We are about to close nominations for the Rural Transport Rising Star 2024 award, last year, Amy Throckmorton, who works as an Operations Manager for TGR Transport in Geelong, running a fleet of company trucks and subcontractors hauling various loads around the country, won the award.
“I like the fact that the Rural Transport Rising Star award highlights the fact that we’re an industry that needs new people coming through in lots of different areas ,” said Amy after her win. “We only highlight truck drivers and you don’t see all the behind the scenes people that may handle things like scheduling. You don’t see the three am ridiculous phone calls, or any of that.
“My partner’s a diesel mechanic and even in that area now you don’t see any young guys coming through to work in the industry. People aren’t coming through as mechanics. It’s scary.
“I’m lucky I’ve got a boss who just thinks all this stuff is great and he’s happy to back all of this sort of stuff. At the end of the day you have to go with it, there’s no choice now, it’s become more and more about the people rather than about actually doing the damn job. It’s so important to remember that. It’s all of these flexible working conditions you have to deal with and in the past they didn’t exist.”
Asked what she enjoys most about her job, Amy pointed to the fact that she has a million things to do every day, she’s likes the variation every day and to work towards organising the chaos that a road transport operation often is.
PowerTorque encourages anyone who is involved in rural transport and knows someone who deserves recognition for the work they do, to download the nomination form.
Those who nominated an entrant for the 2023 award, is encouraged to nominate again for the 2024 award.
The entry criteria are simple:
- Entrants to be under 35 years.
- Will be working in a rural area or involved in rural transport
- They do not need to be a member of an industry association, but need to be nominated by an industry association member.
Entries opened at 9:00am Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) on Friday, 27 October 2023 and all entries must be received no later than 11.59pm AEST on Friday, 2 February 2024. Late entries will not be accepted.
Each finalist will be given a score based on the answers provided in each category of their application. The highest scorer will be announced as the winner at the ALRTA Conference on March 21 2024.
