The Australian Trucking Association today re-elected Noelene Watson as its chair for a second term. Mrs Watson was elected unopposed at the ATA’s annual general meeting in Canberra.
Mrs Watson is the managing director of Don Watson Transport and has a deep understanding of the industry both as an operator and at an association level. She was first elected as the chair of the ATA in 2014, after many years of experience on the ATA board of management.
Her company, Don Watson Transport, is one of Australia’s leading refrigerated logistics companies. It has depots in Melbourne, Wodonga, Sydney and Brisbane and cold stores in Wodonga and Sydney, and is a member of TruckSafe, the industry’s premier safety accreditation scheme.
Also at the meeting, the ATA elected new directors David Smith and Sharon Middleton to its board.
David Smith is the President of the Livestock and Rural Transporters Association of South Australia, a member of the Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Australia National Council, and Managing Director of D&S Smith Haulage in Tumby Bay, SA.
“It’s critical that we encourage and promote chain of responsibility and safety in our own industry,” Mr Smith said.
“I look forward to working with the Chair and the Board to ensure the ATA is really connected with the grassroots of the trucking industry.”
Sharon Middleton is the President of the South Australian Road Transport Association, and the owner and Director of SA business Whiteline Transport.
“As someone who still actively drives high productivity vehicles across the Nullarbor, I get to see firsthand the challenges faced by small to medium operators in rural and remote Australia. Their issues are quite unique, and need to be accounted for in national decisions,” Mrs Middleton said.
Andrew Garrety, Kathy Williams, Mike Almond and Austin Vella were re-elected unopposed to the board, and Andrew Garrety was re-elected unopposed as the ATA’s secretary/treasurer.
The Council also paid tribute to the ATA’s two retiring directors, Trevor Martyn and Gordon Martin.
“Trevor, you’ve been contributing heavily for 10 years now - we’ve seen you step in, not having a background with the ATA, and picking up with a new CEO. The time and effort you had to put in to that was enormous,” ATA past Chair David Simon said.
“It was a hell of a contribution – timewise and financially – and I’d like to thank you for that.”
“Gordon has contributed greatly to the ATA over the past two years,” Mrs Watson said.
“He’s just an on the road guy - when we needed some advice or a little bit of knowledge about what’s happening out there he was there for us.”
