As we do for every new year, we wish for things that should be attainable but seem to stay just out of reach, such as better infrastructure, better road safety, more and better facilities for drivers, and more flexibility around fatigue just to name a few.
Then I look at what is happening elsewhere around the world and think that we do not have it so bad after all.
Maybe we just need to work and communicate better to understand the needs and constraints of the other parties in our transport and logistics world.
Transport Women Australia Limited is looking forward to a very big year in 2024 with all of our normal events such as our year opener, which is a joint event with Divall’s Earthmoving & Bulk Haulage at Goulburn, a yet to be named Brisbane event in February, celebrating IWD in several States and then our Living the Dream Conference from May 30 until June 1, with some exciting keynote speakers soon to be announced.
Plus, we have a full programme of great speaker sessions and panels. We then have the Dream Maker Awards at the Transport Women Unite Red Ball in conjunction with the Festival of Transport at Alice Springs in August.
During this time, we will be hosting our Learning Initiatives Breakfasts whenever we have availability and sponsorship, we will continue to include our Canberra breakfast on the program and will of course have our pre-ATA lunch and pre-TTA event.
Our Creating Connections Mentoring Program has been relaunched and we have mentors available. We will be nominating our members for awards at the RFNSW Awards, the Women in Industry Awards, the Australian Trucking Awards, the Australian Freight Industry Awards, and any other awards for which they are eligible.
We will continue to attend several truck shows and convoys throughout the year and continue to strengthen our school initiative in NSW.
We have so many wonderful volunteers participating in this program, and it is wonderful to bring the transport and logistics industry to the attention of more young people every year.
We will be celebrating 25 years in 2024 and have two exciting new announcements for you in the new year, of which the board is very proud and I am looking forward to bringing these projects to fruition.
Of course, the Driving the Difference Scholarships will continue to allow women to advance their careers in the industry and we will go back to previous winners to ask how it has changed their roles in the industry.
We will be throwing a 25th Anniversary party on November 16, 2024, to celebrate the 25 years of TWAL and we are looking forward to a great night with a venue still to be chosen.
We hope to see you there so save the date now.
- Jacquelene Brotherton is the chair of Transport Women Australia Ltd.