Community Recognition Statement - Transport Workers Union and Mick Forbes

29 March 2022

Ms JENNY AITCHISON (Maitland) (21:29): Congratulations to the Newcastle and Northern Sub‑Branch secretary of the Transport Workers Union, Mr Mick Forbes, on his 20 years of service to the members of the New South Wales branch of the TWU. He has been a member of the TWU since 1984, when he began working for Comet Transport in Newcastle. He took up an activist role as a co-delegate in 1996, then as head delegate in 2000. In 2002 he was elected a member of the Newcastle and Northern Sub-Branch executive committee and later the branch committee of management, finally becoming Newcastle and Northern Sub‑Branch secretary in 2009. Mick is a really strong advocate for transport workers, initiating meetings with bus companies, elected representatives and workers on important industrial, safety and community issues. I commend Mick for 20 years of advocacy for transport workers' rights and thank him for his particular focus on and commitment to championing the rights of the members of the TWU. I have been a proud member of the TWU for over a decade under Mick's leadership, and I thank him for his leadership of our local sub-branch.