The Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association has introduced its newly appointed Executive Director, Rachel Smith, and PowerTorque had the opportunity to ask the new boss at the ALRTA a few questions.
In the media release announcing Rachel’s appointment ALRTA National President Scott McDonald said that the ALRTA has a long history of punching above its weight across an ambitious work program.
“I believe that Rachel has the right mix of skills and experience to continue that tradition. I congratulate her on the appointment and look forward to working closely into the future,” he said.
PowerTorque invited Rachel to share with us a little about her background and what she is looking forward to as the Executive Director of the ALRTA.
Rachel told us that she grew up in regional Queensland in Kalbar and Boonah. As the daughter of small business owners, who established two businesses in recruitment and disability services, she has a real understanding of the pressures and issues involved in operating a business in regional Australia.
Rachel is a government relations and policy professional who’s worn a few hats over the years including working in recruitment early in her career, and then progressing into member organisations.
“I’ve had some exciting opportunities including working on the 2017 affordable housing budget with the then Treasurer Morrison through to being the project manager on the negotiation of a $23.5 billion agreement with the Commonwealth whilst working for the Pharmacy Guild,” said Rachel.
“One of my career highlights would be my time at the Australian Logistics Council, where I gained a strong appreciation for the complexity of transport and logistics issues as well as having the privilege of being the Interim CEO for a time.”
Rachel sees a lot of synergy between the issues that impact the large logistics operators represented by ALC and the specialist livestock transporters that she will now represent as the Executive Director of ALRTA.
“I thoroughly enjoy the dynamism of transport policy,” said Rachel. “It’s an issues rich environment so I’m looking forward to tackling some of the challenges. Australia has the most urbanised populations in the world. 90 per cent of Australians live in cities compared to 82 per cent in the US and 56 per cent in China. Australian public policy is therefore pretty city-centric in design. One of the roles of ALRTA is to ensure that policies not only work for the cities, but also regional and rural Australia.”
Rachel commented that it will definitely be a case of ‘how to eat an elephant’, one bite at time.
“Some key issues that industry is currently faced with are the proposed Employee-like workplace reforms (which run the risk being RSRT all over again), the phasing out of live sheep exports by sea, the review of the Heavy Vehicle National Law, reduced road funding, heavy vehicle road safety issues as well as ensuring the infrastructure (such as increasing the number of rest stops) is present to ensure rural transport can operate efficiently and safely,” said Rachel. “It’s a critical time for industry with lots of reform happening. I’m looking forward to diving in.
“I was attracted to the ED role with ALRTA as it’s a well-respected organisation that makes a real difference in rural and regional Australia, so it is exciting to be part of that. I am really looking forward to working with the business operators, both large and small, and the state associations, who are the members of ALRTA and to reconnecting with colleagues in the transport and logistics area so as to advance the interests of the membership.”
Rachel Smith commenced in the Executive Director role following the ALRTA-LRTAWA Joint National and State Conference 4-5 August 2023.
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