and repair recyclable items for their

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The workers repair old furniture and push bikes as well as create art out of used materials which are then sold on to the local community at an affordable price.

Families come from as far away as Balgo, Halls Creek and Kalumburu to purchase these much-needed items. EKJP underpins all costs associated with operating the enterprise and utilises funds derived through the sale of products, namely furniture, to directly employ vulnerable Aboriginal job seekers on a supported wage.

Senator Sterle partnered with ACFS Port Logistics, the Western Roads Federation, Keys – The Moving Solution and members of the WA Labor Party and broader community to support Revive’s ‘Waste to Wages’ program.

Arthur Tzaneros at ACFS Port Logistics donated a brand new 2653 Mercedes Benz Prime Mover with fuel, a trailer and dolly for the journey. The prime mover driven by Sterle was covered in local indigenous livery to mark the occasion.

Nick D’Adamo and his team

at Keys – The Moving Solution in Canning Vale assisted with loading and storing furniture donated by generous community members and members of the WA Labor Party from across the Perth metro area and as far south as Margaret River.

In addition to this, D’Adamo donated a significant amount of extra furniture that was also delivered and a trailer for it to be transported in. D’Adamo and four of his staff also very generously donated their own time to load the three trailers of furniture before departure.

Senator Sterle would also like to thank Daimler who donated merchandise to deliver to Kununurra, Senator Louise Pratt for the donation of art supplies delivered during the journey, North West Quarries who provided accommodation and a BBQ, and Scott Huntsman from All-Cast PPE Supplies who donated 1800 Australian made medical face masks to support the local community and health practitioners.

“This has truly been a team effort,” said Sterle, 60. “Thank you to everyone who has supported this project.”

NEWS 11

BIGRIGS.COM.AU FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020

TMC moves online for free

BY EMILY MILLS

FOR more than 25 years, the Australian Trucking Association and PACCAR and its dealer network have presented the Technology and Maintenance Conference (TMC) – one of Australia’s longest running technical conferences.

While the current environment of coronavirus restrictions has impacted the delivery of TMC that the industry is used to, this year the ATA is doing things differently to continue its tradition of providing valuable content to the trucking community.

With the support of its partners, the ATA has developed TMC Online, a free event that will deliver the latest technical updates, insights and stories from industry experts across Australia.

Bringing TMC into the online world allows a larger and broader audience to connect with industry and gives delegates the opportunity to access content whenever suits them.

The TMC Online format will include both live and on-demand content accessed via the online conference platform, which will remain open from Monday 23 November through to Sunday 29 November.

TMC Online offers some-

ATA chief engineer Bob Woodward in action at the 2019 TMC in Melbourne. This year he’ll be dispensing tips and advice in the free online alternative from November 23.

thing for all industry members, whether they be an apprentice, mechanic, fleet manager, director or supervisor. It cannot be missed.

A TMC Online highlight, the ATA is excited to welcome Lachie Smart for a live keynote Session. Lachie is the youngest person to complete a solo circumnavigation of the world in a single engine aircraft and will

join TMC Online to share an insight into how he was able to pull off this incredible feat.

Lachie will also explore the importance of bridging the gap between generations, ready to take the industry’s questions.

The free online conference will also feature interactive live sessions, including a ‘meet the inspectors’ panel,

discussions on safety technologies, hydrogen vehicles and heavy vehicle defects, and exclusive interviews from industry experts.

The online platform will also include a range of networking features that will connect delegates and speakers, and showcase the latest products, technology & services in the TMC Online ex-

hibitor zone.

A highlight and key feature of the TMC program over the years has been the Castrol Vecton Industry Awards.

To continue the tradition of celebrating industry achievements, this awards ceremony will be broadcast live on the platform. It will engage and entertain with an exclusive industry panel, special guest

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interviews, and award finalist profiles.

The broadcast will kick off with an industry panel, reflecting on the past 30 years of technological advancements within industry before welcoming two very special guests – V8 supercar drivers Rick Kelly and Cameron Waters.

2020 has been a challenging year for the trucking industry so it is important now, more than ever, to connect with one another, celebrate our industry and recognise those who keep Australia moving.

The awards broadcast will celebrate industry excellence with the announcement of the prestigious Castrol Vecton Industry Achievement Award and the Craig Roseneder Award for Technical and Maintenance Excellence.

For more than 20 years the Craig Roseneder award has recognised the professionalism of the men and women who work behind the scenes in the trucking industry’s workshops, while the Castrol Vecton Industry Achievement Award celebrates those who have demonstrably improved not just their own operations, but also made these improvements available to the industry as a whole.

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12 FEATURE

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

Making life an adventure: travelling far and wide

Danyelle Haigh has quickly become a well known name in the world of trucking. In between juggling a busy water drilling business and raising two young kids, she’s also raising money for a cause that’s close to her heart.

Behind these Western Star 4964s is some serious equipment.

Danyelle’s son Heath is a natural in front of the camera.

BY DANIELLE GULLACI

and then having to quarantine, so it wasn’t possible to go back home,” explained Danyelle, who can often be found behind the wheel of one of the couple’s Western Star 4964 prime movers, while Anthony steers the other.

“We’re a two man team with our trucks and the kids. It’s a lot more laid back than the work I used to do, but we’re outside in the heat. It’s extremely dangerous at times.”

Behind the trucks there is some serious equipment, including seven trailers – four behind one truck and three behind the other. Two of the trailers have the family’s living quarters, governess’ room, worker’s room and store room.

There are two tool sheds and steel casing for the bores. One of the trailers is the drill rig, another carries the drill rods.

Add to that a massive compressor and a cage full of tyres, and they’re good to go.

So what’s it like transporting that amount of equipment over rough dirt roads in the middle of nowhere? “Stressful is an understatement,” said Danyelle.

“It can get quite scary. I’m not as experienced as my husband or a lot of other drivers. I’ve only been driving a road train for three years. Recently I had to drive up Redbank Hill. You can only go up in creeper gear and I’ve got a hundred tonne towing behind me. I was almost at the top and all of a sudden lost all power. I think it was just too much pressure. I was so stressed out, but all of a sudden the truck started going again and eventually I got to the top.

That’s just one scenario, these sorts of things happen all the time. We’re trying not to damage the equipment, but a lot of these roads weren’t built for road trains so we have to just make do. That’s why we carry so much equipment and spare

IF you’re a fan of the popular TV series Outback Truckers, then the name Danyelle Haigh and Murranji Water Drilling might ring a bell. It is the fifth season she’ll be appearing in after all.

The nurse-turned-truckie and her husband Anthony Haigh took over Murranji Water Drilling in 2014 – and what an adventurous six years it’s been. With their two sons in tow, six-year-old Heath and one-year-old Theo, the couple travel to some of the most remote locations, navigating the toughest terrain. But as Danyelle revealed, she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Every day is an adventure, you never know where you’re going from day to day. We can be at one station one day, then at another the next. We never know the roads we’ll travel or the people we’ll meet, and that’s why I love what I do,” said Danyelle.

Anthony has been in trucking since he was in his teens, following his father who was also a truck driver. In their first year as owners of Murranji Water Drilling, Danyelle and Anthony did around 30 to 40 bores. Now that number is closer to 100.

“We hit water the majority of the time, about 85% of the time. We don’t pick the areas we want to drill in, we drill where we’re told to drill. There isn’t water everywhere though so there are odd days that we don’t hit water which is a sad day for everyone unfortunately.

When we do hit water, it’s the best reaction from the kids,” said Danyelle.

“The kids absolutely love what we do. I think they were born to be travellers. Heath was about 18 months old when we

Danyelle and Anthony’s kids, Theo (1) and Heath (6) love life on the road.

bought the business. He loves it. He also does school through Alice Springs School Of the Air. It’s taken a while for Theo to adjust because he was almost born up here. We were back into it when he was three weeks old, so he had to adjust straight away. Now he loves travelling and getting dirty too. They love being outside and working with dad.”

Perhaps one day her boys will follow in the footsteps of her and Anthony. “Heath always says he’s going to be a driller and a truck driver like his mum and dad. We’re hopeful but open to them doing what they want to do.”

Though the plan was to cut back a little instead of working so hard all year, that hasn’t quite been the case. When Big Rigs spoke to Danyelle in October, they were already past 80 bores and counting – likely hitting 100 yet again.

“We drill for remote cattle

stations and drought stricken farmers, as well as big companies. We pretty much travel all around Northern Territory, Queensland and WA to some of the most remote places in Australia. 90% of the time we are on dirt roads and don’t really hit the bitumen very much.

We’ve encountered some tough terrain over the years but manage to conquer everything we get thrown at us,” added Danyelle.

Though they’re just as busy as ever, the ever-changing COVID situation has challenged the Haighs in other ways. The family is based in Allora, Queensland, around two hours west of the Gold Coast, but they’ve only been able to go home once this year, to celebrate Theo’s first birthday. “It’s mainly due to COVID restrictions. We had exemptions but because Brisbane turned into a hotspot multiple times, we couldn’t risk going back home

tyres. You never know what’s going to happen or what’s going to break down, so have to be prepared.”

Recently, the family wrapped up the first lot of filming for Season 9 of Outback Truckers, which is due to air in mid-late 2021. And by the sounds of it, Heath and Theo may just steal the show.

“They’re naturals. Heath has been doing it since before he could talk and loves it now. He also loves watching himself on TV. They ask him questions and he knows what happens and asks them to film him doing this and that. Theo also loves the director and was hanging all over him because he had the big camera,” laughed Danyelle.

Along with her regular appearance on Outback Truckers, Danyelle will also be appearing on another television show

next year called Adventure All Stars, which combines travel with philanthropy. “I can’t disclose too much yet but I’ll be setting off for six days, I don’t know where yet and will have to complete different challenges. In the meantime I’m aiming to raise money for Diabetes Australia and am hoping to hit my goal before we start filming next year,” she said.

“Diabetes is pretty close to me. I’m quite passionate about it because my dad’s mum died of diabetes, my dad has diabetes and so does my nephew and my uncles. I had gestational diabetes and it’s likely I may develop it too. The quicker they find a cure and can do more research into it, the better.”

For information on Danyelle’s fundraising efforts and to donate, please visit diabetesaustraliafundraiser.raisely.com/danyellehaigh.

Anthony began driving trucks when he was about 18.

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14 PROFILE

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

Jewels of the Sapphire Coast Heritage truck lover Alby Twyford spends countless hours painstakingly restoring old classics back to their former glory.

BY DAVID VILE “THE Volvo runs during the week as that finances the dreams I have for all the old stuff!”

The old stuff Alby Twyford is referring to is his collection of heritage trucks which are tucked away in a shed near Bega, just inland from the New South Wales south coast.

Having come from a family with a long association with both transport and the Bega area, Twyford’s skills in restoring and refurbishing old trucks are on display in his collection, which includes a couple of Bedfords, an International R-190 and a Transtar, a Fiat and a Ford 8000.

For the best part of the last two decades there has been a steady flow of vehicles through the Twyford workshop, with

the International R-190 the first of many.

“When I was at school I always wanted to drive and own a ‘190’ but I was too late, by the time I started driving they were an old truck,” said Twyford.

“We bought one and mucked around for about five years doing it up - we had Dad’s (Paul) Ford here in the yard so we did that as well…we had a bit of a bite for it by then so we did a Diamond T for Cromack and Tranter at Grafton and also did a little Fiat tray-top as well.”

A Cummins powered single-drive International Transtar has also been overhauled along with a pair of Bedfords, with Twyford currently taking on a customer restoration on another Bedford along with a matching milk tanker.

“We are building up another Bedford with an Allison auto-

‘Old Days and Old Mates’- Alby Twyford and his Detroit-powered Bedford.

matic transmission and trailer for Brancourt Cheese in Sydney, it is keeping us on the hop pretty much.”

A number of trailers to go with the prime movers have also had the Twyford touch, including a Dairy Farmers refrigerated trailer which goes behind one of the Bedfords, a matching Freighter to go with the red Ford and a spread-axle trailer hooked on behind the R-190.

Twyford today operates a 2019 Volvo FH which runs up and down the east coast towing a tanker hauling food-grade liquids for McColl’s, whom he has worked as a subbie for the last 16 years.

“I started out in 1976 in a Scania LB80 doing a bit of pulp and general freight before moving up to a Ford Louisville and a couple of Kenworths - I subbied for Ablett’s for 20 years and when a lot of the mills closed down around here I went to McColl’s,” he said.

Needless to say, the creature comforts of the current generation Volvo are a lot more user-friendly than the trucks back home in the shed.

“The old Ford can get up and going but the Transtar is a rough little bastard to drive, even with the trailer on she’s still not that good - there’s a little concrete bridge here at the bottom of the hill you have to line her up pretty straight or she will belt you out through the roof!” he said with a grin.

Twyford undertakes about 75% of the work on his restorations himself and over the years has steadily added to his collection and aims to keep the trucks and trailers that go with them period correct.

“I don’t chase stuff, but it can fall into your hands at the right price and we keep chipping away at it, a lot of these trucks were too good to be consigned to the scrapheap.”

Over the years the various

The restored International Transtar C04070 standing tall at Twyford’s yard.

Paul Twyford’s Ford 8000 fired up and rolling out of the shed.

Two Bedfords and the Transtar all bearing the Twyford name.

Twyford trucks have been on show at heritage events and displays with Twyford a member of the South Coast Car Club, but the bushfires last summer in the area and COVID-19 has seen a lot of local events cancelled.

He has been a participant

at a couple of the Crawlin’ The Hume events and also rattled the hills around Sylvia’s Gap on the old Hume Highway near Gundagai a few years ago with the GM-Powered Bedford, saying “That’s a nostalgic bit of road.”

He is looking at rolling the International R-190 out of the shed for next year’s Haulin’ the Hume event.

“The 190 is more a Hume Highway truck, back in the day the Hume was loaded with 190’s just about everyone on the Hume had them.”

When the customer restoration on the Bedford is completed, Twyford has his next project sitting in the yard which he reckons might be his last one. A locally sourced Dodge 660 is sitting up on blocks, kept company by an International T6 crawler tractor with both the truck and little tractor requiring a bit of intensive TLC to get them both up to scratch.

“The Dodge came from Bemboka and we have got the little Inter T6 on the mend - the Dodge will take a bit of work but it is do-able, but that might be the end of the road, I have been doing this for twenty years so the production line will be finishing up!” he said with a smile.

“Old days and old mates” is scrolled on the Detroit powered Bedford and this is Twyford’s mantra in restoring his trucks to an era which has largely disappeared from transport in Australia, with the slogan capturing what he has tried to achieve over the years.

“I like driving all of them and restoring them, putting the time into them, and not just be sitting down at the pub of a weekend. I just tinker around with them to show others what they were like back in the day.”

King of the Road - The International R-190 was the first of Twyford’s restoration projects.

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18 FEATURE

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

Shaw’s Darwin Transport partners with Little Wings

THE onset of COVID-19 and the global pandemic that ensued has wreaked havoc on many businesses that were forced to close their doors.

Industries such as travel, hospitality and beauty were hard hit. But so too were many of the vital charities that rely on grants and community support to fund their services.

Among these was Little Wings, a charity that provides free, professional and safe flight and ground transport services for sick children in rural and regional NSW to give them access to life-saving medical treatment at the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network. It aims to help sick children access specialised medical services and treatments that are only available in major cities or towns. Little Wings also supports families by easing the financial burden, emotional strain and travel fatigue they experience due to the long-distance travel associated with receiving vital medical treatment.

Little Wings has travelled over 2.8 million kilometres

on land and sea, transporting 6120 patients and family members to and from medical treatments. To date, it has completed 2635 journeys and assisted 378 families.

A case in point is oneyear-old Heath from West Wyalong. When he was just a few months old, Heath and his mum were involved in an accident that resulted in him suffering a serious skull fracture. While slowly recovering, he had another painful injury, receiving serious burns to his left arm and hand, caused by a vaporiser. His burns required routine trips to the Westmead Children’s Hospital to ensure unrestricted use of the hand both now and into the future.

Heath’s recovery is going well but requires ongoing support from Little Wings in order to avoid the six-hour long car ride he would otherwise have to endure with each and every one of his appointments.

