I was still very new to traffic control when this happened. I hadn’t been in the industry long, and that morning turned into the worst day I had experienced as a traffic controller. I was working in Perth and had already started the day under pressure. There had been an accident on the road, which delayed me by around 30 minutes. I called my workplace to let them know what had happened and that I was running late. I didn’t stop anywhere along the way. I drove straight to site. By the time I arrived, I had already spent an hour and a half travelling just to get there.

As a female traffic controller, I’ve worked in some remote parts of WA, sometimes more than 100 kilometres from the nearest town. I’ve worked from Perth to Cue, Meekatharra, Newman and Kumarina, and I’ve been on plenty of these jobs with younger women too. In all the time I’ve worked on the roads doing traffic management, I honestly can’t remember being provided with clean, ventilated amenities on remote roadside jobs. Most of the time, there’s nothing. No toilet for the women. No toilet for the men. No private area. Nothing.