Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of attending the 50th anniversary of Specialised Container Transport in Melbourne. SCT was established in 1974 by Mr Peter Smith. SCT is now a national multimodal transport logistics company. SCT offers a full complement of transport and logistics services, including rail and road linehaul services, refrigerated transport services, contract management, distribution centre design and development, and tailored rail solutions including bulk haulage.

For decades now, SCT has connected the agricultural and fresh food producers on the east coast with us in the west. SCT is Australia's largest private rail freight operator, and it is the largest carrier of freight across the Nullarbor. There are 1,600 families that rely on direct employment by SCT, and I suspect there are many, many more indirectly. SCT's footprint across our nation, especially in Western Australia, is huge. And you'd be hard-pressed not to see an SCT truck or container wherever you are on the roads in our suburbs and our cities.

Over the last 30 years I have had such respect for Peter and for the values that he has passed on to his sons Geoff, as the managing director, and Glenn, as the chief executive officer. Those values are honour, respect and integrity. They say the fruit does not fall far from the tree. It couldn't not be any more relevant than in the Smith family. It has been a pleasure, in my time as a senator, to reconnect with the Smith family as we've joined forces to work together to improve Australia's supply chain and logistics sector. And it's an even bigger pleasure to have been invited to celebrate their 50 years of the truly iconic Australian transport success story. The word 'legend' gets thrown around very loosely these days, but, Peter, you truly are a legend in the Australian transport, rail and logistics industry.