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

On 11 October last year I had the privilege of attending the Lights on the Hill Trucking Memorial Annual Memorial Day at Lake Apex in my electorate and on 28 February this year I had the privilege of attending the annual convoy of Lights on the Hill. Lights on the Hill is a truck-driving and coach-driving memorial and, sadly, at this point in time in this calendar year, several more names will be added of people who died in the truck-driving and coach-driving industry. Those who work in this industry make enormous sacrifices. We cannot get our produce to the markets or our goods to the shops without the efforts of truckies and their families. This memorial at Lake Apex in Gatton honours their memory.

I want to pay tribute to: Kathy White, who is the founder and chief architect of the Lights on the Hill Memorial; her husband, Garry, who has worked for 30 years in the industry; and their wonderful daughter Dionne, who has worked so hard for Lights on the Hill and the local committee. I also want to recognise Andrew Morrell of Advanced Additives in Ipswich, a great business, and David Middleton of Quality Connection, Ipswich, for their sponsorship.

It is a wonderful memorial. It gets its name from the late Slim Dusty’s song, and his family remain actively involved as patrons of the venture. On 28 February, 700 trucks travelled from Toowoomba and Brisbane to the Gatton Showground, often with pictures of those who had died in the last year, with their dates of birth and dates of death. This activity raised $74,000, with a profit of $54,000. The Lights on the Hill Committee donated $1,000 to the Victorian bushfire appeal and a further $1,000 to the town of Whittlesea in aid of their country music festival to enable them to rebuild their local community and enjoy something in this very difficult time. A further $1,000 was donated to the North Queensland flood victims. An auction raised between $4,000 and $6,000. The Lights on the Hill Memorial is a sad event, but we honour those people who have given their lives to help our community, our country and their families. It is sad that we have to put more names on the memorial this year, and we should always do everything we can to ensure that safety is of the utmost importance and that the laws of this country are designed to protect those who help us so much in the truck-driving industry.

I want to pay tribute to the committee and to the community which has seen the growth in this convoy from 89 vehicles in 2004 to over 700 vehicles in 2009. It is a tribute to the local community of Gatton and all those involved.