Young man with autism finds second home at the Forbes saleyards
The 22-year-old, who is on the autism spectrum, spends most weeks helping out the agents and occasionally taking centre stage as auctioneer.
"It's home for me," he said.
"My customers, they're loyal … it's personal for me.
"We're a kind of family."
Support worker Kacey Schatz said several livestock agents had formed a close relationship with Mr Glennan.
"The amount of support and trust and love that is around Ryan warms me," she said.
"These guys that are out here, they're magical in what they do and how they act."
Mr Glennan has worked his way up to selling cattle after starting off cleaning up pens as part of a once-a-week volunteer work placement.
He has been liaising with stock and station agents and even stirring up buyers.
Agent and auctioneer for VC Reid and Smith, Sam Smith, has supported Mr Glennan since he started coming to the yards.
Mr Glennan has described Mr Smith as the brother he never had.
"I asked him if he wanted to sell, and he got very excited about it," Mr Smith said.
"Since then it's every week or every fortnight, something we all look forward to, and I'm sure all the buyers are the same.
"I just think it's great that these kids can come out here, have a crack, and do what they enjoy.
"It makes his day, it makes everyone's day."
Mr Smith said it was something he would like to see all workplaces take on.
Office and administration for VC Reid and Smith, Caitlin Webb, said finding a role for Mr Glennan had been easy.
"He loves to jump up and loves to get involved in the auction, it's really nice to see him getting involved when he gets going," Ms Webb said.
"He was coming down to the yards anyway, and … Sam started really getting him involved in the selling.
"It's so easy, he's easy to get along with, and he wants to do it."
Karyn Glennan said her son was a more confident and happy person at the saleyards.
"The joy that it fills us with is unexplainable.
"Thank you never seems to be enough for what the guys give him the opportunity to do."
Mrs Glennan said the people at Forbes saleyards inspired other workplaces to do their part for their community.
"I hope that other people see this and go, 'Oh, maybe I can include someone in our world,'" she said.
"It doesn't have to be for a long time, it doesn't have to be every day, it just has to be a little bit, and that just builds their confidence.
"That's the big message."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
NAB flags $130 million hit after underpaying staff, as payroll problems widen
National Australia Bank (NAB) is flagging a $130 million financial hit, revealing it underpaid staff wages and entitlements, as its payroll problems run deeper than first thought. The major bank was warned its operating expenses for the financial year 2025 are now forecast to rise 4.5 per cent from the previous year, due to the cost of reviewing and remediating "payroll issues". It comes more than five years after NAB first commenced a payroll review, which saw the bank repay millions to underpaid staff. In an ASX release, NAB said its "payroll review and remediation is ongoing, and the total costs remain uncertain". NAB chief executive Andrew Irvine said the costs of rectifying and remediating payroll issues were "disappointing" and the issue "must be fixed". The bank's people and culture executive, Sarah White, said: "Paying our colleagues correctly is an absolute priority." "We are sorry and apologise to our colleagues that this has happened and have commenced remediating those impacted." In 2019, NAB launched a payroll review, which cost the bank $250 million between FY2020 and FY2022, while problems were identified with its payroll system. Finance Sector Union (FSU) said it had expressed its disbelief with NAB that "one of the nation's biggest banks has once again failed to pay its workers correctly". FSU national president Wendy Streets said the scale of underpayment was "nothing short of systemic wage theft", especially when Australians are struggling through the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades. The union has demanded that NAB immediately issue an apology and explain how this was allowed to happen. NAB said it had engaged the Fair Work Ombudsman and the FSU and was keeping its employees informed, including contacting those directly affected. The bank does not disclose how many staff have been affected but the payroll review is for its Australia-based colleagues and Australian colleagues working overseas. NAB has reported its quarterly cash earnings of $1.77 billion for the quarter ending this June, 1 per cent lower compared with the quarterly average over the first half of 2025. CEO Mr Irvine said the group's Business and Private Banking business lending grew 4 per cent over the quarter, while Australian home lending grew 2 per cent. Despite the cost blowout for the payroll issue, the CEO said his company "remains optimistic about the outlook" and is "well-placed to manage NAB for the long-term and deliver sustainable growth and returns for shareholders". NAB's share price had risen by 2 per cent to $39.98 per share at 2pm AEST.
