When Liz Schmidt applied to become the first female secretary of the Livestock Hauliers Association of Queensland in 1990 she was told she would not be considered because she had four children. Fast forward to today and Liz is now Mayor of Charters Towers Regional Council. Her CV paints the picture of an industrious, informed and devoted woman who cares deeply about trucking and transport, her community, her family and rural issues.
With a busy schedule and a host of issues and hardships that were affecting truckers and trucking families that demanded her attention, Liz didn’t have time to buy into archaic opinions about a woman’s role.
“I guess it’s a reflection of who I am, I never saw myself as that woman amongst all those men. I just saw myself as another one of them. I guess I overlooked any of the judgement or criticism because I had somewhere to go, I had a goal and wasting my time worrying about being a boy or a girl and whether I was accepted or not never entered my mind, I just continued to do what I did," Liz says emphatically.
When Liz talks about what that goal was, she doesn’t hesitate.
“My goal was to improve the lot of transporters. People said it was agri-politics, but for me it was just about taking care of our people.”
“My drive was to be that voice for people who were unable to or unwilling to stand up for themselves.”
So does she feel like she has met her goal, have things improved?
“I think people are being encouraged more to stand up and speak for themselves. I think there’s an opportunity across the association, be it State, Federal or the ATA [Australian Trucking Association] for people of grass roots level to stand up and speak for themselves, that hasn’t always been the case.”
“There was a lot of drive from the bigger companies at the top, or the perception was there was that drive and the smaller fellows didn’t get a say, but I think that’s way more encouraged now, smaller trucker operators can have the same voice as the bigger ones, they just have to stand up and articulate that."
On a big picture scale Liz says the biggest change she has seen in the transport industry has been a move away from the ‘them and us’ mentality.
“There was the transport industry and the regulators or the enforcement and there was a great void between the operators and those people who maintain the rules. We closed that gap, we now have a working relationship particularly with the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator. We are on the same page and if not we have leadership around how we find that direction."
“These forums around the country are a prime example of how keen the Heavy Vehicle Regulator is to keen to not only get industry in the room but also the likes of local government in the same room to make sure we all hear the same rules and have input into the same concerns and questions, rather them and us fighting about what we didn’t know."
“We are making huge progress. There’s a good understanding that the transport industry aren’t the bad guys coming here to wreck our roads, they are providing a service for our communities that we need to respect and help them do the best they can whilst protecting the infrastructure.”
With regards to her first year of her first term as Mayor of Charters Towers Regional Council, Liz is charmingly self- deprecating.
“I’ve waited for the first three months for someone to come in and tell me there’d been a mistake and I’m in the wrong office."
Becoming Mayor, Liz says, hasn’t removed her from the issues and hands-on work that has been central to her career and work.
“I now have the opportunity to deliver important messages to other levels of governments from transport and local government. It’s a very important partnership between the transport industry and local government.”
So what are the issues now, what is at the top of the list for local government and transport?
“I think there are so many more trucks on the Flinders and the Gregory developmental road we need to make sure our community is not adversely impacted by the fact there are more large vehicles on our roads than there have been previously.”
Some of Mayor Liz Schmidt’s achievements:
- First Female Secretary of the Livestock and Rural Transport Association
- Former President of the Australian Livestock and Rural Transport Association (ARLTA)
- Winner of the Cummin’s Road Transport Industry Woman of the Year Award
- Former President of the QLD Livestock Transporters Association.
- Member of the LTAQ Board of management for over 30 years
- Local area delegate for the LTAQ
- Former secretary of the Cattleman’s Union
- Member of the Townsville Transport Safety Committee
- Member of Agforce, Transport Women Australia and the Road Freight Industry Council
You can hear Liz Schmidt speak at the 2017 LGAQ Heavy Vehicle Forum on the 26th of May in Townsville. Register here.