In October, Little Wings partnered with Shaw’s Darwin Transport to help raise awareness for its cause and reach families in need from across

From L-R: Shaw’s Darwin’s Business Development Manager Tony Fennell, Managing Director Allan Thornley, and Director and General Manager of Operations Scott Bancroft; Little Wings CEO Clare Pearson, volunteer pilot James Groves, fundraising manager Wanda Fennel, and volunteer driver Adrian Ford. Photo credit: Tenille Salmon Soul Images

the state. Specialising in road freight to and from Darwin, Shaw’s Darwin Transport is proudly showcasing the Little Wings logo on two of its trailers.

“Those trailers run on express services, one runs Sydney to Perth and the other is on the Sydney to Darwin run, so they get pretty high visibility.

It’s a rural NSW service that

Thornley (left) said the partnership was “one of true alignment”.

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was struggling and we have a lot of people out that way so we thought partnering with Little Wings was a worthwhile thing to do. Little Wings relies entirely on funding. With three aircrafts, they have some significant costs to keep operating, so we wanted to help,” said Allan Thornley, Shaw’s Darwin Transport Director.

Shaw’s Darwin Transport started as a one-man operation in 1981 and has grown into a successful national business with depots in Darwin, Perth, Brisbane and Sydney.

Nationally, its fleet is made up of around 50 prime movers and 140 trailers. Despite its growth over the years, Shaw’s Darwin Transport has maintained its community spirit and remains passionate about giving back to the local community.

“There are so many people that rely on Little Wings’ services. Their funding dried up all of a sudden when COVID hit, so we wanted to give them a hand and make more people aware of what they do,” said Thornley.

“Quite simply, we care. We want to provide exemplary service to our customers, to nurture our team and partner with those that support the communities that we service.”

It is hoped that the part-

Volunteer pilot James Groves with one of Little Wings’ three aircraft.

nership will not only raise awareness of the services provided by Little Wings, but also encourage people to donate.

Since the trailers sporting the Little Wings logo hit the road, they have certainly been getting noticed. “People aren’t calling us but are calling Little Wings and that’s what we want,” Thornley added.

Little Wings CEO Clare Pearson is thrilled with the support being provided by Shaw’s Transport Darwin.

“This partnership is one of true alignment. We are both in the business of transport-

ing precious goods and taking care of communities from across the state of NSW. I like to think of us as partners with heart,” she said.

“So we are very proud to be partnered with Shaw’s Darwin Transport and hope that this partnership will help us connect with families in need across the state and bring greater awareness in helping families when they need it the most.”

For more information about Little Wings and to donate, please visit www.littlewings. org.au.

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SAFETY FEATURE 21

BIGRIGS.COM.AU FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020

National Road Safety Week feature proudly supported by NTI - Australia’s Specialist Insurer, November 15-22

“Everyone has the right to get home safe to their loved ones, no exceptions”

BY PETER FRAZER, SARAH PRESIDENT

WHILE I’ve been promoting road safety across Australia for almost nine years, I want to make a confession: I never wanted to work in this field and I wish this wasn’t my life today!

Unlike truckies who have not only witnessed the results of tragedy on our roads and highways, and sometimes have even experienced this firsthand, like most Australians I never really gave it much thought.

The closest I had come to road trauma would be hearing the news reports stating “road accidents” kill around 1200 people each year, while 44,000 are seriously injured. For me, and indeed for most of the community, those figures were so large that you can’t get your

head around them.

You might even think, “Well, if they are accidents, there is not much you can do about it.”

Even when you hear a news flash about someone killed on a major road, it is not news because of the death that occurred, it is news because traffic is banked up, perhaps delaying commuters from getting home.

In fact, that anonymous person is soon forgotten, and indeed they are simply viewed as the collateral damage in a transport system that needs to move people and freight. If you don’t believe me, here is a simple test to see if we remember and honour those lost on our roads.

Of the 1200 Australians killed in the last twelve months, can you remember

even one name? Can you remember media discussions of why a crash occurred, or the personal effects on our emergency services who suffer PTSD in witnessing and dealing with the carnage?

Can you remember any discussion of how family and friends were coping with the loss of their loved one, or how they would manage that grief for the rest of their lives.

Even within this industry, of the 50 plus truck drivers killed, how often has their names been mentioned in the media.

On 15 February 2012, the event that every parent dreads became my reality, a crash would occur on the Hume Freeway south of Mittagong NSW. A news flash interrupts the normal TV and radio broadcast stating that a dis-

[l-r] Bernard Carlon, Centre of Road Safety, Peter Frazer SARAH, Melissa Weller, ATA Safety, Health & Wellbeing Director, and Adam Lloyd, Interlink Roads, commemorate the start of the campaign with a yellow ribbon on the SafeT360 truck.

SARAH president Peter Frazer, left, and the ATA’s immediate past CEO Ben Maguire put the campaign’s signature yellow ribbons on the ATA Safety Truck.

tracted truck driver had hit and killed a tow-truck driver and the young woman he was assisting… just two more road statistics, which under normal circumstances, would be well and truly forgotten by now.

But it would change my life because that young woman was my beautiful 23-year-old daughter, Sarah.

It would have been easy to attack the young truck driver, for this was a completely avoidable crash. That driver had neglected his duty of care and as a result, two people were horrifically killed.

But our family decided that the best way to honour our daughter, and indeed all those whose lives have been affected by road trauma, was to set up an organisation whose mission was to save lives and prevent serious injuries on our roads.

My eldest son Ben came up with a name for that fledgling organisation…

Safer Australian Roads And Highways, or as it is now known… SARAH. SARAH has grown over the years, and become a catalyst for slow down move over and other legislation (including Sarah’s law), the creation of our national road safety symbol, the “Yellow Ribbon” and most importantly, the creation of National Road Safety Week, that this year will run from November 15 to 22 .

SARAH also wanted to work directly with industry in driving our road safety initiatives. I am delighted that we now work closely with large and small companies, industry associations and unions across our nation. Of particular note is our work with the Australian Trucking Association… a proud supporter of National Road Safety Week.

Our desire to change public perception of the industry was noted in my 2018

Trucking Australia Conference speech: “My mission is to show that by working together, the public will see the trucking industry as a true road safety leader.”

As 2020 National Road Safety Week is almost here, we are asking every trucking company, and, every truck driver, to join us and demonstrate you are a road safety champion. Its easy to do… just display a yellow ribbon or our “Drive So Others Survive!” reflective yellow stickers on your trucks and/or personal vehicles. Then make your road safety pledge at www. roadsafetyweek.com.au and please encourage your family, friends and colleagues to do the same.

Your life, and indeed everyone on the road ahead, always matters because “Everyone has right to get home safe to their loved ones… Every Day… No Exception!”

National Road Safety Week feature proudly supported by NTI - Australia’s Specialist Insurer, November 15-22

22 SAFETY FEATURE

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

National Road Safety Week feature proudly supported by NTI - Australia’s Specialist Insurer, November 15-22

Safety pilot program delivering to people at work The QTA reports back on the early findings from its two-year Heavy Vehicle Safety Around Ports Project in partnership with the Port of Brisbane.

FOR the road transport industry, safety is our number one priority. The road is our workplace and it literally has many moving parts to manage. But, where to start?

As the peak industry association in Queensland for road freight operators, the Queensland Trucking Association (QTA) is proactive in looking for new and innovative ways to keep drivers safe on the roads.

QTA Ltd Chief Executive Officer Gary Mahon said that a core part of its role is support-

ing their members in developing and maintaining safe workplaces and work practices.

“Our members include owner drivers through to major transport and logistics companies, and we see a critical part of our role is to look at new and emerging approaches to safety,” said Mahon.

“We are currently managing a number of safety, training and technology projects, giving transport operators an opportunity to experience new ways of working.”

The QTA’s initiative currently underway is the Heavy Vehicle Safety Around Ports Project.

Commencing in August 2018, the QTA received more than $300,000 from the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator through the 2018-19 round of the Heavy Vehicle Safety Initiative program.

The grant funding was to deliver the two-year Heavy Vehicle Safety Around Ports Project in partnership with the Port of Brisbane.

The project completed the initial 12-month pilot in February 2020. This included the implementation of two initiatives – focusing on people and place.

The project aims to look at how people-based health initiatives encourage safer driver behaviour, as well as trialling wearable technology in the workplace.

The People Factor There are a number of components that make up a person’s health and wellbeing, leading the project to include a variety of targeted initiatives. The project has delivered more than 970 free health and wellbeing initiatives to the road transport industry, based in and around the Port of Brisbane precinct, including: • skin checks • flu vaccinations • heart and health assessments

The project delivered more than 970 free health benefits.

• seated massage • financial health.

The importance of having a healthy and well workforce in relation to safety was clearly demonstrated when some participants were immediately referred for additional follow-up with a doctor, highlighting the significance of having these preventative measures in place for ongoing employee health.

The feedback from the health and wellbeing initiatives was overwhelmingly positive, with participant comments including: “Making it accessible for our employees at work site worked really well.“ “Great Initiative - Very pleased to be a part of the program.”

“It was an excellent initiative and we were really glad to be a part of it. Thank you.”

These anecdotal comments demonstrated that, while the workforce may desire to improve their health and wellbeing, accessibility can be a key issue.

For 59% of the participants receiving skin checks, this was their first time being assessed.

The results also captured the importance of taking visible action. These small measures generated interest and ongoing conversation about safety relating to personal health and wellbeing.

“Aside from personal feedback there has been much more general discussion about health which is a good thing.”

The Place Factor The place factor looked at how emerging technologies can be used in the workplace; for our industry, this is in and around heavy vehicles. A range of wearable technologies were reviewed and SmartCap was selected as the most suitable option for the pilot phase of the project, being portable and because of its early

A range of wearable technologies were reviewed and SmartCap was selected as the most suitable option for the pilot phase of the project.

intervention fatigue alarms.

‘SmartCap’ is a wearable technology that measures driver alertness. It’s a headband mounted into a cap, making it portable regardless of whether the transport operator is inside or outside the vehicle. The headband measures changes in a person’s electroencephalogram (EEG), which measures electrical activity in the brain, and provides accurate measurements of alertness in real time to operators and drivers.

In total, 75 transport operators from across seven companies participated in the pilot.

Across more than 18,000 driving hours, the project’s key findings were: • 96% of operators using SmartCap technology were able to self-manage their fatigue as a result of the early warning system, the common interventions including eating an apple or shifting posture • More than 80% of the alarms occurred from less than 10% of the drivers, identifying possible lifestyle or underlying health factors • Fatigue alarm rates increased by 565% when in a queue, supporting the need for more research on how to reduce the impact of queueing on driver alertness • Zero safety incidents recorded

for the duration of the project.

Following the completion of the pilot, a number of operators opted to continue using the technology. There were also some operators who believed using the technology during the driver on boarding process would be beneficial.

The pilot of the technology was also a mechanism to increase awareness and education about fatigue, specifically that for every ‘eyes closed’ microsleep there is an invisible ‘eyes open’ microsleep beforehand. The SmartCap technology has early fatigue warnings that are activated before either of these events occur.

Where to next?

The next phase of the project focuses on sharing the project outcomes with other ports across Australia. Due to current travel restrictions, the majority of the workshops will be delivered in early 2021.

There will also be a range of material published outlining practical steps on how to set up these initiatives in your workplace.

Sign up at qta.com.au/ event-4041679 for the free kit.

If you would like to know more about other QTA projects and how you can get involved, visit qta.com.au/Projects.

“Truckies working for Truckies”

JOIN THE NRFA

Join now and become a member Significant benefits for members

A grass roots association making a difference for Australian transport drivers and operators

www.nrfa.com.au President: 0407 494 582

SAFETY FEATURE 23

BIGRIGS.COM.AU FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020

National Road Safety Week feature proudly supported by NTI - Australia’s Specialist Insurer, November 15-22

We are ready for anything

BY RHIANNON DICKENSON

Administration Manager, Daryl Dickenson Transport

NO one running a business can truly believe they’ve got everything running perfectly, 100% of the time. Let’s be real.

But at Daryl Dickenson Transport, we’re always striving towards that goal. And we’re proud of our efforts in that respect.

With that in mind, we regularly look at ways we can im-

prove what we do. Not just behind the wheel and on the road, but all the way up to management and myself. That lead us to NTI Traction.

This program gave our staff a voice and a platform to give honest and informative feedback about our business. From drivers and maintenance, to warehouse and logistical departments – everyone could have their input.

As a third-party neutral facilitator, NTI Traction surveyed everyone anonymously. We

Everybody feels like they’re being listened to, nobody’s left behind.

wanted the truth, for better or for worse. It wasn’t just any survey though.

They set it up to give our staff a period of time to adequately respond, and handy reminders to assist them through it. Those helping coordinate things from our end received updates on participation levels, to ensure everyone got a fair opportunity to be involved.

And then they delivered with a report on their findings.

Following that, we received an onsite visit from an NTI specialist, who helped unpack the feedback from staff.

This expert gave us an opportunity to workshop a couple of areas of our business that could be refined and improved upon.

They facilitated a session where our staff from all levels – not just management – could come together to help solve any issues, which was helpful for everyone involved.

NTI Traction helped us improve our communications, whether management-to-management, all the way through to front-end staff doing the hard graft. We implemented new systems and processes from the

Daryl and Tracie Dickenson feel more than ready for what’s ahead thanks to the NTI Traction program.

very beginning of the program, on our NTI specialist’s recommendation and we continue to use them today.

We’re seeing some great improvements in the way staff deal with each other and their work.

Everybody feels like they’re being listened to, nobody’s left behind. We’re all accountable for the team. More so than ever.

We also discovered how environmentally conscious our staff were. We realised we needed to meet their ambitions in this regard, and we created some recycling initiatives im-

mediately to address their concerns.

Not just in the day-to-day running of things, but when sourcing products from a cost perspective, we wanted to make better choices for the environment moving forward.

We would highly recommend NTI Traction to any business wanting to step up a gear, in whatever capacity they desire.

It’s a program that’s helping us grow and nurture our talented people.

We’re more together, more

inclusive, and more a team.

And we’re in a healthier position for growth than we’ve ever been.

Traction was the oil for our squeaky door. The added grease for our piston. The encouragement and words of wisdom we didn’t know we needed to provide for each other, but now we do.

You don’t know there’s a hazard around the corner, until you turn it. But with NTI Traction, for us, it feels like we’re more than ready for what’s ahead.

NTI Traction improves safety culture at Fennell Forestry NTI Traction, a new program to drive good safety culture has already paid dividends for Fennell Forestry, with the South Australian business opening a constructive dialogue throughout the company.

Following 12 years of development in collaboration with government, industry heads, and international best practice professionals, NTI Traction is designed to problem solve issues involving safety culture within the workplace, and provide all staff members with the tools required to become safety leaders.

The program starts with an anonymous employee survey that has been specifically tai-

lored to your business.

Focusing on safety culture, risk management, operational systems and processes, the survey pulls together a 360-degree view of the company’s safety.

From this, the business is assigned a ‘Traction Gear’, on a low to high risk scale of High Performing, Engaged, Compliant and Reactive.

The relative Gear score gives the business an overview of where they sit against their industry’s average, with a thorough report provided, back up tools, training, and ongoing practical help and support.

While equipment and system changes can have an effect on risk safety manage-

Be supported

ment, NTI Traction aims to make positive people and behavioural improvements, with tailored modules focused on topics such as communication, planning, and leadership skills.

Fennell Forestry is a major plantation timber harvest and transport company located in Mount Gambier, which has grown to a staff of 70 over the past 25 years.

“It was brought to me by NTI, and I was quite interested in anything that looked at things differently, that can rate the business and see how it’s going,” said managing director Wendy Fennell.

“As we were actually going through the program, it was

Get service

Queensland's road freight voice since 1907

of great benefit, it was driving conversation in a different way.

“Fundamentally we have had conversations around the same thing previously, but having them in different ways, it was generating different responses.

“I would highly recommend it, based on the fact that it is unique in the way that it drags out differing conversations on a quite a common part of your business that is constantly talked about.”

The NTI Traction program features several different options, from Swift to Plus, encompassing a broad range of support, feedback, training, and continual assessment.

Stay informed

Managing director Wendy Fennell was impressed with how the Traction program sparked new conversations around familiar subjects.