ABC News
10 hours ago
- ABC News
Uncertainty still surrounds government pay deals with police, teachers, and nurses and midwives
Most people know at least one nurse, midwife, police officer or teacher. They make up a tick over 63 per cent of Queensland's key frontline workforce, and right now the state government is negotiating new pay deals with all of them. Griifith University industrial relations expert Ben French said dealing with three such influential groups all at once put the government in a "tricky spot". The situation is a result of enterprise bargaining agreements "rolling over" during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Now they've all come up at the same time for the new government," Dr French said. It's been tough going for negotiators. The police union has agreed in-principle to a deal, but the government is in conciliation with both the nurses' and the teachers' unions in front of the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC). In early August, teachers across the state went on strike for the first time in 16 years. Earlier in the month, nurses and midwives took industrial action by refusing to do tasks not related to critical care. Pandanus Petter from Australian National University's School of Business and Politics said as opposition leader, David Crisafulli was keen to paint himself as someone who would not repeat "the mistakes of the Newman era". "He positioned himself as someone who was not going to radically cut the public service," Dr Petter said. "He was saying, 'You know, what I want to do is empower the public service.' The government has offered an 8 per cent raise over three years to the police and teachers, while nurses and midwives have been offered an 11 per cent wage rise. This "fairly prescriptive model" has come with various add-ons and extras for each industry, Dr French said. He said these one-off payments "that are not part of the actual increase" are a way the government can save money down the track. "If you get a pay rise and you get an increase, it's on the base rate … the next time you come around your base rate is higher and you can build on that," he said, adding bonus payments did not feed into employees' super or overtime. Already those differing extras have caused friction. The Queensland Nurses' and Midwives' Union (QNMU) publicly derided the government for offering some police officers an $8,000 retention bonus over two years. Secretary Sarah Beaman said it was "outrageous" that the government had already struck a "better deal" with the police union after months of negotiating with the QNMU. The nurses and midwives EBA nominally ended on March 31, while the teachers and police ended on June 30. "Does this government have a problem with nurses and midwives?" Ms Beaman asked. Dr French said none of the three deals were set in stone. The state legislation allows for six months of negotiations from the day the EBA nominally ends or three months from the beginning of conciliation. After that, the parties can apply for arbitration, where the QIRC will decide what's fair. In the case of nurses and midwives, who are chasing a 13 per cent wage rise they say will deliver "nation-leading pay", the last scheduled conciliation meeting is September 2. At the behest of QIRC deputy president John Merrell, the QNMU agreed to pause industrial action until then, but said they would take further steps if negotiations failed. The Queensland Teachers' Union sent a letter to members on Thursday, seen by the ABC, confirming they had given the government until the end of the month to come up with a better deal or risk further strike action. QTU vice president Leah Olsen said more work stoppages would be a "last resort" option for the union, adding the union's members did "not take industrial action lightly". "Further strike action during school hours can be avoided if the government delivers a package members see value in," Ms Olsen said. As for the police, while there is an in-principle deal in place, union members still have to vote on whether to approve it next month. "My guess is they will vote it down," Dr French said. Both Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek and Health Minister Tim Nicholls have expressed their commitment to getting deals over the line through the conciliation process. Mr Langbroek said the government met with QTU negotiators 18 times over five months before the conciliation process began. The QNMU said they had met with the government for a total of more than 150 hours before they took industrial action last month. Dr Petter said with an election just gone there was little political risk for the government to come off as "tough but fair" in this round of negotiations. However, if three-year deals were signed all round, the next time they would be negotiating would be in the lead up to the 2028 election.
News.com.au
10 hours ago
- News.com.au
Qantas to be given penalty for unlawfully sacking hundreds during Covid-19 pandemic
Qantas is braced to find out how much it is expected to pay in penalties after it unlawfully sacked more than 1800 ground staff. The airline was found to have acted unlawfully three times when it fired 1820 staff in favour of outsourced contractors during the height of the Covid pandemic. While an earlier compensation hearing before Justice Michael Lee found Qantas should pay $120m to impacted workers, a further three-day hearing May sought to decide the additional penalty Qantas must pay for the 2020 decision. The maximum penalty Qantas can be ordered to pay is $121m, on top of the compensation fund that is now in the process of being administered to workers. Since Justice Lee reserved his decision in May, many sacked Qantas workers have anxiously awaited the final figure. On Monday, he is expected to reveal the full amount, which should be well into the millions. The Federal Court earlier found that Qantas had acted against protections in the Fair Work Act in its outsourcing and was partly motivated by a desire to prevent industrial action. The airline appealed the decision to the full bench of the Federal Court and later the High Court, both of which were unsuccessful. After losing the appeal, the union and Qantas went to mediation to determine how much Qantas would have to pay the outsourced workers for economic losses linked to lost wages. TWU secretary Michael Kaine told media ahead of the hearing the airline's decision to get rid of a 'loyal workforce' was 'appalling' and the 'biggest case of illegal sackings in Australian corporate history'. 'The penalty to Qantas must reflect this and send a message to every other company in Australia that you cannot sack your workers to prevent them from using their industrial rights,' he said. Meanwhile, Noel Hutley SC told the court in May that Qantas should pay the maximum penalty given its decision was the 'largest ever instance of the contravention of the Fair Work Act'. He said Qantas was faced with an 'once-in-a-lifetime opportunity' during the pandemic to save more than $100m per year by outsourcing workers and were driven by the 'temptation of the potential to produce a massive profit'. However, Qantas barrister Justin Gleeson SC said any penalty close to the maximum would be 'manifestly unfair'. 'Qantas has accepted the seriousness of its conduct,' he said. 'The court can and should impose a significant deterrent penalty. However, it is in effect a first contravention (of the Fair Work Act).' On the first day of the hearing, Qantas people manager Catherine Walsh took the stand and issued an apology on the airline's behalf. 'I want to reinforce that we are deeply sorry, and we apologise for the impact on the workers, the TWU (Transport Workers Union), to the court for their time and to the family and friends that felt the impacts, we are deeply sorry,' she said. However, the airline was later criticised for failing to call Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson during the hearing, and instead calling Ms Walsh, who was not employed by Qantas at the time of the sackings. 'One would have thought if you were truly contrite, you would put someone in the witness box who was there at the relevant time,' Justice Lee said. The TWU is seeking a large majority of the penalty and also argued affected workers should receive further compensation. The funds may otherwise will go directly to the Commonwealth.
