Monday, December 1, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
We are creating a DRIVING FORCE to find out the truth
Friday, May 2, 2008
A driving force
During school holidays, her dad would take the family to the country to visit clients, some of them small operators running one or two trucks.
As a treat, she would be allowed to sit in the cabin and watch as the truckie pulled and pushed the gear stick as he carted a load of sheep to the rail head at Burra.
Today, Ms Gordon, now 54 and the mother of two children and two grandchildren, is appropriately described as "South Australia's most senior truckie".
As chief executive of Macklin Transport and president of the South Australian Road Transport Association, (SARTA), she daily gets the chance to hang around big rigs and smell the diesel, rekindling those childhood memories.
More importantly, she is now senior advocate for South Australia's trucking industry, which she is watching grow beyond recognition during the state's expanding mining boom.
Ironically, she has yet to get behind the wheel of a big rig despite being surrounded by them each day.
But it is something she intends to rectify as soon as time allows.
"I respect the industry so much that I believe I have a duty to acquire the skill, to understand the nature of the task that we are asking people to do for us each day," Ms Gordon says.
"So I am going to do my heavy combination licence training - as soon as I get a break in my usual job!"
Ms Gordon joined Macklin Transport as a young administrative assistant in the early 1980s.
"Again, it was through my father, who I was helping in his tax consultancy business when Leon Macklin asked if he could help incorporate his business back in 1989," she says.
"I was asked to facilitate the deal and I joined the company."
That was 25 years ago. Today, in her current roles she understands the problems the transport industry faces but is confident the road ahead is looking good for large and small operators alike.
She is passionate about women working in the industry, aware they have been there for a long time, usually in support roles, doing the books for their husbands.
"Today, there are women working in practically all the big transport companies," Ms Gordon says.
"Many companies, including Macklin, are making an active effort to employ more female drivers.
"It's a generational evolution. As the sons and then grandsons take over the companies from their fathers the attitude towards women is changing for the better.
"What we need to do as an industry right now is to entice young women and men into the business. You won't get them if you just say, 'come in and drive a truck for us'.
"But if you show them the latest high-tech rigs, and say 'we'll give you training to drive and look after this state-of-the-art $500,000 truck and trailer combination', then you're giving them something significant to aspire to."
Ms Gordon believes the economic effects of the pending mining boom will flood the transport sector with opportunity.
"Right now we are in an exploration phase in the resources sector, and the potential is huge," she says.
"We are facilitating the importation of crushing plants, transmission equipment, miners' accommodation - there's so much stuff happening across the State that is going to help our industry become more profitable."
Ms Gordon says rapid technological advances, regulatory changes, and greater demands from efficiency-focused clients have all contributed to the creation of a "new breed" of transport careers - careers for which one's gender has become irrelevant.
"New scheduling systems, vehicle and communications technologies, accreditation rules, safety procedures, human resources practices - you name it, practically every area of the business has changed, and with it the duties and skills required of its staff," she says.
"With the state on the verge of major mineral exports, huge growth in the containerised grain market, and growing imports of electronics and all sorts of other goods, there's a major need for all transport professionals - not just drivers."
Trucking is a tough world but Ms Gordon has proved many times, she fits right in and has the right stuff.
"Self-confidence, a touch of bravery, perhaps the ability to stay calm and not rise to anger too easily is what you need," she says.
"I think I learned a lot growing up in a family of 12, but I was lucky. My parents were focused on giving all their children a good education, which usually breeds self-confidence.
Friday, March 7, 2008
CMV Group's Bill Lane (left), Memorial Driver of the Year winner Ross Migga, his wife Elaine and SARTA president Gemma Gordon
Year winner Ross Migga,his wife Elaine and
SARTA president Gemma Gordon (Macklin Transport)
Give us our fair share: Conlon
February 18, 2007 12:15am
THE State Government will demand a hefty portion of the Federal Government's reported $19 billion road funding package this week, claiming SA has been chronically underfunded in the past.
Transport Minister Patrick Conlon will send a letter of demand, jointly signed by industry groups including the SA Road Transport Association (SARTA) and the RAA, outlining priorities for the federal funding.
However, Mr Conlon said he feared the package could be used for "pork-barrelling marginal seats in the eastern states" during a federal election year.
Federal Cabinet is expected to approve the $19 billion, five-year Auslink II package this week.
Much of the initial spending is expected to be done in Queensland, Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd's home state and a crucial election battleground.
Speaking at the SARTA annual conference at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre yesterday, Mr Conlon said he would lobby hard for a large cut of the cash.
"If there is any justice in the world, we would get a large proportion of it because we have been underfunded year on year," he said. "My fear is with an election looming, the eastern states will be in there consuming it in marginal federal electorates.
"It is imperative it does not go towards pork-barrelling in marginal seats in the eastern states.
"The Commonwealth will hear the same list of priorities being argued by SA industry groups as well as us, so speaking with one voice will give us a very good argument."
Mr Conlon said SA was set to be an engine room of the national economy with its massive defence and mining projects.
"They will need substantial investment in infrastructure, and it is time the Commonwealth made a proper investment in this part of the world because it will give them a return in national growth," he said.
The focus of the SARTA conference was the challenges presented by the forecast that the volume of road freight would double in the next decade.
Several delegates took Mr Conlon to task over the lack of maintenance of minor and rural roads, while SARTA president Gemma Gordon called on the Government to release a transport plan. Mr Conlon said many people did not realise the extent of transport spending underway.
"We have the biggest infrastructure rollout in the state in its history now underway," he said.
"There are $30 billion worth of major projects on the go or on the horizon, with defence and mining being big new parts of the picture.
"Add grain, aquaculture and wine, and there are undoubtedly major challenges and opportunities in front of us.
"In 2006-07, we are spending $370 million, including $74 million on road maintenance, and if we had more, we would spend it."
Opposition infrastructure spokesman Martin Hamilton-Smith said a Liberal government would work with industry to produce a 20-year infrastructure plan – but it would not be released until after it had been elected.
"We will be consulting with stakeholders on priorities and will have a general outline for the election, but you can only put together the details of such a massive undertaking with the resources of government," he said.
Mr Conlon and Mr Hamilton-Smith clashed several times. "It's a bit like having a chihuahua biting at your ankles," Mr Hamilton-Smith quipped as Mr Conlon goaded him into supporting the Government's plan to have the Riddoch Highway declared a candidate for federal Auslink funding.
Hi Gemma
The letter will be private & confidential as this would be in your best interest.