Employ right

07 3394 4388 | www.qta.com.au

We acknowledge all those in the trucking industry who have served our country 11.11.20

24 SAFETY FEATURE

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

National Road Safety Week feature proudly supported by NTI - Australia’s Specialist Insurer, November 15-22

Fatigue campaign with Big Rigs gives drivers a voice Acting Chief Executive Officer Australian Trucking Association Bill McKinley

EVERY day, thousands of truck drivers are on our roads and highways, sharing the road with car drivers, motorcyclists, pedestrians and cyclists to deliver essential goods and services to communities around Australia.

The National Road Safety Week theme is to ‘drive so others survive’, however it is important that Australia’s truck drivers have the proper foundations and legislation in place to ensure this can be achieved.

We are now in the midst

of the Heavy Vehicle National Law review – an opportunity to rewrite the national truck laws and create legislation that will support truck drivers and reduce red tape burdens associated with fatigue management.

Throughout the review process, the Australian Trucking Association has worked closely with our members and the wider industry to provide real-life experience and knowledge for input in our submissions to the review and its Regulatory Impact Statement.

To ensure the views of Australia’s truck drivers were heard loud and clear in the review, together with Big Rigs we launched the ‘Voice of the Driver’ campaign, an opportunity for drivers to share their views on the proposed fatigue laws in an easily-accessible way,

through our online survey and a series of social media polls.

The campaign reached more than 46,000 people and received more than 430 survey responses.

We know the current system does not work. It’s complex, confusing and inflexible.

We’ve listened to the views of Australia’s truck drivers who have told us they need more flexible fatigue management, simplified rules and record-keeping, and a reduction in the penalties for work and rest hour record-keeping offences.

Practically, improved and more frequent rest areas along our roads and highways would ensure that drivers have spaces to take proper breaks and manage their fatigue effectively.

Legislatively, changes to fa-

tigue management laws must treat drivers like humans, not machines. Fatigue should not treat drivers with a ‘once-sizefits-all’ approach.

Simplified and flexible fatigue laws would deliver a host of road safety improvements.

Our roads would be safer because drivers would not be oppressed. They could rest when they’re tired and have less risk of record-keeping offences or fines for trivial paperwork errors. The fines for minor mistakes that do not affect safety must also be dramatically lower.

A new approach to fatigue would also increase community safety and improve driver health, reduce compliance burdens and enable businesses and drivers to manage fatigue in a way that is suitable to their individual needs.

Improved and more frequent rest areas along our roads and highways would ensure that drivers have spaces to take proper breaks and manage their fatigue effectively.

Our submissions to the HVNL review have been developed in collaboration with our members and truck drivers who are dealing with these laws on a daily basis. Through our committee meetings, Voice of the Driver campaign and consultation process, we have had access to a wealth of knowledge

and expertise that has proven to be invaluable in the review process.

This review will impact industry for years to come and it’s important we get it right.

Not only to improve safety outcomes for truck drivers and industry members, but everyone in the community.

How to build a stronger safety culture with your team Customer Culture and Transformation Manager, NTI Kelly McLuckie

AS Australia’s economy tries to adjust to a new normal after the emergence of Covid19, businesses are facing many new challenges.

Our clients have seen that these changes have had both positive and negative impacts on the Transport industry’s safety culture.

With no expectation that things will go back to the way they were, managing change and protecting your team will be continue to be critical to

business success in coming months.

Below are some tips on how can leaders and managers take the good from this disruption to strengthen and build a stronger safety culture with their wider team.

Firstly, what is a strong safety culture?

If you think of safety culture as “what we do around here”, a strong safety culture is one which; • Teams take ownership and respectfully hold each other accountable • Clear policies and procedures are communicated, adhered to and regularly reviewed • Incidents and near misses are openly reported, discussed and learning implemented and shared • WHS is taken seriously, and prioritised

This doesn’t always mean the most extensively documented policies/practices; which can sometimes be counter to a productive safe culture (creating confusion and a focus on writing down instead of doing). Rather safety culture is observable attitudes, beliefs and behaviour, supported by clear documented policies/practice; which are also found to consistently deliver stable productive teams and business results (better work = safer work) Many businesses spend thousands on implementing processes, safety systems and technology – but with safety culture key to their success, isn’t it worth spending a bit more time and effort to check with your team that they’re working and that you are getting the desired business result.

Part of the NTI safety leadership and culture programme NTI Traction involves measuring the views of teams.

Through these insights one of the most frequent opportunities to improve is by getting consistency between leaders and their teams, or different depots or roles in the business.

Safety culture, where not led from the top, tends to emerge in different ways in different teams or groups.

Can Safety Culture affect, or be affected by change?

A strong safety culture is based on basic business foundations of leadership, communication and team work and these value will help any business going through change.

In recent times, we have seen more leaders actively keeping across changes, whether they are externally or internally

driven, and communicating with teams.

Getting staff engaged has always been key to making sure change is adopted successfully, and the biggest influence on that hands down is leaders.

Where it hasn’t gone well, the most common examples of resistance in Transport come when; • Staff or leaders don’t understand why a change is happening, or what it means to them; • We don’t give enough training or support to help people learn and become confident; or • The change isn’t led by the top with good role models, and everyone walking the talk So how can you maintain a great Safety Culture over time?

1. Leaders must be role models – nothing destroys

culture faster than a ‘do what I say, not what I do’ approach.

A strong safety culture is consistent and is observed in what everyone does, what they believe and how they act and treat others.

2. Really listen to your team – conversation and listening is time well invested in them and your business. Regular conversations, messages and updates will help keep values and goals aligned, and create a collaborative environment where everyone feels they can make an important contribution.

3 Don’t be afraid of mistakes - A good safety culture isn’t neccesarily one that makes no mistakes. The difference in an openness to admit them, and then to learn and share that learning with others.

4. Be honest – your team will respect you.

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Let’s talk fatigue this National Road Safety Week

FATIGUE affects us all, and is a key safety challenge for heavy vehicle drivers and operators.

Experts tell us that if you’ve had less than five hours of sleep in the last 24 hours, it’s likely that you’re impaired by fatigue.

A lack of sleep can often lead to poor judgement, slower reaction times, errors, and micro-sleeps, and it’s the most common cause of crashes involving a single heavy vehicle.

NHVR CEO Sal Petroccitto welcomed the increased conversation around fatigue with a focus on ensuring that there is collective focus on managing fatigue safety risks, rather than managing hours.

“It’s important we all do our bit when it comes to fatigue; this means as a driver ensuring you’ve had adequate sleep and are fit to drive and as an operator recognising signs of driver fatigue and ensuring drivers have the authority to stop when tired.

“At the NHVR, we are looking at ways we can improve the regulatory framework (includ-

ing encouraging the use of Fatigue and Distraction Detection Technology) to improve fatigue safety outcomes.

“And for National Road Safety Week, we’ll be continuing our focus on fatigue and highlighting solutions for the future.

“You can get involved in what the NHVR is doing by keeping an eye on our social media channels, provide feedback to our team at a roadside information day, or join one of our fatigue webinars.

On Tuesday 17 November the NHVR will provide a Fatigue Choices webinar that will discuss how easy it is to work with the NHVR to access flexible fatigue arrangements. The Fatigue Choices program helps operators decide what flexibility is suitable for them and provides information on how to complete the process to access that flexibility.

Then on Thursday 19 November another webinar will provide insights into what’s next in fatigue management

NHVR CEO Sal Petroccitto welcomes the increased conversation around fatigue.

roccitto.

“We’ll also be asking drivers to share their best tips on how they manage their fatigue and announcing the December focus of our onroad compliance team.

“Let’s talk fatigue and help saves lives this National Road Safety Week.”

Register for the NHVR fatigue webinars: Fatigue Choices: Fatigue flexibility made easy A must for all transport operators and owner drivers When: Tuesday 17 November Register: www.nhvr.gov.au/ fatigue

Experts tell us that if you’ve had less than five hours of sleep in the last 24 hours, it’s likely that you’re impaired by fatigue.

thinking over the next 5-10 years. This future focus will include capability uplift, flexibility, and technology uptake.

It will discuss aligning Fatigue Risk Management into your

Fatigue is a major contributing factor to fatal road crashes.

So, let’s talk fatigue during National Road Safety Week. Keep an eye on our social media for webinars and more. #NowMoreThanEver

visit www.nhvr.gov.au/fatigue

Safety Management System, and will be of special interest to safety professionals, safety consultants and transport operators.

There is no cost to attend either webinar.

“Now more than ever we have new in-cab technologies that can help manage fatigue and we will be showcasing some of these during National Road Safety Week,” said Pet-

What’s next in fatigue management?

A must for safety professionals, safety consultants, and transport operators When: Thursday 19 November Register: www.nhvr.gov. au/fatigue

26 SAFETY FEATURE

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National Road Safety Week feature proudly supported by NTI - Australia’s Specialist Insurer, November 15-22

$2bn for road safety projects SCOTT BUCHHOLZ Assistant Minister for Road Safety and Freight Transport

WE all need to work towards lowering the rate of fatalities and serious injuries on Australian roads, and that’s why this is a core priority for the Government, and why the Budget is funding $2 billion towards road safety initiatives, continuing efforts to reduce road trauma in Australia.

Road safety is everyone’s responsibility, especially in the heavy vehicle and transport sector and the Government is playing our part by investing in road safety projects to get people where they need to be sooner and safer.

We have analysis from the Productivity Commission that the improvements in road in-

frastructure is a major factor in bringing down the rate of heavy vehicle crashes on our roads.

The Productivity Commission showed the rate of heavy vehicle crashes involving injury or death (over billion vehicle kilometers travelled) fell by about 40% between 2009 and 2019. While we have made great progress, there is still more to go, because every year nearly 200 Australians lose their lives in heavy vehicle accidents.

Through this funding we are committing an additional $2 billion over 18 months under a new Road Safety Program to deliver an estimated 3,000 kilometres of lifesaving road improvements and support thousands of jobs right across the country.

The program will deliver works such as new shoulder sealing, rumble strips to alert drivers they are moving out of their lane, median treatments to prevent head-on collisions and barriers to prevent run-

off-road crashes and protect against roadside hazards.

The funding program will be delivered in three, six-month tranches and on a ‘use it or lose it’ basis. Funds that States and Territories do not spend will be re-allocated to those that can, with jurisdictions required to provide road safety data as a key condition of funding.

We are ensuring this road-safety package can roll-out quickly, saving lives and reducing injuries.

Road crashes cost the national economy about $30 billion a year and caused immeasurable suffering for affected families. It is absolutely heartbreaking that every year around 1,200 people die on our roads and tens of thousands more are seriously injured.

One death on our roads is one too many, and we are working closely with our state and territory colleagues to ensure the next National Road Safety Strategy improves outcomes for all Australians.

To ensure our investments

Former truckie-turned pollie Scott Buchholz gets back behind the wheel every chance he gets while out on the road.

are driven by quality data and road safety improvements are accurately monitored and evaluated, we are also investing $5.5 million over four years to establish an Australian-first National Road Safety Data Hub. The Data Hub will create the first nationally available

road safety data collection to assess the effectiveness of road safety efforts by all Australian governments.

This will support our commitment to deliver the new National Road Safety Strategy and put Australia on a path to achieve zero fatalities and seri-

ous injuries by 2050.

These additional investments build on the $500 million the Federal Government is already spending on Targeted Road Safety Works, boosting jobs and the economy while delivering life-saving upgrades in every single state and territory.

Truckies should prepare now for La Niña warns expert THE weather predictions are La Niña is on the way. So, what does that mean for those of you who are in the transport, logistics or construction industries?

Well-known Australian weather presenter Mike Larkan said La Niña means extreme weather events and the time to prepare is now.

“We’ve come out of El Nino, which has seen drought for years. What we’re heading into is the opposite.”

Larkan said it’s been almost a decade since Australia experienced its last La Niña.

“It affects all Australians, but we know it has an enormous and direct impact on those in the transport and logistics industries, who we rely on so heavily to keep this country moving,” he said.

The advice is to plan and prepare your operations, ser-

vice model and people ahead of time and to do that, he said, you need to understand the conditions and weather extremes the experts are predicting.

La Niña is a weather phenomenon that blows warmer water across the Pacific Ocean to Australia. Current weather reports indicate La Niña is underway and expected to last throughout the 2020/2021 summer.

The result is an overall increase in rainfall of up to 20 per cent, an earlier start to the monsoon season across northern Australia and a greater risk of flooding across the country.

For those in Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, La Niña also means increased cyclone activity so be prepared to batten down the hatches.

“Queensland on average re-

Weather expert Mike Larkan said history shows no two La Niña’s are the same.

cords four cyclones a year, the north west of the country up to seven and the warning with La Niña is we could see even more,” Mr Larkan said.

When it comes to south-eastern Australia, a La Niña typically brings more rainfall during

spring and at the start of summer.

While for the other side of the country, more extreme weather isn’t likely to hit until later in the season.

“During La Niña we typically see increased activity later

in the season, when tropical cyclones may drive down from the north-west, bringing large amounts of rain to the southern parts of south-western Australia.”

Cyclone season officially begins on November 1 and ends on April 30.

Larkan warns now is the time to be ready, to have your procedures and plans in place.

“From the time a cyclone starts to form out to sea, you’ll usually have just three to five days to plan and activate your emergency response,” he said.

Floodwaters can rise fast and stay high for days, sometimes weeks in outback Australia.

“The last time a major La Niña system impacted Australia was from 2010 to 2012.”

Larkan said the 2010 to 2011 La Niña system was the

fourth strongest ever observed.

“It delivered some of the worst flooding in history and some of the biggest cyclones our country has experienced.”

But Larkan said history shows no two La Niña’s are the same.

He said as well as increased rainfall and potentially very destructive cyclones, periods of La Niña also recorded cooler average daytime temperatures and warmer nights.

It comes as most of the country’s transport, logistics and construction industries have already been impacted by drought, some by bushfires and almost all by COVID. Specialist insurer NTI is echoing Larkan’s calls urging owners and operators of vehicles, vessels, and equipment to assess their plans and procedures before summer.

Free Online Course for truck drivers

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A sustainable approach to transport health and safety compliance.

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Ph 0430 503 580 | Email auditor@transporthealthandsafety.com.au (NHVR Auditor 206 Exemplar Global 207491)

As part of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s (NHVR) 2019 Heavy Vehicle Safety initiative, Shift Training P/L is please to present our “4 points of contact” online education and study program.

The program covers all the elements, such as: fatigue management, CoR, vehicle inspections, load restraint and more.

For more information see our website

www.shifttraining.com.au

Book Now

(07) 3133 0552

53 SAFETY FEATURE FEATURE 27

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National Road Safety Week feature proudly supported by NTI - Australia’s Specialist Insurer, November 15-22

Campaign aims to reduce bridge strikes

A new Queensland Rail safety campaign is reminding motorists that size matters when driving over-height vehicles near rail bridges.

The Size Matters campaign is aimed at preventing vehicle collisions with low clearance rail bridges by educating motorists about the importance of knowing the height of their

vehicle and load, before any journey.

In the past financial year, 68 incidents of vehicles colliding with rail bridges were recorded in South East Queensland (SEQ) causing unnecessary and frustrating delays for road users and rail customers. A total of 419 trains were delayed.

Apart from the risk to lives, fines of up to $10,676 can apply for damaging rail infrastructure and ignoring low clearance signage.

On average, each rail bridge collision led to delays of approximately two hours across the network. The largest impacting incident occurred in September 2019 at the Muriel Avenue rail bridge in Rocklea.

This serious incident caused 32 train delays across the network for nearly seven hours.

Collisions with low clearance rail bridges are not only hazardous to the driver of the vehicle, their passengers and The largest impacting incident occurred in September 2019 at the Muriel Avenue rail bridge in Rocklea. other road users, but they can to reduce the likelihood of col- new protection beam, fitted assess the situation sooner. also endanger Queensland Rail lisions with low clearance rail with movement sensors and Now, Queensland Rail has customers and employees if rail bridges and improve the re- monitored by CCTV cameras, launched the Size Matters caminfrastructure is damaged as a sponse time to incidents across is designed to prevent over- paign to encourage motorists to grandson Cooper and Steven.

Picture: Contributed result of a collision. the network by investing in Craig heightwithvehicles from coming do their part to prevent future Apart from the risk to lives, multimillion-dollar programs. into contact with the bridge rail bridge collisions from ocfines of up to $10,676 can apThe latest is the installation itself. curring.

