Q&A: Noelene Watson, ATA Chair

After three months in the role, ATA Chair Noelene Watson speaks with trucksales.com.au on her new responsibilities and the challenges that lie ahead

The name Noelene Watson will be familiar to most in the Australian trucking industry. As the head of refrigerated freight firm Don Watson Transport, she took the reins of the company in 1994 under the most unexpected and tragic of circumstances – after her husband, Don Watson, was killed in a motor racing accident at Mount Panorama.

In the years since, Don Watson Transport has flourished. The company now comprises 85 trucks and around 160 staff, plus cold stores in Sydney and Wodonga in addition to its headquarters in Bacchus Marsh, about 50km to Melbourne's west.

While her day-to-day role in running Don Watson Transport obviously keeps her busy, Noelene also finds time to give back to the industry that has sustained her and her family through the years. A member of the Australian Trucking Association (ATA) for 10 years, she was also previously involved with NatRoad, where she was on the board for nine years and was treasurer for five.

While that involvement with NatRoad ended a few years ago, she recently assumed the post of ATA Chair – a position that she official assumed from March 26, 2014.

As ATA Chair, Noelene is charged with setting the association's strategic direction as it represents the industry's interests at a federal level, among other roles, while the implementation of the ATA's policies and programs falls under the remit of ATA Chief Executive, Stuart St Clair.

trucksales.com.au caught up with Noelene at Hamilton Island, Queensland, on the eve of the ATA's Trucking Australia 2014 conference, to learn a little more of her hopes for the future of the Australian truck industry and the difficulties with which it is currently faced…

Trucksales.com.au: Noelene, what was you motivation for taking on the role of Chair?

Noelene Watson: The whole board is there to give back to the industry. Everyone on the board has had a wonderful working life in the industry; we've had good times and bad times but it's just nice to be able to give something back.

TS: What do you think are the most pressing issues facing the industry today?

NW: The biggest issue we face is getting the NHVR [National Heavy Vehicle Regulator] working correctly and working so that we do only have one regulator. It's a huge task and we fully support the NHVR's new CEO [Sal Petroccitto] – we want to work with him to ensure it does happen.

Also, we have to work with road enforcement to ensure that our drivers and operators are treated the way they should be. Sometimes drivers out on the road aren't treated as they should be and then that comes back onto the transport companies – they lose drivers because they're not treated with respect on the road, which then adds to driver shortages.

There are different ebbs and flows in our industry as far as driver numbers go, with the mining industry taking a lot of our workforce – a few years ago there were massive driver shortages. But now we see the mining industry coming off its high. Driver numbers are slowly coming back but there are still shortages.

That's only because freight is growing, so I think we'll always need more drivers. I think we'll always have driver shortages because the freight task is growing.

TS: What sort of strategies do we need to be employing to attract more people to the industry?

NW: We need to raise the productivity of the vehicles on the road. We need to see two and three trailers behind one prime mover; instead of just one B-double you could have road trains going up the Hume. But we've got to work with the community and with the regulators to ensure that the community knows these are safe vehicles to have on the road.

TS: What do you hope to achieve in your time as Chair? Are there some issues that are close to your heart, perhaps?

NW: I'd like to work to improve the perception of our industry across the wider community.

We have to work with the regulators to get that out there; there's been a lot of bad publicity surrounding our industry over the past 12 to 18 months.

There have been some very sad accidents and that's tainted our industry, so we've got to work around our image.

TS: You must be very busy with the running of Don Watson Transport. How do you fit in your ATA duties too?

NW: I've got really good staff; we restructured quite a bit in the office so it allows me the time I need [to fulfil the duties of ATA Chair].

Plus I don't have to go home and cook for anybody, so that makes it a lot easier. A single person can do things that someone with a young family can't, and at this time in my life I've got the time to do it.

The only thing that tugs at the heart is I've got little grandchildren, so they have to fit in at the weekends.

TS: What are your thoughts on the latest federal budget and its implications for road freight?

NW: We were really disappointed that the government didn't accept the NTC finding that our industry was being overcharged. We understood that the government has an issue with its budget because of what's happened over the last seven years but it was disappointing for our industry that we didn't get the money back and that we're going to continue to be overcharged.

TS: The Heavy Vehicle National Law and NHVR have obviously had some teething issues. How do you feel the NHVR has addressed those issues in the time since?

NW: I think it's acted as quickly as any corporation could act. It's just appointed a new CEO and he's come in with a lot of experience. He has a wonderful personality that I think will allow him to deal well with the industry; he knows our industry and he seems very committed to making it [the NHVR] work.

TS: As ATA Chair, how do you measure your success?

NW: [laughs] In two years' time they won't vote me back in! Look, I don't think the role can really be measured. Our previous Chair, David Simon, was an exceptional industry representative; he was across every aspect of transport in Australia and he was able to speak on every facet of it. I can't, I don’t know all of those things, so my role will be different to David's.

I don't think you can actually measure it [success in this role]. I don't think you tick off a list and say, 'I won this' and 'I won that'; in our industry it takes a long time to achieve something – nothing happens overnight.

It's all down to a lot of work by the secretariat and a lot of lobbying on the issues. The board gets taken in at the last minute after all of the hard work has been done by the secretariat – the minister might say "Yes, we understand what's happening" and we might walk out feeling wonderful, when it's the secretariat that's done all the hard work.

TS: If you could choose to be remembered for one thing during your tenure as Chair, what would it be?

NW: I'd really like our drivers to be acknowledged as professionals and to be treated with respect on the road.

In regard to my drivers [at Don Watson Transport], in 90 per cent of cases I'd be happy to bring them home and have dinner with them. There'd be 10 per cent who are a bit of a rabbit and I'd think, 'How did you get in here' [laughs], but that's it – the other 90 per cent are fantastic family men who are out there doing a hard job.

They're away from their families and it is a hard job, but they're doing it for the community. Fair enough they get good money and they drive nice trucks, but they're just good men.

We had an incident up near Inverell (NSW) earlier this year. I got an email from a financier in Inverell, a woman, and she wanted to congratulate me on my drivers. On the previous afternoon she had broken down on a back road on the way down to Inverell from Brisbane, on her way to do a week's work.

Anyway, the first truck went past and the next thing a Don Watson truck stopped and the driver said to her, "I've heard you've been stuck here – the other truck that went past you told me you'd broken down so I've stopped to see if you're alright."

She told him she'd called the NRMA and that they were coming, and he said, "Well, there are two more trucks coming; I'll ring them and tell them to keep an eye out for you."

When the last truck came through he stopped and asked her how long it was until the NRMA was due to arrive, because he was the final truck and he didn't want her sitting out there all alone.

That's what truck drivers do but you don't hear about it. I wouldn't have known either – the drivers would never have told me. I got the email so then we had to go back and find out who the drivers were to tell them that we'd received this email thanking them.

Those sorts of things you don't hear about; you only tend to hear about the bad things.

For more information on the ATA and its activities, visit www.atatruck.net.au.

Q&amp;A: Noelene Watson, ATA Chair

Tags

Q&A: Noelene Watson, ATA Chair