Ipswich in Autumn 2021

COUNCIL’S DRIVE FOR CHANGE WITH COURT WIN

Belinda Janson is council’s only female waste truck driver but that is not expected to be the case for long. Ipswich City Council has won an exemption from the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC) under the Anti-Discrimination Act to advertise for females only to be recruited for a training program to obtain a Heavy Rigid licence needed to drive a waste truck. The submission stated that there are often socio-economic barriers faced by women seeking to meet the heavy rigid (HR) licence prerequisite as there are significant costs involved in obtaining the licence including specialised lessons, the cost of the licence itself and the time involved for the lessons. Women are recognised as being under represented across the transport industry and these measures aim to

reverse the inequality by assisting women to enter the industry.

Further planning will now be undertaken to form a driver training program that will involve free training provided to trainees to achieve a HR licence. Ms Janson said it was an interesting field to work in and offered job security. “Girls can do it just as good as guys so it will be great to get some more girls in,” she said. “It is harder for females to get into the industry as lot of people are under the assumption that females can’t drive trucks or big rigs or whatever the case may be, so it is a little bit harder for women but we are slowly seeing more out there which is good. “Just get in and give it a crack, its good fun.” Subscribe free to Ipswich First news alerts at Ipswichfirst.com.au/subscribe/

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