TWO-UP FORofLIFE: Craig15-tonne and ply for damaging rail infrastruca new protection I WANTED Along with the installaa look out TO GO BACK AND DO ITKeep [TWO-UP] IN for the Size Sonja pictured at the ture and ignoring low clearance beam at reunion Muriel Avenue, Rock- tion of protection beams, Matters bridge strike camOFRail STEVEN SOrolled I WOULDN’T Sonja organises signage. Businesses arethat further lea. Thewith protection beam will MEMORY Queensland has also paign FORGET appearingHIM.” on roadside former bolster colleagues fromat this location out the Structural Monitoring impacted with the cost their of insursafety billboards, social media, radio Refrigeratedand Roadways. ance and the loss of potential minimise delays to rail cus- and Alert System. This system advertisements, Spotify, and in income when a vehicle is taken tomers travelling on the Gold notifies response crews of a col- popular industry publications.

CRAIG BRUMPTON off the road.

Coast and Beenleigh lines. lision with a rail bridge within For more information visit To help combat this issue, Located approximately 44 one minute of the incident – QueenslandRail.com.au/SizeMQueensland Rail has worked metres east of the bridge, the allowing bridge inspectors to atters.

SIZE MATTERS KNOW YOUR TRUCKING HEIGHT V1 - IBRE01Z01MA

Don’t want to appear in an ad like this?

Know your vehicle and load height.

Plan your route ahead of time.

Visit QueenslandRail.com.au/SizeMatters

28 SAFETY FEATURE

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National Road Safety Week feature proudly supported by NTI - Australia’s Specialist Insurer, November 15-22

Have a plan before it goes sideways Truckies are invariably the first on the scene of an accident or incident on the road, and it pays to be prepared, writes veteran driver Mike Williams.

Dangerous Goods vehicles will have a procedure guide and information in the emergency pocket attached to the driver’s door.

AFTER any accident or incident the very first thing to do is ensure everyone’s safety.

Before an accident or incident though, the best thing to do is have a think about the variety of potential emergency situations you may face on the road and plan what your responses will be.

It’s too late to start thinking about what to do when it’s gone side-ways and the pressure is on.

Not all emergencies on the road involve an accident. You may have time to respond to what’s happening and take action to reduce the problem and the risk.

You may just as easily be in a situation where your choices are very limited. Much better to have a plan that’s been thought through calmly. Just grab the list and follow the instructions.

Clearly the responses required for all the potential emergencies you may face could fill a good-sized volume and just add to the stress. Drivers operating in the dangerous goods space always have a procedure guide in the driver’s door pocket.

This is the style of document all drivers should aim to have in their hand when they need it. If

this happens, do that. Simple.

One of the first things you’ll want to do is get help. There are a couple of apps to consider having on your phone that are extremely useful. The first is the emergency plus app. This app tells you where you are and helps direct emergency services straight to you. It has contact details for State Emergency Services and Police in each state.

The next is the St John Ambulance first aid app. Open the app and you discover a list of problems, match the problem with what you see in front of you, click on that and follow the instructions.

Next is an ICE list. This comes into play if you’re injured or unable to answer questions and it’s as unique as you are. Things on my “In Case of Emergency” list include the contact details for my next of kin and another person that knows me well just in case (remember it is a good idea to let that person know they’re on your list) I also have a brief medical history and doctors contact details.

I keep one list on a sheet in

There are a couple of apps to consider having on your phone that are extremely useful.

my logbook cover and another in my wallet.

Probably the most likely incident to be involved in on the road is a motor vehicle accident of some kind. If you’re involved in an accident you MUST stop immediately and assist anyone else involved if you’re able to. If anyone is injured dial 000 immediately and follow the operator’s instructions.

Do what you can to make the scene safe without exposing yourself or others to further risk. Switch off the ignitions of vehicles to reduce the risk of fire. Switch on hazard warning lights. Put out warning triangles.

If any vehicle has dangerous goods or if any involved vehicle is LPG fuelled, call 000 immediately. Dangerous Goods

vehicles have visible diamond shaped tags and placards on them.

These provide information for emergency services about how to deal with the load in the event of a spill or fire etc. once again, do what you can to reduce risk but don’t expose yourself or others to danger doing so.

Get in a position up wind from any spill, avoid any fumes or spilled product.

The police will attend and investigate accidents when a person is killed or injured, there is damage to property or animals, a person fails to stop, or exchange information, or the driver is believed to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

If police don’t attend you

Mike Williams said there are many consultants who are well qualified to help with the development of safety procedures.

must report the accident as soon as possible (within 24 hours unless in exceptional circumstances) if any vehicle needs to be towed away, there is damage to property or injured animals or you’re unable to provide particulars to the owner.

You must provide police with details of an accident, vehicles involved, your name, address and, if known, information about any witnesses or drivers of other vehicles involved. You must also present your driver licence to police on request.

Regardless of damage, if asked, you must provide the owner or driver of any other vehicle involved in an accident with your name, address, licence and insurance details, vehicle registration number and, If you are not the owner, the name and address of the vehicle owner.

There are a number of pre-existing emergency procedures out there in the public domain. There’s no point re-inventing the wheel. Have a search on the internet. It’s amazing what you can find. Search AS 1678.0.0.001 that’s a great place to start. It’s the Australian Standard EMERGENCY PROCEDURE GUIDE for vehicle fires.

That’s a double-sided sheet.

Print it out, slip it into a plastic cover or laminate it and slide it into your driver’s door pocket.

If you’ve had a look around and can’t find something that considers your particular need then make your own.

Every plan or procedure

needs to consider: 1. Identification of the hazard and risk assessment.

2. Resources that may be needed to be called in or immediately available.

3. Communication systems, telephone contacts, dedicated radio channels etc.

4. Who is responsible for enacting the plan.

5. Action required to deal with the hazard.

6. Communication with emergency services and interested others.

7. Debriefing and review.

There are many consultants who are well qualified to help with the development of procedures. The EPA and government departments have information at their disposal and are generally very happy to assist as well.

Finally save this phone number in your phone. 1800 684 669 grab your phone and do it right now! That’s the NTI accident assist number. It’s available 24/7. They can direct emergency services to you and help you out on the road.

I have used Australian Standards, RMS website and many other public domain resources to produce this article.

I invite anyone to contact me via my social media @theoztrucker on twitter, On The Road Podcast on Facebook or go to www. ontheroadpodcast.com.au to leave a comment, email me directly mike@ontheroadpodcast.com.au or call me on 0450314398

Not all emergencies on the road involve an accident. You may have time to respond to what’s happening and take action.

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Three key breakdown tips every driver should know

WHEN it comes to heavy vehicle breakdowns, the most important thing is to keep you or your drivers safe.

Whether your truck is broken down in a metro area, freeway or rural road, they all bring their unique challenges to the breakdown scene, but it’s important to remember some key procedures.

We caught up with Paul Burke, Manager – Business Relationships and Operations at Truck Assist, to discuss what you should know.

“There are three key breakdown tips every driver should know,” says Paul.

“Firstly, put your hazard lights on. It’s the most immediate way to let others know you’re in trouble or that your vehicle has become a hazard for other road users.

“Hazard lights will alert other road users that there is a potential problem that they need to be aware of.”

Paul’s second point is to

pull onto the shoulder of the road, in the direction of the traffic, to avoid becoming a hazard.

“Do this as far to the left as possible to avoid oncoming traffic when exiting and accessing the vehicle,” Paul says. “Depending on traffic it may be necessary to exit the vehicle using the passenger door to avoid passing traffic.”

Finally, any vehicle or combination with a GVM greater than 12 tonne must, by law, be equipped with a least three portable warning triangles.

“It’s widely accepted as best practice for all trucks over 4.5 GVM to utilise safety triangles as well,” says Paul.

“The warning triangles must be used in situations where the vehicle has stopped, has broken down or the load has fallen onto the road.

“A rule of thumb is to place the triangles twice the

Triangles should be placed 120 metres ahead and behind of your vehicle on roads that have a 60km/h speed limit.

posted speed limit in metres in front and behind the truck, in addition to one triangle placed beside the vehicle.

“For example, triangles

Be seen

Sharing the road

should be placed 120 metres ahead and behind of your vehicle on roads that are 60km/h.

“Remember – if you’re involved in a breakdown,

think about your own safety and never exit the vehicle or take an action that could put you in danger – especially if you’re on a busy highway.”

Truck Assist: Powered by

NTI is Australia’s leading provider of specialist breakdown assistance for trucks with a national network of over 4000 service providers. To find out more, visit truckassist.com.au.

We want everyone to get home safely, which is why we’re partnering with the QTA this National Road Safety week to promote motorist awareness of truck blind spots.

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We must all play our part to improve driver safety

THE National Road Freighters Association (NRFA) recognises that road safety has many facets and affects all on the road, not just truck drivers. Many of our efforts and policies are directed to and or include, aspects of road safety and with Road Safety week upon us now, it is timely to reiterate some of the things we think require further focus and work, to achieve improvements for all.

The list is long, and others may well agree and or raise different issues, but we as truckies, long or short haul, intrastate, interstate or local live and work on the road. It is our workplace and we not only have to deal with the issues we raise here, we have to do our part to see them improved.

1. We support the idea of a national road standard.

That roads must be built and maintained to a standard that provides safety for those who use them. We have a large country and a small population, so we do understand we may not have all perfect roads, but they must suit the task. Have you ever rung a road authority to inform them of a problem?

The networks in some states are enormous, so they can’t know of every pothole or failure and it is up to us to report these issues to see them repaired and safety returned.

A list for each state will be at the bottom.

2. Truck rest areas are insufficient and do not have the shade, separation and toilets needed for us to manage our fatigue. We support a National Rest Area Strategy to stop the loss of informal sites in so many different jurisdictions and the fight to

The NRFA supports a national strategy to stop the loss of informal rest area sites in many jurisdictions.

get more and better truck rest areas should not have to be taken up in every district and state.

3. Driver education, that of car drivers about sharing the road with trucks has been completely overlooked in schools, driver training and testing. The statistics

Roads must be built and maintained to a standard that provides safety for those who use them.

which show fatal crashes between cars and trucks are more than 80% the fault of the car driver, must indicate either a lack of awareness or understanding of sharing the road with larger trucks, yet nothing has been done to address this.

4. We recognise the law

and its intents, but many of the laws under which we operate are made and also policed, by those who do not have to live by them. We seek fair and just rules and hope the authorities will listen to the submissions to the current Heavy Vehicle National Law review and the Senate Inquiry into road transport.

5. In some ways, fatigue management and mental health are related. With our job and the long hours and often long distances away from friends and family, we have to be able to manage both, all the time. Getting good quality sleep and rest, having access to friends and family, perhaps even if only on the phone at times, can be just as important as your dietary intake and work/life balance. Each of these will have an effect on how you manage the other parts. Do you have someone you can talk to even if you just need to say G’day to someone to retain your sanity, or can you pick up on a mate that needs the same?

You can’t simply, Be Safe, there are so many other factors that will impact on your ability to stay safe, there are other drivers, road condi-

tions, mechanical factors, weather, health and fatigue.

Many of these are outside of your control, but you must accept your part, do what you can for your own safety and that of the others you share the road with and hopefully you will achieve what we all want, to get home safely to your family after each and every trip. Do you do your part now? Can you do more? Safety does not just happen, we must all work at it and it is your life and that of others that will be affected if no one thinks about making the effort towards safety on the road.

If you want to raise an issue about road safety, you can ring: Queensland 131940; New South Wales 131700, Victoria 131170; South Australia 1800018313; Western Australia 138138; Northern Territory 1800 246199; Australian Capital Territory 132281 Or you can consider joining National Road Freighters Association, the more voices calling for change together, the louder the call. Contact us on email: contact@nrfa. com.au or www.nrfa.com.au Safe Travelling to all.

“Truckies working for Truckies”

JOIN THE NRFA

Join now and become a member Significant benefits for members

A grass roots association making a difference for Australian transport drivers and operators

www.nrfa.com.au President: 0407 494 582

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National Road Safety Week feature proudly supported by NTI - Australia’s Specialist Insurer, November 15-22

Make the pledge to be safe National Road Safety Week 15 - 22 November 2020 Drive so others survive

WA Labor Senator GLENN STERLE Shadow Assistant Minister for Road Safety

DID you know that traffic injury is the biggest killer of Australian children under 15 and the second-biggest killer of all Australians aged between 15 and 24?

Every year, approximately 1200 people are killed and another 44,000 are seriously injured on Australian roads.

These numbers are staggering and sadly, they continue to grow each year. But we all have a part to play when it comes to road safety, and National Road Safety Week is a time where we should all commit to being more aware and safer on the roads and drive so others survive!

National Road Safety Week is an initiative of Peter Frazer and the Safer Australian Roads and Highways (SARAH) Group. The goal of the week is to raise awareness of road trauma and promote ways to reduce it. Members of the community are encouraged to go online and look at the different safety themes and objectives of the week as well as sign a pledge to commit to being safe on the roads, like I have done.

You can make the pledge here: https://roadsafetyweek.com. au/ One of themes for this year’s National Road Safety Week is ‘Arrive home safe for your loved ones - the greatest gift you can

give your loved ones is to arrive home safe.’

As a former long distance truck driver, as the son of a former long distance truck driver, as a father of a long distance truck driver and as a mate of many truck drivers, I can tell you - arriving home safe to our families after being away from them for days and weeks on end while on the job is all we think about.

AS A FORMER LONG DISTANCE TRUCK DRIVER, AS THE SON OF A FORMER LONG DISTANCE TRUCK DRIVER, AS A FATHER OF A LONG DISTANCE TRUCK DRIVER AND AS A MATE OF MANY TRUCK DRIVERS, I CAN TELL YOU - ARRIVING HOME SAFE TO OUR FAMILIES AFTER BEING AWAY FROM THEM FOR DAYS AND WEEKS ON END WHILE ON THE JOB IS ALL WE THINK ABOUT. GLENN STERLE

For those who work in the road transport industry, road safety is and has to be front of mind at every stop. And we have many champions across the industry, including people from transport associations, unions and from academia, ensuring that policy makers and politicians don’t forget that.

As the Shadow Assistant Minister for Road Safety, I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with the most com-

mitted advocates who never tire in their resolve to improve road safety for all. Professor Jeremy Wooley, Dr John Crozier, Dr Anthony Joseph, Lauchlan Macintosh, Claire Howe, Rob McInerny, Michael Bradley and Peter Frazer come to mind.

And their important work helps guide policy makers and politicians when it comes to drafting important documents such as the National Road Safety Strategy. A new National Road Safety Strategy for the decade 2021-2030 is currently being developed and is expected to be finalised and approved in early 2021. I look forward to reviewing this document once it is available.

I am continuing on with my Senate Inquiry which is looking at ways to improve the viability, sustainability, efficiency and most importantly, the safety of the road transport industry.

COVID restrictions meant that I had to suspend the public hearing schedule that had been put together for this year however I look forward to resuming those hearings across the country in person as travel permits.

I am still taking submissions so if you would like to have your say on how you think the road transport industry can and should be improved, please get in touch with my office.

With not being able to travel interstate, I have had a lot more time to spend in my own back yard which has been great as I’ve had the time to meet with many operators and associations in WA who I either haven’t met before or who I haven’t been in contact with for a while.

It was great recently to sit down with David Fyfe from

Senator Sterle met up with heavy haulage legend Ricky ‘The Bear’ Clark during his recent Pilbara visit.

the WA branch of the Livestock and Rural Transporters Association and Cam Dumesny and Craig Smith-Gander from the Western Roads Federation to discuss ways to attract more drivers to the industry.

In August, I had the absolute pleasure of joining Heather Jones from Pilbara Heavy Haulage Girls in her pink Mack for a tour of regional rest areas and truck stops in

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the Pilbara. This followed a similar tour I went on with Tim Dawson, secretary of the WA Branch of the Transport Workers Union in July where we visited rest areas in regional WA, including in Newman.

Now I am very pleased that the McGowan Government is actively working with the WA Branch of the TWU to look at the condition of rest areas in WA but the Federal Govern-

ment has a role to play here and I look forward to continuing to advocate for a stronger Federal focus on supporting adequate and fit for purpose rest and assembly areas across the country for our truck drivers.

This National Road Safety Week, I’d like to wish all your readers a safe trip wherever they are off to and remind them to drive so others can survive!

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OPERATOR PROFILE 33

BIGRIGS.COM.AU FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020

The past meets the present

BY DAVID MEREDITH

“SET on a high bank overlooking the fertile flats of the Murray River, Old Blythewood stands as a testament to the industry, ingenuity and flexibility of the pioneering McLarty family,” reads the National Trust website.

