The NRSPP Steering Committee Opens for Partners to Nominate
Since its inception, the National Road Safety Partnership Program (NRSPP) has been strategically guided by a diverse industry-led Steering Committee (SC). The term for SC partners is three years with our current leadership cohort’s term concluding as of November .
The purpose of the NRSPP SC is to “provide overall direction and advice on governance, policy, operational and strategic issues referred by the Secretariat and/or PPs”. Consistent with this, the NRSPP’s Charter Version 8 specifies that the membership of the SC should be renewed every three years. At the last SC meeting it was agreed for the renewal process to commence and for the governance to be amended to four meetings a year, three virtual two-hour meetings and one in person up to four hours.
The NRSPP wishes to acknowledge and thank the current SC partners for their past three years in helping guide and grow the program.
NRSPP SC Nomination Parameters
To be considered for the SC, nominations are open to any NRSPP Partner including our past SC leaders. Nominees should provide a signed letter confirming their intentions to nominate and addresses the following parameters:
- What sector do you operate in?
- What size is your fleet or the number of staff who generate your transport task?
- What does road safety mean to your organisation?
- How is your organisation contributing to road safety of its workers and the community it operates within?
- What opportunities do you feel your organisation could bring to the leadership of the NRSPP?
Nomination letters should be addressed to the NRSPP Independent Chair Professor Barry Watson and sent via email to Jerome.carslake@monash.edu
What does the SC role involve?
SC partners are champions of the NRSPP and the benefits of workplace road safety. You will see their stories shared through NRSPP case studies, thought leadership and webinars and their influence in working group selection/participation, Q&As and Toolbox Talks topics, special projects collaborative partnerships, research proposals and so on.
The strategic role is achieved through four SC meetings per year, three will be virtual and one hosted by a partner at their head office.
The collaborative Working Groups and Special Projects are often championed by SC partners where they align with their areas of interest. A few examples:
- Commonwealth Bank and Uniting Care Queensland identified the gap that existed with regards to the safety management of an organisations grey fleet resulting in the establishment of the Grey Fleet working group which led to the current Commonwealth funded Grey Fleet Project.Toll Group’s internal year research and analysis of a decade of their trauma data led to the collaborative development of the Austroads / NRSPP Suicide in Road Transport Prevention.
- Viva Energy, Toll Group and Zurich Insurance development of the Heavy Vehicle Toolbox Talk Working Group which produced 25 packages which has now received funding to translate 13 into three languages for professional drivers from non-English Speaking Backgrounds.
- The NRSPP Utilities Forum2.0, evolved from the Utilities Forum in 2025 initiated by Telstra and Origin Energy with APA Group, SA Power Networks and Hydro Tasmania.
- IAG, Vero and Zurich are all insurers involved in many aspects of the program sharing their data and insights to help underpin Q&As, Total Cost Indicator, etc.
- Development and establishment of CLOCS-A.
- Telstra and RACV identified the safe management of mobile phone distraction as key risk which led to Safe Use of Mobiles in Vehicles (SUMV) working group being developed.
- A number of Special Projects have seen several NRSPP Partners provide in-kind practical testing and refinement.
- Integration of two programs under NRSPP governance:
- NTARC2.0 Major Incident Investigation Report a partnership with NTI and MUARC.
- Vehicle Safety Research Group a partnership with MUARC and nine Australian and New Zealand Government agencies.
- NRSPP organisational road safety campaigns, partners act as peer reviewers for the campaign released as part of National Road Safety Week. The 2023 campaign “Respect Traffic Controllers” developed with a number of industry partners won third place in the International Safety Media Awards.
The SC also provides the opportunity for them to interact with senior Government and other passionate industry leaders from outside their own sector. What evolves through this diversity is a focus on addressing the workplace road safety risk and related issue from a diverse range of views.
What is the process and timelines?
A selection committee will be established which consists of two to three partners each from the NRSPP Governance Board (GB) and long-serving SC who will select from those who nominate the next SC.
The following outlines the proposed timeline for the renewal process:
- 8 November 2024 NRSPP news item and email all NRSPP partners inviting them to nominate
- 16 December nominations close
- 17 December Selection Panel convened
- 18 December SC Industry partners announced
Recognition of the current SC partners
The NRSPP wishes to thank the following organisations and their representatives for the past three years of service:
- Australian Automobile Association – Craig Newland
- Australasian Fleet Management Association – Mace Hartley
- BHP – Brad McArdle
- Commonwealth Bank – Rachel Gunn
- Essential Energy – Michael Mills
- IAG – Peter Divjakinja
- Innovation Group – Drew Schnehage
- NTI – Chris Hogarty
- Rio Tinto – Kevan Reeve
- Safety IQ – Scott Jackson
- Safe Systems Solutions – Dr Tana Tan
- Uniting Care Queensland – Kelvin Deasy
- Vero – Brad Naidu
- Viva Energy – James Zarb
- Zurich Insurance – Jay Ball
There were also a number of other partners over the last three years who we would like to recognise:
- Chris Dhu of Essential Energy served two years until his departure in 2024
- Felix Ohle of Viva Energy served six years until his departure in 2022
- Mark Stephens of United Care Queensland served nine years and retired in 2023
- Paul Elliott of Innovation Group served two years until he retired in 2024
- Dr Sarah Jones who had been Toll Groups representative and served six years until her departure in 2022
