Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 11 October 2008 I had the privilege and pleasure of being present at the Lights on the Hill Trucking Memorial Annual Memorial Day at Lake Apex at Gatton. Lights on the Hill is a non-profit organisation. The memorial wall is to recognise and represent those in the trucking and coach driving industry who have passed away in a truck or coach accident or by other means and for passengers who have passed away in those accidents. I would want to commend the committee who run the Lights on the Hill group, particularly Kathy White, the founder and organiser for the memorial, and her husband, Garry, who have been working in the truck driving industry for over 30 years and who have lost many friends along the way.

The day had the support of the local council, and I commend the Lockyer Valley Regional Council and Mayor Steve Jones. There were representatives from all levels of government present there. The name, curiously enough, comes from the Slim Dusty trucking song Lights on the Hill and Slim was a patron of the group. Joy McKean, Anne Kirkpatrick, John ‘The Ferret’ Moran and Travis Sinclair are all patrons. The committee exists to raise awareness of road safety for all in the transport industry and to help families who have gone through the difficult process of losing a loved one. It poured rain on the day, but they stood there in their many hundreds to honour those people who had lost their lives in the last 12 months. Sadly, dozens of people were added to the wall that day.

Truckies and their families make great sacrifices to benefit all of us. We are an island geographically but not financially, as we have witnessed in the last few weeks. Those who cart our produce along those lonely roads face tiredness and often hunger and separation from family and friends, and they do it for their families. They do it because they want the best for their families. They do it because they love their communities. They love their country, and their sacrifice is not unlike those who serve in the military on behalf of us. Theirs is a true communitarian spirit and we must always fight and agitate for greater safety on our roads. One death on the roads is one death too many. I pay tribute to Kathy White and Garry and the committee and I honour them and I honour those people who stood there in the pouring rain to remember those whom they had lost in the last 12 months. It is a tribute to the Lockyer Valley, to Kathy and Garry and to all those present that day.