Robert Gunning will work alongside LBCA general manager Bianca Brownlow.
One of the country’s most experienced transport association executives has taken on a senior role at the Livestock and Bulk Carriers Association (LBCA).
Robert Gunning has joined the association in the new role of executive director and will support incumbent general manager Bianca Brownlow.
Gunning was the inaugural executive director of the Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association (ALRTA) and spent 20 years in the role from 1987 to 2006.
LBCA president Jock Carter says the group’s committee had been working the last few months to bring Gunning on board.
He says Gunning brings a wealth of experience to the LBCA and builds on the association’s already strong office team.
“Robert will be focusing on promoting the policy goals of the association with government and other key players,” Carter says.
“Robert will work with Bianca Brownlow, who will continue to run the association on a day-to-day basis, deal with members issues and organise conferences. Robert will work part-time, on an as-needed basis, within agreed limits.”
Gunning facilitated the one-day heavy vehicle forum held at Walcha in New South Wales yesterday and did the same at the LBCA’s 2015 conference at Jindabyne in March.
The Walcha event involved industry representatives, truck operators, drivers, politicians and bureaucrats coming together to discuss pressing issues in the livestock transport sector.
Carter says the forum gave the LBCA a clear roadmap on how to deliver major productivity and safety improvements.
NSW roads minister Duncan Gay and mayors from regional councils were among those in attendance.
“Our job as an industry is to work with local government and local communities to make sure we can clear away the grit in the system – the grit being certain bridges that cannot be crossed, or a journey that can’t be commenced or finished with the right sort of vehicle from the farm gate,” Carter says.
“The fact is transport only works when you can seamlessly move from where freight originates to where it needs to go.
“Not having access, for instance, to the last mile leading to grain milling site brings the whole chain down”.
The LBCA says it is planning to hold another heavy vehicle forum in Bathurst in March 2016.