Nick McLarty is the sixth generation (150 years) since the original tenant farmers John and Mary Anne McLarty – and he isn’t all that fussed about the build-up. He has a 4500 acre farm to run, complete with sheep, cattle, crops, hobbies, camp drafting (sheep dog trials, but for horses) and kids.

The family operates a group of farms in the area and I caught up with Nick and his new UD Quon 26-390 in the shearing yard alongside the original heritage homestead. I’d managed to pick the lunch break in a busy shearing schedule, and Nick spoke to me about the new truck while sheep milled around us, nervously herding under the beady eye of the ever-watchful Jack, Nick’s fourlegged musterer.

The new UD ($140,000 for the cab chassis) replaced an Iveco that had reached its

The 4500 acre farm is home to sheep, cattle and crops.

use-by date and works a heavy schedule of mixed operations.

To match the history of the locality, the Quon carries 60year old custom built stock

The UD Quon 26-390 is put through its paces, hauling bins, stock crates and more.

crates, heritage items in themselves. A body stand allows the Quon to swap crates for bins and various other bodies easily, and when the truck isn’t earning its living, the family uses it to take the horses to camp drafting events across the state. In WA of course,

that means big distances, so the UD’s driver features are much appreciated.

UD is now owned by Isuzu of course, and so the latest Quon, already a potpourri of engineering nationalities and technologies, is a long way from the original UDs that

established a solid reputation for absolute reliability. Added to that heritage is the wizardry from engineers across the globe. The beneficiaries are the operators.

Outside of farm work Nick also drives other brand prime movers, so he is already

The new Quon features a suite of electronics.

familiar with Volvo technology. So when the Quon arrived bristling with a suite of electronics from Sweden, it wasn’t a big learning experience for him. The UD cab and badge cover a Volvo driveline underneath, and the 390hp 1750Nm 11-litre engine is more than capable of handling the range of tasks as a rigid or rigid and dog.

Most new trucks are sold with AMT or auto transmissions now, and Blythewood’s UD is no exception. The ESCOT-VI 12-speed AMT includes global technology that has a clear focus on fuel efficiency, which Nick tracks closely with Dynafleet Telematics.

Few operators would argue that the UD Quon cab layout leads the pack in cabover heavy-duty trucks from Asia and is better than most from Europe. The seating is well suspended and supportive, and the wrap-around dash brings every control within easy reach. The system is programmed to highlight exceptions to the norm, rather than a constant stream of running data, so there are relatively few gauges to keep a weary eye on.

The 700 breeders and 1500 steers keep Nick, his father and uncle busy enough to need equipment that works flat out and on demand. In addition the farm runs around 300 ewes and at present the family grows all its own fodder.

Part of the decision to buy the UD was the weight margin the long wheelbase 6x4 offered. The previous truck, only a 4x2, was frequently at its limits, particularly with stock crates that weren’t initially built with tare weight in mind. So far so good – 18-tonnes on the dog and 23 on the truck comfortably handles a load of 32 steers.

Next time you decide to visit WA’s South-West, Blythewood may well be a spot to visit to take a stroll into the past. After touring the homestead and tasting history, sneak a glance over the fence.

You’ll see a decidedly modern truck, UD’s Quon, getting on with the present.

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FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

John Wilson sent this pic of this uncle’s truck loaded with drill gear and bound for Dampier, WA.

Leigh Thornton shared this great shot, with the Melbourne skyline as a backdrop.

Share your truck pics THE trucking game is as diverse as the terrain on which our truckies travel.

If there’s one thing we know many of you love, it’s a good looking rig – and sometimes life on the open road brings some golden photo opportunities.

The Big Rigs #PicOfTheDay competition is a chance

to share your best snaps through our Facebook page (@BigRigs). We’ll choose a weekly winning shot to feature as our Facebook cover photo and a selection of the best pics will be featured in the next edition of Big Rigs Newspaper.

So get snapping and keep those great pics coming!

Brad Dykes’ wife got a shot of his perfectly polished Mack while parked in a paddock in Nhill, Victoria.

A mighty load for Big HIll Cranes & Heavy Haulage, as they transport wind farm equipment.

Thomas Armstrong loads wheat between Collarenebri and Lightning Ridge, NSW.

A bright street light lit up this shot in Miles, Queensland. It was sent in by Cameron Gaskell.

To market we go - Ann-Marie Hicks sent in this pic, taken at Adelaide Plains.

Joey Blow shared this pic of a BHC Heavy Haulage truck transporting bridge beams into Echuca, Victoria.

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Josh Murray took this photo just south of Innamincka, SA, carrying three camp skids for a mobile camp.

Aaron Sonter snapped this great pic at the Mundoonan rest area in NSW.

Gilberts Transport Services driver Jakob Batchelor on the Stuart Highway, just north of Erldunda.

Trace N Mick got this cracking shot as the sun set during harvest in Goondiwindi, Queensland.

Brad Cheney and these Kenworths stop to smell the roses, or should we say bottlebrushes.

Brad Morrison fuels up for his weekly trip to Adelaide.

Kyle Koina makes a cross-country dash from Queensland to Port Hedland, WA.

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36 SPY ON THE ROAD

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

Outback oasis for truckies

All the hottest gossip from the roadhouses and truckies travelling the busy roads of Australia.

SPY ON THE ROAD WITH ALF WILSON

Popular roadhouse in middle of nowhere OWNER driver Kym Starkey and his partner Jo Lindsay who used to drive dump trucks run the Little Topar Roadhouse in NSW, 80km east of Broken Hill for the past 22 months.

They took over when legendary husband and wife team, Colin and Barb Harvey, retired in 2018 after nearly 30 years of running the show.

The Little Topar Roadhouse is located on the Barrier Highway in western NSW and is between Broken Hill and Wilcannia and has become very popular with truckies.

One of the questions I ask the numerous drivers I have yarned to for Big Rigs over several years is “what is their favourite roadhouse”.

Many have nominated the Little Topar for various reasons such as friendly service, good meals at value prices and plenty of parking.

So, I phoned the Little Topar Roadhouse and spoke to Jo about what the attraction is for truckies.

“We try and make it such a homely place for them to stop and with Kym and myself having both been drivers we know what they want and expect,” Jo said.

Little Topar Roadhouse is a popular stop for truckies.

hours and numerous regulars take advantage of the service.

Kym Starkey and partner Jo Lindsay outside their Little Topar Roadhouse.

Jo said the roadhouse was in the “middle of nowhere” and that every day numerous trucks pulled up there.

The night before 10 stock trucks, flat tops and other heavy vehicles had parked outside Little Topar.

“We sell 50,000 litres of diesel here weekly and Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are generally our busiest days.

The trucks which pull up are from WA, SA, Queensland, NSW and even the Northern Territory,” Jo said.

Kym whose company is named KJ Starkey Transport has been an owner-operator for eight years and drives a Kenworth 909 which was purchased in 2010 in memory of Jo’s late dad Pat.

Jo Lindsay in the bucket of a giant dump truck she drove at a mine.

Women driver numbers AN off the cuff answer by a truckie to a simple question from Spy had me pondering

The back of the Kenworth in memory of Jo Lindsay’s dad Pat.

“Dad was from Wanaaring west of Bourke and he was a truck driver years ago and passed away in 2009,” Jo said.

Jo who drove a dump truck at a mine also worked in shearing sheds where she learnt to cook a variety of culinary delights.

Jo said all the meals were home cooked, so I asked which ones were ordered the most by truckies.

“They like the rissoles I make with vegies and schnitzels with salad and chips.

During winter months we also have a roast on Sunday which they like. It is too hot to have it during summer,” she said.

Speaking of the weather, it had just started raining as I spoke to Jo. “We get Big Rigs paper dropped off here and the truckies like it,” she said.

Recently Jo got a call from the John Laws Radio Show which broadcasts around Australia on weekday mornings.

“Somebody phoned them up and it was good talking to John Laws,” she said.

Another service much appreciated by truckies is that they can ring though an order to pick up when they arrive.

Even if it is beyond the 6.30am to 10pm opening

whether the number of female drivers around Australia has increased or declined in

recent times.

“In the past decade I would have seen no more than 20 women driving heavy vehicles,” he said.

That reply had Spy attempting to enter my memory banks to recall how many I have seen.

In two decades it wouldn’t be that many and I reckon the number has definitely decreased in the past five years.

Ten years ago it was not uncommon to come across a member of members of the fairer sex driving a heavy vehicle and helping to keep Australia supplied.

But these days such a sighting is rare.

Despite this many owner-operators will tell you that their wife or partner is vital to the running of the business.

They do the bookwork and accounts and mind the kids whilst dad is working often far away from home.

Of course there are female drivers behind the wheels of light rigs delivering food and

supplies in towns.

But even these seem to be in decline.

I asked a respected female driver whom I have interviewed several times what was her opinion on the matter to which she replied.

“I would agree with that comment, but in saying that, I am in a group on Facebook with a lot of female truckies.

There are also a lot of women who are looking at getting into the transport industry. It may not seem like there are many of us out there, but there is quite a lot of us,” she said.

Tasmanian cattle trucks REPORTS coming to Spy from Tasmania indicate that cattle trucks are moving again in big numbers.

But where to is a question being asked by some road transport veterans.

One long time small fleet owner told me that a big percentage of cattle are being transported on trucks across (continued on page 38.)

A truck loads cattle at Stanley wharf Tasmania after they arrived from King Island.

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38 SPY ON THE ROAD (continued from page 36.)

Bass Strait on boats to Victoria.

“There is lots of stock going over to Victoria where a better price is available,” he told Spy. So I asked one of my best contacts in the Apple Isle for his take on the subject.

“Stock carriers have had changes in recent times with the closing of the Devonport sale yards and all stock is supposed to go to Powranna. A lot of controversy has been floating about the huge cost to transport an extra 120km,” he said.

Our man said the abattoirs in Tas are: TQM (Tas quality meats); JBS (Swift) at Longford, Greenham in Smithton; a small operation in Cygnet; another small operation near Burnie.

He suggested there was a possible explanation.

“It has been dry on mainland states and they may be buying where stock is available, so if there is limited stock in mainland states and Tasmania has available stock then they have to ship them back to mainland for slaughter. There has always been a reasonable amount shipped to mainland from Tasmania.

Question is has that increased above what is considered normal for past years. Another reason which is very likely, some mainland farmers sold stock due to drought and when the rain came they have to re stock and Tasmania is a good place for them to purchase from,” he said.

A well-respected small fleet owner based at Smithton in north west Tassie told Spy that cattle numbers shipped into Stanley Port have been down in in recent months.

“I am unsure what is coming into Devonport but numbers from King Island that come into Stanley for Greenham Meatworks have dropped,” he said.

But on a very positive side, he said his company had

moved approximately 7000 head of dry dairy cows.

“These are to run off blocks and then returned when getting close to calving which gives us a busy winter of about 14,000 head around the Circular Head area,” he said.

Accident victim receives well-wishes TRUCKIES and road transport industry workers are mostly very caring people when it comes to colleagues who have had serious accidents.

That has been evident in the case of 36-year-old Victorian driver Michael Garner who in April had an accident near Swan Hill whilst driving a ute which has resulted in him becoming a quadriplegic.

Since then Michael has been in a Melbourne hospital and his father Russell told Spy the family had been swamped with phone calls from well-wishers.

“These calls have come from other drivers, people from places he delivered to and others who had heard about the accident,” said Russell who is a 61-year-old owner-operator with more than four decades behind him on the highways and byways.

Russell said that most of the time Michael had been in hospital, he could not receive visitors due to Coronavirus restrictions.

“There has been three periods of more than a month when no one could visit him.

We were only allowed in on October 6 after the latest lock out,” Russell said.

Russell has to travel 300km from Swan Hill to visit Michael and said they can’t wait for him to return home.

“We have a new place for him with disabled facilities and he will need help from nine carers as he has 95% loss of body functions. He has

Bilyana Rest Area with a truck parked there.

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

been in the hospital rehabilitation ward recently,” Russell said.

Russell said that Michael’s spirits will increase when he hears of a mention in Big Rigs.

Envy of most AS a road transport identity sat watering his front yard the driver of a truck which was collecting tree cuttings and grass from bins pulled up.

He asked could he fill his drinking water bottle in the 30-degree heat and of course old mate obliged.

Spy was in the vicinity and after identifying myself as being a Big Rigs columnist I requested a pic of the driver and his truck.

So say the least, Spy was shocked by his reply.

“I like the paper but there is no way I want to be in there for a story because it would bring me more business,” he said.

This gent would have to be the envy of most truckies and companies in Oz. Whilst Spy did respect his decision, I still felt a need to quiz him about his booming business especially during Covid-19.

“I have one assistant and we have too much work so I can’t handle any more,” he said.

I queried him further and suggested that perhaps the acquisition of another truck would increase the profit margin even further.

“No, because if I get another truck and have to hire two more workers it doesn’t go so well financially,” he said.

Reverse roll A Queensland driver had parked his Kenworth in the Belyando region behind a Volvo with Victorian number plates.

Without warning the Volvo moved backwards and the trailer hit the front of his vehicle.

The stopping bay area between Ingham and Cardwell.

“It was something I didn’t expect for sure,” he said.

It caused minor damage and the two drivers sorted it out exchanging contact details.

Virus dilemma WHEN an elderly neighbour fronted up to the door of a road transport man asking for a lift “to be tested for the virus” alarm bells started to ring.

With all of the drama regarding Covid-19 he didn’t even want to be anywhere near the lady who is aged in her eighties.

“I went to a party last night and somebody there had been diagnosed with the virus so I need to be tested. Can you take me to a testing station,” she asked.

He wanted to help the neighbour but also didn’t want to place himself at risk so offered to call a taxi for her.

After a few minutes she revealed it was Rhinovirus the other woman had been diagnosed with.

The rhinovirus is the most common viral infectious agent in humans and is the predominant cause of the

common cold.

So it wasn’t such a concern as first though.

Cheeky kids signal to truckie A COUNTRY truckie pulled up at a red light in a big city next to a bus full of school kids in the lane beside him.

He smiled at the children who were looking at his truck through windows and got a big surprise.

“One of the boys who looked about eight years old poked his tongue at me and also gave me the fingers sign.

And it wasn’t the one which means peace,” he said.

Over the years Spy has been told on hundreds of incidences during which fellow road users have signaled our truckies.

One of the most common is when female tourists in those vans with murals and weird writing on the sides chuck “browneyes”.

However a kid doing such a thing is a first.

Rest area query SOME interstate truckies were about to transport gen-

eral goods along the 350km stretch of the Bruce Highway between Townsville and Cairns and asked some questions at a roadhouse about the location of good rest areas.

They were on their first trip to the far north and had heard decent public rest areas were few and far between.

From experience Spy reckons the Frances Creek 11km south of Ingham, several new facilities at pull off areas before Cardwell, the Bilyana one past Kennedy and the park past Innisfail at the turnoff to the Palmerston Highway are okay.

Frances Creek has been upgraded, the toilets beside the road near Cardwell are new and on both sides of the road, Bilyana has clean dunnies, seats and shaded parts (but lots of caravans stop at times) and there is parking for trucks behind the popular Innisfail area.

At certain times of the year Frances Creek and Innisfail rest areas have driver reviver stations where you can get a drink of water, cuppa tea or coffee and a biscuit.

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40 TASSIE TRUCKIN

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

Sam Dunn

Glen Bonner

Passing through New Norfolk the other day we were fortunate to catch up with Sam Dunn, from Berriedale, who was just completing his final delivery prior to returning to Hobart and knocking off for the day. Driving a PDF 2010 Isuzu Euro 5 1400 refrigerated Long Rigid, at the time, Sam told us: “I have been here for 3 really good years now, and I

Stopping over at “Mood Food” the 24-hour Bennett’s Caltex Truckstop and Roadhouse at Kempton the other day, with its great kitchen, hot meals and clean and convenient amenities for drivers, we were lucky to catch up with Glen Bonner from Exeter when he rolled in for a refreshment stop and a hot cuppa. He was driving a United Petroleum’s 2018 Mack Trident with an MP8 535 up front, and towing a tri-axle fuel tanker at the time, and he was heading back to Bell Bay after doing deliveries. “Just 2 stops in Hobart this time. I’ve

have been driving for 6 years all up, and I am still loving it, even on a damp day like today! I do deliveries all over the south from here at New Norfolk to Port Arthur, including Cygnet and Dover and I really enjoy doing the country runs! As for PDF, I find them a great outfit to work for, and they really look after us and keep us busy, they have

done all through the Covid problems as well, so you can’t complain about that. I always wanted to drive for a living and it’s been all I wanted, no regrets at all.” We asked him how he spent his time off and he told us: “Well renovating a house, and spending time with Leonardo, who has just turned 8 months old keeps me pretty busy!”

