Women truckies on road to Darwin as urgent call goes out for more female drivers

Darwin will host next month’s Women in Trucking conference as an urgent call is issued for more female drivers. Meet the industry trendsetters.

Top End mum of two Kattie Risk is one of a tiny number of women truckies in an industry urgently seeking new recruits to replace an ageing workforce.

Only about four per cent of Australia’s around 200,000 truckies are women but with an ageing, mainly male dominated workforce due for replenishment, a national push has begun for more females to move into the sector.

Previously a bus driver, Kattie moved into trucks during the Inpex gas construction and over 15 years qualified from driving rigids to multi-combination vehicles, side-tippers, Pilbara power trains and cattle trucks.

“Before trucking, every job was just a paycheck, just a job,” Kattie said.

“When I got inside the cab of a truck, I immediately felt like I was home.

Darwin-based truck driver Kattie Risk loves the job.

“Everything you do on the road, you live and breathe in the cabin of your truck. The good times and the bad times all go with you when you’re driving, and it becomes an addiction. “Driving becomes part of your DNA.”

Kattie was hauling a quad roadtrain cattle truck from north of Alice Springs to a feed lot in rural South Australia when she spoke by phone to the NT News, with her nine-year-old son making the most of school holidays in the cabin with her.

Women in Trucking Australia chief executive Lyndal Denny.

“Personally I think cattle carting is the pinnacle of truck driving,” she said.

“You’ve got the welfare of the animals to take care of and because they’re wild, untamed and unpredictable, they keep the driver on their feet.”

She has recently formed her own business, Billirrawarra Trucking & Training, in part to help spread the word about the benefits of a job in the sector.

“Both my boys have grown-up in and around trucks and my husband Nic’s a driver so it’s definitely in the blood,” she said.

“Females make up about 2 per cent of the industry and Indigenous women are a minority within a minority and it’s an area that could do with change.”

Road Transport Association chief executive Warren Clark said the sector was increasingly turning to women to help overcome driver shortages.

In 2024 the International Road Transport Union identified 26,049 unfilled truck driver positions, with 47 per cent of drivers aged 55 or over.

Road Transport Association chief executive Warren Clark.

“We’re seeing a huge gap in the number of drivers required and the downstream impact on

our supply chain and our country is significant,” Mr Clark said.

“When there is a need for around 180,000 drivers for an effective sector, the shortage represents a 14.4 per cent shortfall, the supply chain is the backbone of our economy, and without enough drivers, the entire system is at risk.

“Investment in training programs that equip new drivers with the necessary skills, improving

career pathways into the industry and focusing on increasing the number of young and

female drivers is essential.”

On July 5 Darwin Convention Centre will host the annual Women in Trucking Australia awards, to coincide with National Female Truckies Day.

WiTA founder and chief executive Lyndal Denny said the event would also promote the benefits of women entering the industry.

“People don’t expect to see a woman driving a 100-tonne rig through the outback, but that’s exactly what’s happening,” Ms Denny said.

“They’re skilled, resilient and redefining what a truckie looks like in 2025.”

Originally published as Women truckies on road to Darwin as urgent call goes out for more female drivers