Joining a transport association is the best way to get your voice heard on issues affecting the industry
In February the National Road Freighters Association (NRFA) held its conference and annual general meeting in Dubbo. The previous AGM had been held in Rockhampton and I had been unable to attend and Dubbo had been chosen as the site of the next AGM and conference. Once it started getting closer, venues and plans had to be cemented. Being local, I offered to make some enquiries and came back to the board with a number of possible venues, prices etc and a majority decision was then made on the Macquarie Inn.
I also spoke with local papers and did some radio interviews prior to the event along with approaching some local businesses to contribute to the auction to be held as part of the dinner on the night. Thanks very much to Inland Truck Centres and Tracserv of Dubbo for contributing, along with others approached by other NRFA members.
Unfortunately, I then missed the event, being away for filming for our next road safety video with caravans and roadtrains. Stephen McCarthy from Whiteline Television had been looking at dates for filming but the issue of getting a triple roadtrain en route had proved vexing. In the end, Stephen spoke with the owner of ABC Transport and it was agreed we could work with one of their triples on a Saturday after coming out of Adelaide for Darwin. He would the still have time to be there Monday.
The catch was the only weekend that ABC were happy with was the same weekend as the NRFA conference. This was only confirmed a month before the event. Flights and accommodation were all booked and, of course, there were others involved besides myself. We needed to get this shoot done to fit into our delivery schedule of releasing it at the Stone The Crows Festival in Wagga Wagga at Easter. I was committed to this and could not back out, however the NRFA accepted the situation as also being important for our industry.
I was certainly disappointed, having contributed to the conference. Also, it was the first event like this for many years in Dubbo since the Australian Road Train Association (ARTA) had been folded into NatRoad. The speakers at the NRFA dinner, which I had also been involved in selecting, were my boss Rod Pilon and 2017 Ted Pickering award winner John Morris. Rod was the inaugural President of the ARTA and John was the CEO for many years. I believe their talk was one of the highlights of the night and I am sorry I missed it.
I had given my apologies for the event in being away for filming and when I did, was asked if I was happy to again be on the board as I have been for many years now and would I consider a nomination for vice-president. I was happy to be nominated but it would be up to members to decide. My daughter and her partner did attend the dinner in my absence as I did feel I had not fulfilled my part, but you can only do so much.
Be involved
I got a phone call on the Saturday afternoon to confirm I had been elected VP and then another during the conference dinner that I had been awarded the NRFA Noel Porter Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to the transport industry. My daughter accepted for me and I am told she did so very well, considering she had no idea she would have to speak.
The aim of telling you all this is to speak of the NRFA and the fact I do see value in being part of an association. Whatever group you see as being closest to fulfilling your needs, you need to be a part of it and not just a member. For some it could be the Transport Workers Union, for others NatRoad and through them or the state associations, to the Australian Trucking Association. No association or group will succeed without members and none of them will achieve anything without not just having the member numbers, but in having people truly involved.
While the NRFA has been around now for 10 years, it is still a grass roots group and has mostly been owner-operators. As an employed driver I hope I have brought both another perspective and a wider view to discussions. One of the things I have spoken about with president Gordon McKinlay, at his initiation, was the need to perhaps widen the base and have more company drivers involved. Outside of the union, there is really nowhere else for a driver to go to make a difference, to have a say, and to be involved.
As most of you know I have done all this as an individual for over 20 years now and it can be a lonely and thankless task, as a driver said to me on the UHF recently.
Some of you who have written submissions and made the effort to contribute will have an idea, but there are not many hours left in the week with what I do now. That is my choice and I will continue to put that effort in while I feel both the need and the chance that I can see things made better, whether large or small. But if you are part of a group, you can achieve more.
May I ask you, what group do you see helping you? Have you made the effort to step up and be involved or are you sitting back and letting the others do the work? Maybe you should look at joining the National Road Freighters Association and helping them achieve more. What do you say?