Sam Lyne

It was once again great to catch up with one of our earliest local Tasmanian friends in the Industry, and one who was so happy being reunited with his truck, that he could hardly get the smile off his face! This was Sam Lyne from Colebrook who rolled in to “Mood Food”, the Bennett’s Caltex 24-hour Truckstop and Roadhouse at Kempton the other day. This time he was driving his own accustomed Toll’s 2015 T-409 SAR with a 520 Cummins up front, formerly a fuel tanker in Melbourne, and very well cared for, and towing a fridge pan that was on its way to the

been here for a year or so,” he told us, “And I’d have to say I am finding it a top job, and they are looking after me, and keeping me busy. I have been driving altogether for about 22 years now, and have never regretted taking it up for a profession, apart from the job satisfaction, you get to see a new landscape every day!”

We asked him about the new Service Station that catches everyone’s attention on the Bi-Pass outside the Industrial area at Brighton, and he told us it will be a new United and Pie Face installation that is set to open in November. Glen

added “They expect to need a load a day, but am not sure at whether it will be a dedicated truck friendly stop yet. It certainly has a commanding location and looks very impressive.” He added: “We are certainly busy just now, and with summer coming up and the borders opening I expect we will be even busier in the near future!” Asked about time off, he told us that he and Kim have 4 young ones and that is a big commitment, but happily one he enjoys hugely. He also likes to get out on motorbikes, both dirt and road.

Damien Viney

TT Line at Devonport. He had been doing a bit of driver training as well, taking a young fellow, Brian Spud Staples, down from Hobart to Huonville that morning to pick up the load of apples, and he was stopped at Kempton for a welcome refreshment stop, and doing a change over with the load of apples prior to taking a load of Coles back to Sorrell. He told us that after 3 years with Toll, “I am happy with both the job and the good gear they run, as for instance this T-409 SAR!, they have been a good crowd to work for all around and look after us and importantly are

keeping us busy. I’ve been on the road now for altogether 17 years or so, before that I completed my apprenticeship as a welder/fabricator at Incat, but I have never regretted swapping careers. It was a welcome change getting out on the open road and out of the big sheds, and I have never regretted that decision!” Sam added, when asked about free time, “Well I have a couple of acres, with all that involves, and I am now rebuilding a WB Holden Ute for my son, and that pretty well takes care of all my time off, and keeps me pretty busy as you can guess!”

In these days of reduced hours and services and more and more bleak and unfriendly truck stops, it is always a pleasure to call at “Mood Food” the 24-hour Caltex Truckstop at Kempton for a good bite to eat and a great barista coffee. It is also a good place to catch up with friends on the road, and the other day it was accordingly a pleasure to catch up with Damien Viney, from Ulverstone, when he too dropped in for a bite to eat and a refresh-

ment break. Driving a Kelly’s 2011 FM 460 Volvo Euro 5, he was pulling a Fresh Freight fridge pan from Hobart up to catch the TT Line ferry “Spirit of Tasmania” that evening on it’s way to Melbourne. He told us: “I’ve only been here for 3 months, but they have been 3 good months so far! I am finding them a good crowd to work for and I am enjoying the job.

I’ve been on the road now for many years, but before that I was a panel beater/boiler mak-

er, and a cowboy doing the Rodeo circuits for about 30 years, so I have found the move to driving trucks a much steadier, and far more comfortable occupation!” We asked about how he spent his time off, and he told us: “Well I’ve got a bit of land up at Ulverstone where I breed Quarter horses, and some Long Horn cattle, so there’s not a lot of time off after that!!! No life’s good just now and I’ve no complaints to speak of, so it’s basically all happy!”

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42 TRUCKIN IN THE TROPICS

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

Damien Maas FROM his base at outback Hughenden along the Flinders Highway, Damien Maas travels west, north and south as a driver for Viper Water Solutions.

I yarned to the 37-yearold Damien at the Townsville Port Access Road pull-off area which was busy with trailers being hooked up to numerous trucks.

“I mainly carry poly pipe to cattle properties and I have another fellow’s truck today and I go all over the place,” he said.

Damien said the Tanami Road in the Northern Territory and the 110km stretch of the Flinders Highway between Hughenden and Richmond were amongst the worst he

travels on.

As for rest areas, Damien said the 200km road between Hughenden and Winton was short on.

“The best rest areas are in the south of NSW,” said Damien, who has been a truckie for six years.

Damien has lived at Hughenden for six weeks and before that has been a resident of Charters Towers which is 260km towards the coast.

His hobbies include fishing and camping at many locations in the great outdoors.

“I catch sooty grunter and black bream in the fresh water Flinders River when it is running and also go down to Townsville and fish Mor-

rissey’ Creek which is a tributary of Ross River,” he said.

One annual fishing event which Damien has missed this year was the Inland Barramundi Classic usually held near Charters Towers.

“It was cancelled due to the Coronavirus but hopefully it will be on again in 2021,” he said.

Damien also has played at the Goldfield Ashes Cricket carnival held annually in Charters Towers since 1948.

I asked the super courteous Damien about his nationality and what country the Maas surname originated from.

“I was born in Australia but my dad’s family was German,” he said.

Johno Tulk A COMMITTED family man, Johno Tulk is a third-generation truck driver following in the footsteps of his father Shane and grandfather John.

“I love this job and do it also to support my partner and two children who are aged under five,” Johno told Big Rigs when I saw him in Townsville.

Johno drives a 2004 Century Class ST Freightliner for A&R Bock and he lives in Maryborough Queensland.

“I have a backload of pumpkins from Mareeba on the Atherton Tablelands to take to Killarney down south and brought up cross arms for power poles delivering to Ergon En-

ergy at Mackay, Townsville and Cairns,” he said.

Johno said he had been a truckie since age 18 and is now 29 and considered a very young driver.

“I got my learners at 17, my B-double licence six years later and my heavy vehicle one after that. Granddad John is aged 74 and mostly retired but dad is still a truckie,” he said.

The enthusiastic Johno said that parts of the Bruce Highway were the worst he travels on.

“There are so many roadworks especially between Townsville and Cairns,” he said.

That 350km section was also the focus for Johno when asked

I asked Greg to nominate his favourite roadhouse.

“It would have to be the one at Bellata in NSW which has good food and service,” he said.

Bellata is about halfway between Narrabri and Moree on the Newell Highway in northern New South Wales.

On the side of the trailer Greg was towing was a sign advising his company is a proud sponsor of the Jack Beasley Foundation.

It was created in the memory of Jack Beasley and focuses on educating and driving change around youth violence.

Tragically, on Friday, December 13 2019, Jack’s life

was cut short in a senseless act of violence at the young age of only 17.

In honour of his memory, the family and a close group of friends dedicate their efforts towards making necessary changes to the current youth laws, youth safety and more importantly putting together an education platform to teach the country’s youths about the dangers, repercussions and the snowball effect a single act of violence like this to one person has on the lives of so many.

Through education and change, they hope to make a difference and Jack’s legacy will live on.

was there enough rest areas for truckies.

“There is not enough between those towns and especially around Cairns,” he said.

His favourite roadhouses are the BP Cluden at Townsville and Uncle Leo’s at Glenfield in NSW. The first truck Johno drove was a Mitsubishi Partech 8 speed.

Johno was asked had he seen any unusual things on the highways and byways recently.

“Last night I was driving through Cardwell and a car was in front of me with no rear windscreen.

“The police were in a nearby

car but must not have seen it,” he said.

And has Covid-19 affected work for Johno?

“Not that much. I just don’t stop at any known hotspots,” he said.

I told Johno he was amongst the young age bracket of drivers with the average age being in the fifties.

“I think there are more young drivers in the industry now,” he said.

Johno supports the disability service support charity Endeavour Foundation doing a lot of work and supporting it throughout the Queensland coast.

Roadhouse,” he said.

Lindsay said he purchased the Freightliner five years ago from Gatton after it had been transporting general up the east coast.

When asked about the worst road he gets along, Lindsay said the 90km long Ootan National Highway Bypass Road starting near Mount Garnet stands out above all others.

Ootan is a critical connector between the Burke Development Road and the Kennedy Highway to the south.

The Burke Development Road between Chillagoe and Almaden links mining and cat-

tle grazing regions of the Lower Gulf area to coastal and southern markets.

“It is the road train bypass and trucks have to use it and it is terrible. It is rough and somebody got killed on it recently,” he said.

Numerous other truckies have echoed Lindsay’s sentiments and reckon the mostly dirt Ootan Road needs an urgent upgrade.

As for rest areas, Lindsay said there was more needed that were suitable for trucks.

“Some of the ones now are too small and close to the road,” he said.

Greg Pringle GREG Pringle was preparing to leave Townsville to deliver scrap paper to Brisbane in a Volvo FH16 when Big Rigs saw him at the BP Cluden.

Looking much younger than his 55 years, Greg works for SEQ Transport & Pallets Pty Ltd which is a speciality transport company based at Stapylton in southern Queensland.

He lives at Toowoomba and Greg has been a truckie for 37 years.

It was just his second week in the job for SEQ. The Warrego to Roma road, also the Carnarvon Highway near Rolleston and the Greg-

ory Development route from Clermont to Charters Towers all need improving according to Greg.

The first truck Greg drove was an Atkinson Cabover and outside work he loves spending time with family.

“I also have a son at Innisfail in north Queensland and visit him whenever I can,” he said.

Regarding Covid-19, Greg said his work hasn’t affected him greatly because he adheres to social distancing and other rules wherever he is.

During his long career, Greg had worked for 20 years hauling livestock in the Northern Territory, WA and Queensland.

Lindsay Cavill FOR the past 134 years the family and forebears of owner-operator Lindsay Cavill have lived and worked at Woodstock which is 40km west of Townsville along the Flinders Highway.

Woodstock is a tranquil rural community and Lindsay and his family had been farmers there for parts of three centuries.

“They have been at Woodstock since 1886 and have never moved on so we must like it here,” he said.

Lindsay has been a truckie on and off for 20 years and likes life on the road meeting lots of

friendly people.

The 54-year-old Lindsay drives a 2005 Freightliner and his business is Cavill Hire.

“I mainly do subbie work and carry general freight and hay and stocklick out west to Mount Isa, to Daly Waters in the NT and stations. But I do get as far south as Gympie and north to Cape York,” he said.

The Laura Roadhouse heading to Cape York and another at Lakeland on the Mulligan Highway are two of the best stop offs according to Lindsay.

“The Laura one is only small but the food is great and that is also the case at the Lakeland

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TRUCKIN’ ON THE BORDER DAVID VILE

44 COLUMN contributors@bigrigs.com.au

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

contributors@bigrigs.com.au

Let’s look at ways to make it fairer EDITOR JAMES GRAHAM

TASSIE TRUCKIN’ JON WALLIS

james.graham@bigrigs.com.au

contributors@bigrigs.com.au

the needs of the “little fella” at the end of the supply chain, there is no duty of care as they struggle through a pandemic.

LEGAL TheEAGLE exploitative 40-plus ROWAN KINGbetween Transyear deal Principal Lawyer RK Law urban and the NSW Government means that drivers also cop an increase of the toll cost by one percent per quarter.

We have concerns this may well lead to many smaller businesses in the transport industry to bleed out.

The NSW Government and Transurban are on notice, meet with the TWU and come and hear firsthand how those on the road are struggling every day. Drivers are incurring more than considerable costs in fuel, rego and insurances and now tolls.

There is no cost recovery for those forced onto a toll road. The economic investment that this and other toll roads are claimed to be is a misguided ideal from the NSW Government.

Expenses for truck drivers, the costs of having a

TWU NEWS

TWU NEWS RICHARDOLSEN OLSEN RICHARD TWU NSW State Secretary TWU NSW State Secretary

THE NorthConnex tunnel is claimed to be a ‘game changer’ by a vast number of politicians wheeled out to sing the tunnel’s praises.

The toll road tunnel, which opened on October 31, is the latest in toll road pain levelled at the transport industry through a cosy deal created between Transurban and the NSW Government.

Here’s a real “game changer” idea: how about some relief for transport workers who are facing a huge set of problems after being forced onto a private road at the exclusion of a public road.

There is no reason why relief cannot be provided by Transurban and the NSW Government to the transport industry.

So far there has been no serious attempt to address

The TWU is calling for concessions for truckies to use Pennant Hills Road during off-peak times.

job in transport, are on the increase. Maintaining the overpriced toll road rort just adds to the pain they already feel.

A week ago, I stood beside Rob Woolley, a Mt Kuring-Gai based fleet operator who now faces a $50,000

toll road bill that he has never before had to pay.

Now NorthConnex is open, a new cost is forced on his business. We have other members who tell us it will cost them $250 a week to transport their truck just to start work. These are costs

which are not recoverable by a client.

Let’s look at ways of making the road fairer. Overnight, Pennant Hills road is nearly empty. Can we not provide a freedom of choice to drivers to use the road then, and allow them

to choose to not have to pay tolls?

NorthConnex sets a dangerous precedent for our industry, leaving open the continued discrimination against truck drivers as further infrastructure plans are announced in NSW.

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COLUMN 45

BIGRIGS.COM.AU FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020

Supporting each other as Australians and friends

COST CUTTER CHET CLINE

AT THE WHEEL DAVID MEREDITH

AIR CTI founder/owner

contributors@bigrigs.com.au

WOMEN IN TRANSPORT TRANSPORT WOMEN IN JACQUELENE BROTHERTON JACQUELENE BROTHERTON Chair of Transport WomenWomen Australia Chair of Transport

Australia

I read this on LinkedIn, “Behind every woman is a circle of other women who have her back.” and it annoyed me so much, it makes it sound as though men don’t have our back. It perpetuates the myth that women are not supported trucking industry THEinOZthe TRUCKER and find that many women MIKEI WILLIAMS contributors@bigrigs.com.au

in my circle of friends and acquaintances fully agree that we are supported by numerous males in the industry and outside of it.

Maybe it should read beEDITOR hind every woman/person is JAMES GRAHAM a circle of PEOPLE who have james.graham@bigrigs.com.au their back. I would never have been able to have the career or life I have had without multiple men and women supporting me, believing in me and giving me the opportunities that I have enjoyed.

Women want equality and I agree with that, but it won’t happen without the support of TWU NEWS men. I believe that all people RICHARD OLSEN TWU NSW State Secretary

LOBBYIST STEVE SHEARER

SA Road Transport Association Executive Director

Ross Transport follows up with the ‘Truely Pinktastic’ Western Star.

TRUCKIN’ ON THE BORDER DAVID VILE contributors@bigrigs.com.au

TASSIE TRUCKIN’ JON WALLIS contributors@bigrigs.com.au

LEGAL EAGLE ROWAN KING

Principal Lawyer RK Law

The signature ‘Truely Frantastic’ Kenworth from Ross Transport has flown the flag for industry diversity all over the eastern seaboard.

are equal regardless of gender, race, religion or colour. The only “ist” I am is an equalist and I believe that everyone should be judged on merits and their achievements in the workplace / business world and what is in their hearts in ever other forum. Equal pay should happen when there is an equal workload, and this does not always happen, but it will eventually.

I applaud inclusion and diversity in the workplace

and in life, I have actively supported initiatives that give women opportunities to join this amazing industry, transport and logistics.

These programmes had assisted women to gain employment in non-traditional roles and they have all been supported or partnered with male partners.

I have read with horror about the alleged racism against our Indian driving and I am appalled that such

behaviour can happen in our industry, as if we didn’t have enough image problems and issues with how safety is perceived and we are adding to unsafe practices. I know it is possibly a few stupid people, but it is reckless and dangerous. I have many friends in our ethnic communities and this is frightening to think that this is happening in an industry I love.

So, let’s start supporting each other as people, as

Australians, as friends and future friends who may need support or who may give you support. We have had enough issues in 2020 with fires, floods, COVID-19 and isolation. Let’s stop the divisive dialogue and disrespectful behaviour; join together to get back on our feet, get back to business or work and give each other a hand up wherever we can without judgement – human to human.

