Alison Byrnes (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I had the pleasure this week of catching up with the Peter Ernst, Head of Regional Ports at the Port Authority of New South Wales; Marika Calfas, Chief Executive Officer of NSW Ports; and Mike Gallacher, Chief Executive Officer of Ports Australia, here in Canberra.

We were talking about the growing number of women employed in our ports, and Peter told me about one of our local success stories. Ruby Peterlin, from Port Kembla, joined the Port Authority of New South Wales not long after completing her year 12 studies at Wollongong High School. At the time, she had no experience in the industry, but she has put in the hard work to complete her training requirements, including a Certificate III in Maritime Operations (Master up to 24m Near Coastal) as well as completing the MED 3.

I would also like to acknowledge and thank all of the Port Kembla staff who have mentored Ruby on her journey so far. Ruby's academic success was also recognised earlier this year when she was awarded the TAFE NSW Gili Award for the 2022 Supply Chain and eCommerce Student of the Year. She also received a Young Achievement Award at the Australian Shipping & Maritime Industry Awards hosted by the Daily Cargo News.

Nick Ross, southern NSW branch secretary of the MUA, who is also in Canberra this week, said that Ruby's success was a wonderful story for the maritime industry and an endorsement of Ruby's hard work to date. Ruby started as a trainee and is now a permanent part of the maritime workforce at Port Kembla. I give a huge congratulations to Ruby and I wish her well for her future career in a great industry.