Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This afternoon, in the final minutes remaining in this sitting week, I stand to honour the career of a great mate, a great man and a great trade unionist. I speak of the retiring National President and South Australian and Northern Territory Branch Secretary of the Transport Workers Union of Australia, Ian Smith, or 'Smithy' as he's affectionately known.

I first met Smithy a little over eight years ago on the grass out the front of this building here. I was part of the Aussie jobs assembly fighting to save our coastal shipping. Smithy was with the TWU, trying to fight off the abolition of the safe rates tribunal. Little did I know that this chance encounter would be the start of a great friendship and that he and the union would become such a huge part of my life.

Those who know Ian know he wears his heart on his sleeve. He's proud to be TWU, proud to be union and even prouder to have led the branch for the last seven years. Ian started out as a pick-up delivery driver at TNT in 1994, where he eagerly joined the TWU, starting a journey that would span 30 years as he went from truck driver to state secretary of the union. His is a story of opportunity, strength and resilience and a story of the fight for a fair go. It wasn't long after joining the union that Ian put his hand up for an opportunity to be endorsed by his peers and become the yard delegate, representing the workers—his colleagues—and fighting for a better deal.

You see, Smithy has a way with words and, quite frankly, he doesn't mind telling the boss what he thinks when he sees a dodgy deal. It was this mindset, no doubt, that ensured his inclusion on the first national negotiating team to deliver an industry-first national enterprise agreement with TNT in the early 2000s. It was during these negotiations that Ian's talent for standing up for the fair go and ensuring transport workers' voices were heard got him noticed by then state secretary and now late senator Alex Gallacher. Alex saw what many others did: Ian didn't know how to accept 'no' for an answer. On that basis, he was certain Ian would make a fine recruitment official to help grow the branch—and a fine recruitment official he was, delivering on the expected targets year on year, fine-tuning his skills and becoming a powerful advocate for workers he was charged to represent.

When Alex joined the parliament in the other place, Ian was elevated to assistant branch secretary before becoming branch secretary in 2017. With a young team around him—me included—he guided the branch through a period of uncertainty, doing so with an assured confidence from the experience he brought to the role over many years of hard work and a determination towards developing the membership and delivering strong delegates to the workplace to ensure the union was member-led. This drive led Ian to deliver on his vision of the Alex Gallacher Training Centre, a place for delegates to sharpen their skills and better represent workers, delivering better outcomes both in enterprise agreements and, just as importantly, with better safety on the job. This is what good leaders do: they build up those around them without fear of being bettered. Why? Because, ultimately, the union is bigger than any one person.

Ian also led the union in delivering the most reformative changes to the public transport bus drivers agreement in the last two decades in South Australia. The agreement saw drivers of the single largest employer receiving the single biggest increases to driver wages in decades, reinstating penalty rates and overtime and, more importantly, delivering a better work/life balance to a sector suffering from burnout and retention issues. He was part of the national decision for the TWU to take on Qantas' illegal sacking of 1,700 ground staff, a decision that would ultimately be proved to be the right one by the High Court—our very own Makybe Diva moment!

I could go on for hours about the contribution that Ian has made to our union and the movement over his 30 years of service, but I want to close on a final note. To a man who so dearly loves his wife, Sue, and daughter, Maddie, I thank them for allowing Ian to do what he loved so much—that is, represent the people who carry Australia in road transport. We are so much better for his contribution to our branch and our movement, a legacy that will continue to positively impact those working in the transport sector, those working at the union and, most importantly, our membership for years to come. He always remained extremely humble throughout his entire career, going out on a high as brand secretary. As he always likes to put it: not bad for a dumb truck driver, eh? Smithy: thank you for everything you've done, and enjoy a well-earned break.