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46 SOUTHERN SNIPPETS

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

SA transport changing fast

SNIPPETS FROM THE SOUTH With JONATHAN WALLIS

Memories from long ago It was great to have a phone call from John Staszynski, ex Van Trans, in Adelaide the other day and to hear that now days he is retired from the Industry and is keeping busy driving the Television remote and occupying his days with “Shed Stuff ”. He also told us the sad news that another old mutual friend from our trucking days on the Mainland, Glen Field, had passed away in mid-2018.

It is indeed sad to note how many of the old crew are either retiring or have gone on to happier pastures.

Expensive diesel stop Our wandering “Australia all Over” truckie, Mick Pepper from northern NSW, told us the other day that Jamie, a certain renowned driver, who also worked at ITKM with Mick previously, recently called in to a Broken Hill servo to fill his almost empty Diesel 4 x 4, went in to pay and argued heatedly for 15 minutes with the console operator over the cost of $120.

This led to her showing him the CCTV which resulting in his seeing the pump he had used. Well, walking out, red faced with embarrassment, he said to his partner Lorraine, “Better call the NRMA as we have a problem.” So after $500 worth of work from the NRMA, he then had to go back and admit to having used the wrong pump, and fill it up again, but with diesel this time, making this the most expensive fill Jamie has ever had.

Carl Wagner from Wagner Transport drove his 2004 T650, delivering three newly constructed bridge sections ready for Billings Cranes to lift into position.

ALL IS GOING WELL OVER IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA AND THAT THE ROAD TRANSPORT FACE OF ADELAIDE IS RAPIDLY CHANGING, AND EXPANDING, WITH ROAD TRAIN ROUTES NOW CRISS-CROSSING THE PLACE, EVEN INTO ELIZABETH. JONATHAN WALLIS

Spectacular encounter We hear from our old mate, Colin Burford from Croft’s Transport in Adelaide, that all is going well over in South Australia and that the Road Transport face of Adelaide is rapidly changing, and expanding, with road train routes now criss-crossing the place, even into Elizabeth. He added that it was good to recently catch up with Mick Culum, another ex-Adelaide driver, who has moved to Queensland and now lives with his son up there whilst contemplating taking up a career in landscape gar-

dening. We were saddened to hear of the passing of Reg Lange in early August, founder of Lange Transport, a legend in the Industry and a highly respected and true gentleman.

We would like to join Colin in offering our belated sympathies and condolences to his family. Also from Adelaide, we hear that there has been a spectacular encounter between a truck and a stobie pole from that frugal outfit, sometimes called “Blackbirding Transport”, from Victoria, when one of their B-doubles recently tried to enter a narrow street

down Wingfield way. Tight corner, even for a single, resulting in the memorable and very public sight of a truck “resting” against said stobie pole whilst major assistance was summoned.

Tassie bridge project Nice to hear from Greg Lynd from “Lyndcraft Boats” at Saint Helens telling us he had recently fabricated some newly constructed bridge sections of the Break O’Day Councils “Multi User Track”, which had to be moved to the wharf, positioning them alongside the

existing Golden Fleece Bridge up at Saint Helens on Tasmania’s East Coast. He asked us to express his thanks to the very dedicated and expert Carl Wagner from Wagner Transport who was driving his 2004 T650 at the time, for delivering the three sections to the wharf ready for the guys from Billings Cranes to lift into position for the BridgePro Engineering Pty Ltd crew to secure, In fact that turned out to be nine or 10 sections in three weeks all up. Happily, Carl’s daughter Natasha was on hand to take the enclosed photo!

COLUMN 47

BIGRIGS.COM.AU FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020

Is your trailer in control?

“Trailer in Control” only covers a trailer that you have borrowed that’s being used in conjunction with your business.

INSURANCE GURU. MANAGER, TBI INSURANCE SERVICES Mark Brown

A very common misconception that we seem to be hearing often here at TBI Insurance when a transport operator calls us to us provide a quotation on their insurances, is that far too many operators seem to believe that their trailers are automatically covered (Insured) if they have “Trailer in Control” on their commercial motor policy.

Let’s make this very clear, “Trailer in Control” only covers a trailer that you have borrowed and being used in conjunction with your business and used with a tow vehicle

that is currently insured on your commercial motor policy.

Under all commercial motor policies - and only if selected and noted on your policy, “Trailer in Control” only covers you for a trailer you have borrowed.

If you have borrowed two trailers you will actually need 2 x “Trailer in Control”. If you have borrowed two trailers and a dolly you may need 3 x “Trailer in Control” noted on your policy along with the type of trailer, goods carried, radius and nominated sum insured value for each trailer you have borrowed.

“Trailer in Control” does not cover any trailer or dolly that you own, or you have rented, hired, mortgaged, leased, or have some type of financial arrangement in place for the use of the trailer or dolly.

NOTE; if you have rented, leased, mortgaged, hired a

trailer, it should be noted on the insurance policy schedule of the persons who borrowed the trailer/dolly or seek confirmation from the hire company that the trailer is covered under the hire agreement.

Unfortunately too many operators seem to be misinformed or not understand their insurances. As always it is best to use a specialised transport insurance broker as they are most suited to determine how to structure your policy in best way to suit to your individual business needs.

See below policy wording extract from one of the larger transport insurers (NTI) Automatic Benefits (page 43) NTI Transport Package PDS NTI250-14-05-19) 5. Trailer in Control (Nonowned trailer) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in Specific Exclusion 1.b.in Section

2 of this Policy Product 1, We will provide Cover for a single trailer that is used in connection with a prime mover or a rigid body truck insured under this Policy. Your Policy is extended as follows: Section 1 You are indemnified for loss or damage to a single trailer which is not owned, mortgaged, leased or on hire by You, whilst such trailer is in Your lawful custody or control, and is being used by You in conjunction with Your business.

The basis of indemnity will be in accordance with clause 1 of the Settlement Clauses under Section 1 of this Policy Product 1 but for no more than a maximum of $75,000 and clause 2 ‘New Motor Vehicle Replacement’ and clause 3 ‘Finance Payout Protection’ have no application to this Additional Benefit.

EXTENSIONS TO SEC-

TIONS 1 AND 2 - NTI Transport Package Policy Product 1 – Commercial Motor 43 Section 2 a. Section 2 of this Policy Product 1 in its entirety is extended to indemnify You in the event of a loss of use claim by the owner of the trailer, (but not by You or any other party who is not the owner of the trailer), following loss or damage indemnified in a claim under Section 1 of this Policy under this additional benefit. b. Section 2 of Policy Product 1 in its entirety applies to the non-owned trailer provided there is no entitlement to Cover under any compulsory statutory insurance or any other specific insurance policy taken out by the owner of the trailer.

Special Conditions: The Policy Excess for trailers will apply, subject to a minimum Excess of $2,500.

Where Cover is required for

more than one single trailer, then You are not covered unless You notify Us to do so and We agree.

We may for that purpose require an additional premium and/ or compliance with additional terms and conditions.

Important: All answers and information contained within this article should be considered as General Advice Only.

This advice should only be considered as General in Nature and its intent is only to prompt the readers to investigate their own individual insurances.

It has been prepared without taking into account the readers own individual objectives, financial situation or needs. Because of that, before acting on the above advice, the client or any persons should consider its appropriateness (having regard to their objectives, needs and financial situation) and seek further independent advice from their own financial advisor.

40 PUZZLES PUZZLES 48

5

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8

9

10

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17 18

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Cacti 17. Eon 18. Hierarchical 21. Brute 22. Maudlin 23. Election 24. Ants.

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9 13 15 16 18 21 22 24

Church recess Composed Ceremonial act TimeAll ofpuzzles the year © The Puzzle Flying toys Company Copies Harbour town Observe

SOLUTION QUICK CROSSWORD amir amrita aria arum atria atrium attar aura auric carat cart Across: Across: Rules, 4 Rest, 7 Motive, 8 Snail, 10 Deny, 11 Prong, 12 cram curt marc maria mart raita rata rimu tarmac tart1 tiara tract trait tram trauma TRAUMATICAss, trim14 Eros, 17 Leek, 19 Ire, 20 Inapt, 23 Fast, 25 Poems, 26 Teeter, 27 Lees, 28 Stein.

Down: 1 Rascal, 2 Emir, 3 Solo, 4 Ridge, 5 Eve, 6 Senior, 9 Apse, 13 Sedate, 15 Rite, 16 Season, 18 Kites, 21 Apes, 22 Port, 24 See.

GK CROSSWORD Across; 1 Pottery, 4 Conga, 7 Warp, 8 Monrovia, 10 Steve Davis, 12 Edison, 13 Slaves, 15 Clark Gable, 18 Anteater, 19 Pall, 20 Yonks, 21 Tetanus.

Down: 1 Pawns, 2 Turmeric, 3 Yeoman, 4 Cardiology, 5 Nova, 6 Amadeus, 9 New Orleans, 11 Eva Braun, 12 Estuary, 14 Argent, 16 Ellis, 17 Eton.

R

E G R E T

C A

A T

23

SUDOKU G E A R S

How many words of four letters or more can you make? Each letter must be used only once and all words must contain the centre letter. There is at least one nine-letter word.

No words starting with a capital are allowed, no plurals ending in s unless the word is also a verb.

24

11

5x5

Across 1 Governs 4 Repose 7 Incentive 8 Garden pest 10 Refuse 11 Fork tine 10 12 Donkey 14 Love god ALPHAGRAMS 17 Welsh national emblem Solve the anagrams. Each solution is a one-word 19 Wrath anagram of the letters beside it, and the five solutions 20 five-letter Not fitted solution are sequential. For example, if the starts with J, the six-letter solution with K, and so 23starts Quick 14 15 16 on.

25 Verse-forms 26 Seesaw EASEL 27 Liquor dregs DIM RAY 19 28 Beer tankard GRANNIE ROASTING Down 22 TRANSPOSE 1 Scoundrel

4

9

17

WORD GO ROUND

3

Down 1. Jail (8) 2. Initially (5) 4. Paddle (3) 5. Abstinence (5,7) 6. Dare (7) 7. Informant (colloq) (4) 8. Feeling, atmosphere (12) 12. Happen (5) 13. Leans (8) 15. Free time (7) 19. Punctuation mark (5) 20. Competent (4) 22. Low (3)

13

SOLUTIONS

EASY

2

22

N I T R E

Fill the grid so every column, every row and 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9.

20

HARD

Find a finished crossword by deleting one of the two letters in each divided square.

19

A S S E T

SUDOKU

EASY

7

10 1 Which plant has tuberous rootstocks and nodding flowers with reflexed petals (8) 2 Name a12US child film star, later a diplomat, Shirley ... (6) 3 What are platforms for public speaking13(8) 4 16 To be above or upon, is to be 17 what (4)

11

14

4

Down 8

21

23

6/6 DOWN 1 Which chess pieces are most numerous? (5) 2 What bright yellow powder is used for flavouring in Asian cookery? (7) 3 In early England, what was a small landholder between gentry and labourers? (6) 4 What branch of medicine is concerned with diseases and abnormalities of the heart? (10) 55 A star that suddenly brightens then fades(6) is Which term describes frankgradually admission called what? (4) 6

Name a hook-billed, fleshy-tongued bird (6) 6 Which film, 1984’s Best Picture Oscar winner, was 12 inWhat is the filmed Prague?

(7)policy of a government to make more 9 Whereinformation was Louis Armstrong born?

(3,7) freely available (8) about public affairs 11 Which woman was married on 29 April 1945, and died 13following Whatday? are rare the (3,5)green varieties of beryl, highly 12 Whatvalued is the widening as gemschannel (8) of a river where saltwater mixes with freshwater? (7) Name awhat renowned US silver? inventor, 1415 In heraldry, is the colour (6) Thomas ... (6) 1616 Millions of records from which USas immigration entry What is an airstrip known (6) island are accessible on the internet? (5) 17

What are swarming broods of progeny (6) 17 Which English college was founded by Henry VI in 1440?

20 (4) Which term describes a labyrinth (4)

18 Name a private in the Royal Australian Engineers (6) 19 Which aromatic inner bark is much used as a spice (8) 21 Who wrote Animal Farm, George ... (6) 22 What are mines of wealth (8) DOUBLECROSS 23 When one throws, one does what (6) CROSSWORD

9

22

ACROSS 1 If you are a collector of Clarice Cliff, what do you collect?

(7) 4 What Latin American dance is performed by several people in single file? (5) 7 What are lengthwise threads on a loom? (4) 8 What is the capital of Liberia? (8) 10 In 1982, who made the first televised 147 break in snooker?

(5,5) Across Which inventor (Thomas ____) took out more than a 1 12 Name the twin brother of Pollux thousand patents in his lifetime?

(6) (6) What is the last wordalso of “Rule Britannia”?

7 13 Who was Augustus known as (8) (6) The Misfits in 1961 was the last film starring Marilyn 8 15 What are some punctuation marks (6) Monroe and which other actor? (5,5) 9 18 What is to a cestoda (8)South America, a tamandua is Native Central and type animal? (8)horn of a deer (6) 10 what Name theofbranched 19 What cloth is spread over a coffin? (4) 11 20 Which describes hoof-like (8) long time”? (5) What term is an informal word for “a very What disease is also known as lockjaw?

(7)(8) 14 21 Lincoln is the capital of which US State

A P A V I A N O R E W O R M A O U L A T E M S E A P P E R A A R W E L L N D O S S E S

4

S T O R A E O C T O M M A S P T A P T L E R E U N G M L B R A S K A U S N N A M O N W A O N A N Z A S Y E T

3

C A Y C O L A N M E N E D C I S B O N

2

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE Across: Across: 1 Castor, 7 Octavian, 8 Commas, 9 Tapeworm, 10 Antler, 11 Ungulate, 14 Nebraska, 18 Sapper, 19 Cinnamon, 21 Orwell, 22 Bonanzas, 23 Tosses.

1

Down: 1 Cyclamen, 2 Temple, 3 Rostrums, 4 Atop, 5 Avowal, 6 Parrot, 12 Glasnost, 13 Emeralds, 15 Edison, 16 Runway, 17 Spawns, 20 Maze.

G E N E R 1A L K 8N O W L 10 E D G E

FRIDAY JUNE 12 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

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COLUMNS 87 COLUMN 49

BIGRIGS.COM.AU FRIDAY JUNE 26 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020

Sad day forfail all in Lockdowns totransport dent COVID recovery optimism

positives aspects or those issues about which I am most passionate and have a chance of making a contribution to change.

I began writing column when I was returned as Transport Women Australia Limited chair in November 2017.

THIS article is the ending of In the interim, TWAL has an era for the transport indus- had many successes and try with the demise of this achievements. magazine under the restrucIt has expanded the relature and rationalisation of tionship with Girl Guides AusNews Corp. tralia and been involved with It is a sad day for all of us in several successful projects with the industry as Big Rigs maga- them, the Victorian Snoozefest zine has been a part of our lives in April 2018, the “Great Bag for almost 30 years.

Migration” for the InternaFor some, their entire ca- tional Jamboree in Sydney in reers so far.

October 2018 and other interIt will leave huge gap as the actions that are expanding the editors and staff have support- knowledge of the transport ined the industry, provided fair dustry. and rational debate and given We launched the Women everyone a fair say in industry Driving Transport Careers indoings to all, as well as stories, itiative with our partners Wo- CELEBRATING ACHIEVEMENTS: Jacquelene Brotherton (far right) enjoys a night of celebration at a Transport Women Limited event pictures and news of our peo- donga TAFE and Volvo Group with (from left) Rachel Hesse, Paul Fleiszig and Coralie Chapman.

Picture: Contributed ple, our trucks and our unsung at the 2018 TWAL Creating orial Award, sponsored by the will be announced later this gram. in Melbourne. heroes.

Connections conference.

I would like to thank the year at an event still to be deIn November 2019 we cele- wonderful Wes Pickering.

Our lives will be the poorer This initiative has been in fantastic team at Big Rigs This was awarded for long- termined. for its demise; being a colum- hiatus during the COVID-19 brated the 20th Anniversary of We have also launched our newspaper for their incredible nist for Big Rigs for the past pandemic but all partners are the organisation (TWAL) with term outstanding contribution year and half has allowed me excited to move forward to ex- a fabulous gala dinner at The by a female to the road trans- Learning Initiatives Breakfast support and wish them onto fulfil yet another childhood pand the program as soon as Windsor Melbourne where we port industry, the inaugural Series with several partners so going success.

