ATA hosts ATA Live

It may have been markedly different from its usual 'in-person' conferences and events, but the Australian Trucking Association held its first web-based industry showcase yesterday (September 23), and it went off without a hitch.

The COVID-19 pandemic may have sidelined all manner of events and activities this year, from the Olympic Games down. But while the Australian Trucking Association hasn't been able to stage its annual Trucking Australia and Technical and Maintenance conferences in 2020, it has instead held its first online industry event: ATA Live.

Hosted by TV presenter Mark Beretta, ATA Live comprised many of the elements that have made the representative body's regular conferences a success over the years, but in an online environment that allowed anyone in the world to log on and learn about a wide variety of pertinent trucking industry issues (and all for free).

After an official welcome by Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and ATA Chair David Smith, topics ranged from the Daimler Future Leaders programme to the Bridgestone Bandag Highway Guardian award, suicide prevention and mental health initiative R U OK? and its support by MaxiTRANS, to the ATA's SafeT360 safety truck, which delivers a virtual reality experience to teens to illustrate the importance of safe driving practices and the need for extra care around heavy vehicles.

There was an insightful address by former Lonely Planet chief Gus Balbontin on how to better embrace change and adapt in a rapidly evolving environment, along with a panel discussion by former ABC Q&A host Tony Jones that focused on the industry's hot topics, especially the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has impacted trucking.

The panellists comprised Catherine King (Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development), Professor Catherine Bennett (Chair of Epidemiology, Deakin University), Gary Mahon (CEO, Queensland Trucking Association), Angela Welsh (Director, Straightshot Transport), and Brendan Richards (National Sector Leader of Transport and Logistics, KPMG Australia).

Les and Judy Blennerhassett of Queensland-based Blenner's Transport were the latest inductees to the Kenworth Legends Hall of Fame, while a spectacular 1946 Ford Jailbird – a hybrid restoration carried out by transport insurance specialist NTI with the help of Isuzu and a range of specialists – was auctioned off live, with all proceeds going to Motor Neuron Disease Australia.

The event culminated in the ATA's National Trucking Industry Awards, with winners announced for the National Training Excellence Award, the Trucksafe John Kelly Memorial Award, the National Professional Driver of the Year Award, the National Trucking Industry Woman of the Year Award, and for Outstanding Contribution to the Trucking Industry.

All in all, ATA Live successfully served up a smorgasbord of interesting and informative trucking industry issues in an easy-to-digest, online format.

One of the major themes to emerge was how Australia's trucking industry has shown great resilience, agility and commitment in meeting the many challenges of COVID-19. ATA Live not only shone a light on the industry's grit and determination, it served as an example itself of how organisations can and must adapt to meet the challenge of coronavirus head-on.