So great to see money for rest areas in the budget, now we can hope to see that these are built swiftly with amenities, some shade and in the right places.
Although as we need them everywhere, we could build them anywhere and then more money to build even more would be gratefully accepted.
With all the flooding we are having throughout Australia now, so much money will have to be put back into repairing the roads or even rebuilding in some cases, so I am sure that they will expect us to contribute to making that happen.
Let us just hope the promised money for the rest areas does not get diverted elsewhere.
There are so many Australians suffering already from the high cost of living, with many of our farms underwater and people impacted by the flooding, there seems to be no relief in sight.
We need a plan that supports industries in need, those feeding us and keeping our country moving, and we need to stop spending money on unnecessary projects. Money that could be put back into roads, schools, hospitals, police, ambulance and essential services.
Transport Women Australia Limited has been busy over the last few weeks joining with the National Rural Women’s Coalition to get on board with the issues of women in rural and regional areas.
We have been shooting a video to promote TWAL to a greater audience so we can hopefully increase our sponsorship and find further funding to allow the organisation to continue to grow and to expand its programmes.
We have finalised plans for end of year functions to be held, beginning in Perth on November 22.
I will then be Zooming from the US, then we have Wodonga on November 29, the day I return to Australia, followed by Melbourne on December 1, Brisbane on December 6, Wollongong on December 7, Sydney on December 8 and Dubbo on December 14. Tickets are available now via trybooking.
Information is available on our social media or can be obtained by emailing chair@transportwomen.com.au.
The Driving The Difference scholarship applications have closed and the winning applicants will be announced on November 16 and will be presented with the certificates and cheques at the end of year functions closest to where they live.
We have had some amazing applications and it will be a big job trying to decide on just five recipients. It is always amazing to see how many women we have in our industry looking to further their education and the wide variety of subjects or courses they want to study, because our industry goes beyond the licence.
These scholarships allow a wide variety of courses and have no age restrictions, so we have a much broader field of choice for applicants and judges!
We are also working with other groups to bring the transport and logistics industry to schools, tradeshows and skills fairs.
We have other job programmes now interested in our Creating Connections mentoring program, we are expanding our Women Driving Transport Careers female licencing program, and will soon be offering a leadership programme too.
The big news is that we have signed off on our new website and the developers should have it ready in the coming weeks.
Keep a lookout on our social media.
- Jacquelene Brotherton is Chair of Transport Women Australia