I hope that I get the opporalso presented our first four winner was Pam McMillan the far, including NTI, MOVE dream, to write, and it has possible. tunity to continue to work with given me great pleasure and I We held a well attended winners of the Driving the Dif- longest serving director and BANK and rt health.

In early 2020 the Creating some of them and so work tohope it has at least been en- and exciting conference in ference scholarships with our chair of Transport Women Connections Mentoring pro- wards making the trucking injoyed by some.

May 2018 and we have plans in amazing sponsor, Daimler Australia Limited.

This is an annual award and gram was finally ready to com- dustry a better appreciated, While so many are focused place with the date saved and Truck and Bus Asia Pacific.

As service the transport industry has not haveinsuffered closures. the because recipientofofforced the 2020 Trish mence with both mentors and and a safer place for our peoWe other also businesses presented the on an theessential negatives of the indusvenue booked forexperienced our Drivingthe losses signing up Pickering Memorial Award augural Trish Pickering Memtry, I have tried to focus on the restrictions the Difference 2021 conference forced closures, buttoitthe is prostill ple. eased. agree or strongly agree that Write-off program in the feder- mentees pect supply chains to return to

Our October COVID Insights report continues a trend of Victorian transport operators expressing hope and optimism that the economy and our industry will quickly the owner and the employee. recover if restrictions are lifted, It’s been the those voice that calls with 94% of surveyed out for fair for the work agreeing or pay strongly agreeing you do, for safety in the drivtheir business will go on to be ers’ cab and on the road, the more prosperous. voice relieve Thisthat is a seeks terrific to validation thethepressure the to driver of industry’sonefforts adpushed by clients’ incessant just their businesses to be able cries for increased productivity to service customer needs in for the same rates condia sustainable and and productive tions.ensuring consumers have way, obvious we still havetoa hadIt is uninterrupted access long waygoods to go throughout – we have been essential the through countless road, freight pandemic. andIt transport ministers also underscores the and urnothing changes. gent need for the Victorian Truck drivers arereopen still dying government to fully the at work. economy so that this optimism It’s awane. pretty safe bet to say doesn’t thisThe is due to the lack of strong COVID Insights regovernment policy in place, port showed half of operators

COVID-19 will generate even bigger volumes of freight, no doubt because of the spike in internet shopping and an expected massive infrastructure and building program to genpolicy shouldrecovery. be keeping erate anthat economic safeMore one of the most dangerous than half (55%) agree industries Australia. or stronglyinagree domestic and To quote one truck international trade willdriver inturned senator, crease in Australian the coming months, Glenn Sterle,the “a death at work continuing optimism reor on the road not be ported in our firstshould two surveys. theSentiments price of doing business”. towards hiring TWU it to governnewThe staff andputs purchasing capments that we must the ital equipment were stop another inequality thatpositive exists between factor in the outlook truck drivers and clients. in a of transport operators Drivers must be paid proper post-COVID future. rates, be In aowner-drivers recession it ismust particable trust they will paid ularlytoencouraging thatbe 69% properly for the worksaid theythey do of our respondents and oninvest time. in Families depend would their businesson es this. by purchasing new capiof the by ongoing tal Many equipment year’s probend, lems that occur are down to validating the government’s the big clients our extension of thesqueezing Instant Asset

al budget.

It is equally encouraging two-thirds of those surveyed will hire new staff (31%) or leave staffing levels unchanged (31%) over the coming quarter, sharply contrasting cutbacks in other parts of the economy.

Customer engagement was more important than ever and that VTA members had gone to great lengths to retain business and support their customers.

Less than one in five (18%) reported losing customers due to COVID, which is likely a factor in only 31% reporting a downturn in activity during stage 4 restrictions and only 18% concerned that changes to JobKeeper from October will industry as dry astothey can. make it difficult retain staff.

They want operators to As an essential service the meet their unrealistic deadtransport industry has not exlines and take on more perienced the losses otherfreight busifor lesshave or they face because the risk of of nesses suffered

welcome news that customer and staff retention has generally remained strong over recent challenging months.

For much of the past quarter as Victoria has become losing their from contracts more isolated the restand of the ability to support their the nation, the VTA has been families. advocating for common sense It appears government at the bordersthe so that linehaul does not care. operators can continue movunsafe vehicles, ingThere freightare interstate. dodgy payment Ourlicences, advocacypoor helped bring times, wage and superannuabout less onerous COVID ation just a few of the testingtheft for– drivers entering many things we have called for South Australia and New to be stopped.

South Wales, which has been reminderconcern to governments an Aongoing for the and transport cli43%the that agreed industry 7- and 14ents: the industry that has kept day testing requirements had Australia during the reduced moving their productivity, pandemic is facing uphill and for the 32% of an operators battle. that said requirements had Employer groups operation should be made their linehaul standing alongside transport less economical. workers unite for and The to sooner oura safer borders fairer industry. reopen, the sooner we can ex-

some sort of normalcy, which would benefit the national economy and boost consumer confidence – especially in the busy lead-up to Christmas.

Despite being isolated, only A final reminder to all Big one-third of Victorian operRigs readers: now is the time to ators (37%) were concerned unite, now is the time to ensure the state’s economy would equality in this industry. take longer than the rest of Togethertowe recover can stand on Australia from common ground working to COVID-19. ensure government Thethe VTA representscontinhunues to of support transport workdreds Victorian and nationers and the industry they al freight, logistics and waste support. management companies, acTheengages TWU will to tively withcontinue their secvoice the needs of transport tors. workers to the We remain openemployers, and fully their industry bodies andwith the staffed to help members clients. advice and support, and have Better standards job prepared an onlinemean resource security andindustry ultimately a safer to keep the informed and industry for all. from withfairer support available Weand canfederal lift thegovernments. standards we state need – our lives dePleasetogether contact us for assistance pend it. 8590. on 03on9646

Fighting to end the inequality: Big Rigs and TWU played their parts VTA COMMENT PETER ANDERSON CEO, Victorian Transport Association

AS Victoria begins to take the first tentative steps out of harsh restrictions that closed restaurants, bars, shops, personal serTHISand is the endVictorian of an era, the vices other busilast TWU column in the trustnesses, it is encouraging that ed transport industry publitransport operators are remaincation Big Rigs. about quickly ing optimistic Over the years the TWU recovering from coronavirus. andThe BigVTA Rigs has havebeen played their tracking parts in the role of keeping the the sentiments among freight top end of town accountable and logistics operators since and doing our to bit gauge to look out April in order views for the rights of the littlepeople, guy. on trade, investment, It’s still and about voice customers thethe future asthat the speaks outstarts for the driver, economy to truck recover and

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50 CAREERS AND TRAINING

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020 BIGRIGS.COM.AU

New driver program aims to increase gender diversity

IN a unique recruitment drive launched in September, Visy Logistics is looking to attract more females into the driver’s seat through its first in-house Female Driver Trainee Program.

Based in Melbourne, the program is designed to help attract people who may not have previously considered truck driving as a career.

“Visy Logistics is looking to increase the number of females across the business. It’s a matter of looking at how we can attract females into the business and provide an opportunity to those who hadn’t previously considered a role in the transport sector.

There are opportunities out there to explore that are attractive for females including flexible working conditions and career development opportunities,” explained Sharon Gammon, HR Business Partner at Visy Logistics.

Visy’s Female Driver Trainee Program has attracted 179 applicants, with the business to select six successful candidates who will go on to complete a program facilitated by DECA at Wodon-

ga TAFE. “Applicants will complete nine modules over four-weeks, and at the end of that period, they will be accredited as a heavy rigid driver. When they complete their training, they will go straight into roles at our Dandenong and Truganina facilities. Visy is also currently going from a sub contactor model to an owned asset model, so those who come into the business through the program will go straight into a brand new rig,” said Gammon.

She added that Visy is going through a significant growth phase over the next five years and this has brought about the need for more drivers. “Through acquisitions and organic growth, our need for drivers will be critical going forward.

It’s becoming more difficult to get good drivers. A career as a driver involves a unique mix of independence and social contact. You are alone a lot of the day as you drive around, so you need to be organised and self-motivated.

Then at each stop you make, you are the face of the company, so it’s important that

Visy’s Female Driver Trainee Program attracted 179 applicants.

you have good social skills as well.”

Gammon said there will also be room for the successful applicants to progress

General Freight & Bulk Drivers Rodney’s Transport Service is seeking experienced MC/B Double General Freight & Bulk Drivers to work out of Victoria and NSW • Permanent & Casual Roles • Great working conditions Working within fatigue management guidelines you will perform interstate line haul duties whilst adhering to all OH&S, legislative, site and contractual obligations. RTS requires professional drivers with – • Strong customer service experience • A safe driving record • Mature attitude • Minimum 2 years’ experience MC endorsed Reporting to the Manager Group Operations this is an exciting opportunity for highly motivated and experienced MC/B Double drivers who will be required to display a commitment to RTS safety and compliance standards and values whilst maintaining your equipment in good order.

You will be required to provide a copy of a current Licence and meet RTS employment criteria which will include a medical with drug and alcohol test.

Experienced drivers who can demonstrate: • Proficiency in all aspects of B Double truck operations • The ability to work within a team • A clear understanding of road transport legislation.

• A clean history of driving ability If interested in applying for a position please complete the application form on our website www.rodneystransport.com.au or for further information please contact Anna on 03 9311 2300.

with their careers once they begin their employment with Visy. “Once these individuals come into the business, we’ll be able to look at a ca-

reer pathway – it might be going into fleet allocation or a higher level of licence accreditation so they can drive the bigger rigs. We aim to be

an employer of choice within the industry and that means challenging historical paths for recruitment and retention of the best people.”

The GTS Group is a privately-owned business & market leader specialising in freight movement & warehousing. Based in Mildura & employing nationally, we run a fleet of modern Prime Movers & B-double Taut-liner trailers servicing a range of blue-chip customers.

Due to ongoing expansion in freight movements we have the following positions available for experienced & diligent applicants with an immediate start.

Relief MC Interstate Drivers • Fatigue compliant.

• 5 weeks leave.

• Modern equipment & facilities.

• Weekly pay cycle under Modern Drivers Award.

• Large client base nationally.

• Full-time position may be available.

A current unrestricted MC Licence is essential. An Apply Fatigue Management Strategies accreditation would be an advantage, although not essential.

Successful applicants are required to complete a Company Induction which also includes a Driver’s medical with drug & alcohol screen.

For further information please contact Col Weeding on 03 5051 0152.

Web based applications for this position can be submitted by visiting gtsfreight.com.au and clicking on the employment tab.

Email: dmt@gtsfreight.com.au

CAREERS AND TRAINING 51

BIGRIGS.COM.AU FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13 2020

PACCAR Australia: A place to call home for Ohio native

A TRIP from her home city of Cincinnati, Ohio, to Australia sparked the start of a flourishing career down under for Becki Jones, who is Lease and Rental Manager at PACCAR Australia’s PacLease division in Laverton, Victoria.

“I originally moved here for fun but decided I wanted to stay longer. In Ohio I was working with a transport rental and leasing company as well. I started in Columbus, Ohio, then two years in was promoted to a management role in Atlanta. I learnt from the ground up, doing service work on the trucks, then going down a sales operation path and then into a management role. A contact I had from my previous position helped me get into my position at PACCAR,” she said.

Though it wasn’t a very tough sell, given she was one of the top sales reps in a pool of around 150 at the previous company she worked for in the US. When she arrived in Australia, there was a lot that was different to back home, but she quickly adapted. “When we went to the Northern Territory and passed

Becki Jones is Lease and Rental Manager at PACCAR Australia’s PacLease.

a road train, I just thought when is this thing going to end. We don’t have them in the States. The state I grew up in has snow and freezing temperatures, and I remember someone telling me to carry a pencil outside, not a pen, because the ink freezes and you can’t use it.”

As Lease and Rental Manager at PacLease, Jones works to fill the gaps in customer’s fleets – and as she explained, every day is different. “We sell full service leases, rentals and then contract maintenance.

I oversee the business development and operational side including getting new customers, maintaining existing customers and keeping fleets on the road. There’s never a day in my life where the same thing happens. Some days can be really hectic, but the biggest thing is knowing customers can count on you to get them out of a pickle. I love that I’m able to help customers continue to do business and ultimately succeed at whatever it is they are doing – especially in the current world with COVID. They say that without trucks, Australia stops;

THERE’S NEVER A DAY IN MY LIFE WHERE THE SAME THING HAPPENS. SOME DAYS CAN BE REALLY HECTIC, BUT THE BIGGEST THING IS KNOWING CUSTOMERS CAN COUNT ON YOU TO GET THEM OUT OF A PICKLE. I LOVE THAT I’M ABLE TO HELP CUSTOMERS CONTINUE TO DO BUSINESS AND ULTIMATELY SUCCEED AT WHATEVER IT IS THEY ARE DOING. BECKI JONES

and we never slowed down and instead got busier, but I love the diversity of my day.”

Along with her management role, Jones is also part of the PACCAR Australia Diversity Council. “A big focus of that is gender diversity, cultural diversity, as well as communication and awareness of diversity at PACCAR Australia and worldwide – and making sure PACCAR is a place people can feel at home.”

A FAMILY OWNED BUSINESS SINCE 1962 ARE HIRING!!!

Due to upcoming contracts and unprecedented demand we have the below roles available.

These are once in a lifetime opportunities, don’t hesitate as they won’t last long!

HEAVY HAULAGE CO-ORDINATOR

This is a role which has an Operational focus on compliance, monitoring, reporting and managing resources, including quoting jobs and engaging subcontractors. Your knowledge and drive will be rewarded by business growth and customer satisfaction in a supportive environment.

Central to your role will be:

Heavy haulage – including but not limited to oversized movements.

Interstate Transport both in-gauge and oversized.

Responsible for obtaining all permits through NHVR and local authorities etc.

Requirements:

CRANE HIRE SALES REPRESENTATIVE

We are currently looking for a highly motivated Sales Representative to join our team. The successful applicant will be required to develop sales strategies to attract new customers and service our existing customer base. Membrey’s have a fleet of cranes including - Unic mini cranes, 13t Kato bubble, 20t - 40t Frannas, 40t 55t 90t 100t 130t, 200t 250t and 350t Liebherr cranes.

Responsibilities will include:

• Conduct site inspections • Find and create new leads • Build strong active relationships • Prepare lift studies and SWMS The successful candidate will have proven sales experience, be able to establish quick rapport with customers, have good time management skills, be able to work within a team and autonomously and be computer literate. Crane industry experience essential.

MULTI-TALENTED PILOT You must have:

• Full drivers license • Able to work extremely (with clean history) flexible hours • HR license would be • Stay away from home for advantageous extended periods • Pilots license or desire to • Based in Melbourne, obtain by training preferably south east • Reliable • Be keen to learn This role will not be exclusively for pilot work only, you will be a member of a bigger team. This means you are happy to do what it takes to keep the wheels on the cog spinning. Variety will be abundant and you won’t mind getting your hands dirty!

• Have at least three years’ experience in a similar role.

• Have a strong knowledge of open trailer transport specifically oversized heavy haulage loads, with an exposure to the resources, manufacturing and civil sector preferable but not essential.

• Strong knowledge of compliance • Ability to create TMP’s and complete Route surveys • Strong focus on and knowledge of chain of responsibility legislation.

• Understanding of day to day quoting, following up on quotes and winning of jobs. Your primary accountability will be for the successful and profitable execution of projects and tasks of all sizes and scopes within your area, prioritising heavy haulage shifts.

HC/MC DRIVERS You must have:

• HC or MC licence • Red/white card • Good knowledge of the Melbourne metro area • Strong work ethic and be reliable • Be available for overtime and flexible start times • Willing to supply a copy of driver history and conviction report Any of the following would be advantageous: Machinery relocation experience, Heavy Haulage experience MSIC or RIW cards, Forklift licence a bonus No two days are ever the same at Membrey’s, from local movements of machinery to wind farms and gantries we are always looking for our next challenge and the right people to step up to these challenges with us.

To apply please email your resume to employment@mtch.com.au. Please be aware that due to large number of applicants only those chosen for interviews will be contacted.

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