The Governor-General, Her Excellency the Honourable Sam Mostyn AC, has helped shine a national spotlight on the health and wellbeing of Australia’s truck drivers and the broader transport, warehousing and logistics workforce during Truck Week.
In a video produced by the Governor-General’s office, Her Excellency joined Healthy Heads in Trucks & Sheds ambassador Ben Maguire AM for a drive around Canberra in Kenny – Healthy Heads’ distinctive blue Kenworth – before speaking with Healthy Heads CEO Naomi Frauenfelder at Government House.
The conversation explored the vital role of Australia’s truck drivers and supply chain workers, the challenges they face, and the practical ways Healthy Heads is working to make support more accessible to people across the industry.
“Kenny’s a great conversation starter,” Ben said in the video, describing the truck as a “showstopper” whether it is parked at Parliament House or at a rest area with drivers.
That visibility, he said, creates an opportunity to start conversations that might otherwise never happen – about mental health, physical health, and the pressures faced by people who spend long hours on the road, away from home, keeping goods moving across the country.
The Governor-General reflected on the human side of the freight task, noting that the industry relies on people working long hours, often far from family and home.
Ben’s message to the wider community was simple: give trucks space, remember there is a person behind the wheel, and show some kindness.
“They’re somebody’s mum or dad, or brother or sister,” he said. “Be kind to them.”
Truck Week is led by Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia and brings together industry and community to recognise the essential role trucks play in everyday life – delivering food, fuel, medicine and the countless other goods Australians rely on every day.
Healthy Heads in Trucks & Sheds has been a major Truck Week partner, using the week to continue its national work supporting mental health and physical wellbeing across transport, warehousing and logistics.
Speaking with the Governor-General, Naomi Frauenfelder said Healthy Heads was founded in 2020 after the industry recognised the need to do more to support the people working across the supply chain.
She explained that transport, postal and warehousing ranks 19 out of 19 sectors for workplace mental health in Australia, and that one in two people in the industry have experienced a mental health challenge in the past 12 months.
Naomi also outlined the practical, no-barrier support Healthy Heads provides, including free resources, access to counselling pathways, its Healthy Heads app, healthier meal options at participating BP sites, and mobile health checks delivered directly to drivers where they work.
Those checks can include blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol and waist-to-hip ratio screening – simple, quick interventions that can help people take the first step toward looking after their health.
The Governor-General acknowledged the importance of making support accessible, easy and stigma-free for people whose work patterns can make it difficult to book in with a GP, counsellor or other health professional.
“You’re making everything accessible, easy, de-stigmatising conversations about how people are doing,” Her Excellency said.
For Truck Week, the visit was a powerful moment of recognition – not just for the vehicles and the freight task, but for the people behind the wheel and across the supply chain.
Healthy Heads said the Governor-General’s support sends an important message about valuing the people who keep Australia moving, and the role health and wellbeing play across the sector.
Truck Week thanks Her Excellency for the generosity of her time, her genuine engagement with the industry, and her support in helping bring national attention to the wellbeing of Australia’s truck drivers and transport workers.