Deals on Wheels #469

114
The current all-Kenworth
MLT fleet
Matt Benseman with a
couple of his “co-workers”
in Tamworth
what we aim to do with the award. This is
highlighted by the progress of our inaugural
award winner Reggie Sutton. Since receiving
his award in 2015, Reggie has since gone on to
currently hold the position of vice-president
of the LBRCA.
“Each year we receive seven or eight
nominations who must complete the entry
to include two independent references,
information about the nominees' driving and
employment history and answer a series
of industry-relevant questions and typical
scenarios and how they are handled in dayto-day
life on the road,” Coleman explains.
“These nomination forms once received
make up 50 per cent of the judging process.
In the past couple of years we have tightened
the criteria even further to require a clean
police check and an untarnished driving
record.”
A panel of judges comprising former award
winners, award sponsor representatives and
award steering committee members evaluate
the nominees’ answers and credentials
blindly before trimming the list of nominees
down to three finalists. The chosen finalists
are then notified and invited to the LRBCA
annual conference.
At the conference the finalists are then
interviewed and judged by a five-member
panel, which includes two representatives
from Safe Work NSW.
The award winner, once chosen, then goes
on to represent the LBRCA and young drivers
as a safety ambassador for Safe Work NSW.
Additionally, the winner receives an industry
study tour prize to the value of $5,000.
TROPHY WINNER
The LBRCA annual general meeting for 2021
was held in Dubbo on March 6, with the
Young Driver of the Year trophy awarded to
Matt Benseman of Tamworth NSW.
Thirty-three-year-old New Zealand-born
Benseman works for Maloney Livestock
Transport (MLT), also based in Tamworth.
Prior to joining MLT, Benseman spent eight
to nine years working on a broadacre farming
property in Goondiwindi, Queensland, before
moving to Tamworth, where his stock work
skills gleaned on the dairy farms of New
Zealand would prove a valuable asset to his
next career of the modern-day drover.