While many industries have reeled amid repeated pandemic blows, the mood Barry encounters on his Queensland patch has remained upbeat as work on big projects like Cross River has forged ahead. He recently visited the Tweed Hospital site with his NSW colleague Ben Manna and caught up with workers who were similarly optimistic about the months and years ahead.
The horizon is bright, too, with the Brisbane Metro looming as a boom for ACIRT and its members as the only redundancy fund named in the project’s agreement. ‘We’re picking up a lot more projects,’ Barry says. ‘If the workers have had ACIRT before, they’ll understand about the distribution they get every November if they haven’t made a claim. They appreciate that, they’re happy to receive it or keep the money with us – and if they do need it they know it’s there for them to access later on.’
While the past 18 months have highlighted for Barry that life can go pear-shaped in no time, he’s been heartened by what we can do in the face of adversity when we work together to overcome the odds. ‘Hopefully we can get on top of it and get some normality back in our lives, but in the meantime members know their ACIRT money is safe and they can access it when they need to. It’s a bit of peace of mind for them.’