Join Adam as he reconnects with an old friend, Matthew Tuckett (affectionately known as Tux). In this heartwarming episode of "Connecting the Dots," they delve into their shared past, Matthew's impactful 25-year career at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and his recent transition into a new life phase working in the mining industry. They also touch on Matthew's passion for cars and his life on the farm. Dive into a journey of meaningful work, life changes, and the bonds that tie our stories together.
Join Adam as he reconnects with an old friend, Matthew Tuckett (affectionately known as Tux). In this heartwarming episode of "Connecting the Dots," they delve into their shared past, Matthew's impactful 25-year career at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and his recent transition into a new life phase working in the mining industry. They also touch on Matthew's passion for cars and his life on the farm. Dive into a journey of meaningful work, life changes, and the bonds that tie our stories together.
And that's week three, week three of being 49. And I filled my dot with a lot more fun stuff this week. The fat cow returns. No, that's not a person. That's my favorite restaurant. It was at Eagle street pier. It used to be cha cha cha. It's my favorite restaurant. It's been gone for a couple of years because I've been pulling down Eagle street pier and they've opened Wednesday, 10 James street, the Valley. We were there. It was great to see some familiar faces. have some familiar food, but they've got a new thing on their menu. They've got an old, old fashioned, my favorite. They've got a category in their menu called old fashions, and they've got five or six different types. so I got to try out a couple of them. It was great to eat my favorite steak again. So that was, I can go, that, that's, that's all the video today. That, that's all I needed, Except that there's lots of other things. as well as the normal running, Sandgate and trips to Mr. Henderson and told you so, coffee, turn date this week, so my favorite coffee spot, turn date this week. On one of my trips to Sandgate, I saw a GT 40 in the wild on the road. So that was pretty cool to see one of them out there. On top of all that, I'm a week away from 10 years in my run streak. so I didn't know which day to mark is a bit of a celebration and I'm running both days. Who knew? So Saturday the 18th will be the day I complete 10 years of running, every day in a row. Sunday the 19th is the anniversary of 10 years. so I'm going to celebrate both because why not? so I'll be having drinks at the end of each day. I'll obviously be running in the morning. Some people have said they'd like to come for a run with me on 10 years. So pick which one you think is the 10 year bit and I'll be running anyhow. Back to my new theme of connecting the dots, my dot with other people's dots. I want to talk to somebody about not just their dot this week, They're dots across what they used to do, what they do now. And, it's somebody I've known him many, many dots. I went to school with this guy and, let's go talk to a guy I call tux. This is, this is the Tux, otherwise known as, I, and it's weird, I know you as Tux, in a way that it's weird to say your full name, which is Matthew Tuckett. you've, you're saved in my phone as Tux, I think everyone's probably got you saved as Tux, you're referred to amongst the Tux. Friends, people that know you, and intimate, friends is Tux. So this is Tux. And I don't want to just talk about Tux's dot this week, because we've shared a lot of dots over the time. A lot of our dots go back to school. and then I want to ask you some of your dots that, your time in your previous job, your time in your job now. but, I think you must have, we, we've I think we met when you came to Grace in, did you start late at Grace?
Matt:I did, yeah. 91. So I came through for 11 and 12. Yep. tried to get in earlier, but Stoltzy said no. And, famous story, he said, what do you want to, when you, when you grow up, Matt, what do you want to be? I said, I want to be either a pilot or a bus driver. And so, stamped not to come in, wait for another couple of years. But, yeah, school was great, mate. it was,
Adam:And where did
Matt:you go from there? from there I went to business school, for a couple of years, for a year and a half. and then to uni. from uni, the first and only job I applied for was the Department of Veterans Affairs. 24th 98 and I was there for 25 years.
Adam:I Was saying to somebody recently I said you you got to do meaningful Corporate world work that I was jealous about and you got to do that corporate world in the city But meaningful work and then you transitioned into playing with oversized big adult toys in a sandpit jealous again Tell us about your, your 25 year career there.
Matt:For me it was an honour. like I never, it never seemed like a job. It, because I've got military family. Both grandfathers served. One uncle went to Vietnam and two cousins who have served and currently serve. so we always had a little bit of that military mix around the family. when I went for the public service exam, which no longer exists. Got a call maybe a week or so later with three offers to go to three different agencies. DVA was the one that stood out to me because it was helping serve people who serve us. And you know how patriotic we get around Remembrance Day and Anzac Day. This country is fully on board with that and I think supports that. But, for me it was always about supporting them. Because, The Department of Defence and the DBA are both so broad. It's not just about having a pension or this, there's so many different aspects to it. And I was, lucky enough to work in multiple different areas that could give that value add to the client. And when you, again, when you come from a client centric view, you're always giving and helping. And that's ultimately what I was most proud of about those, about 25 years.
Adam:What was your favourite thing during your time there or about your time there? Two,
Matt:two things. I managed a mental health program, which was about capturing the one percenters. So those, ex military who, most come out and they're proud of what they've done and they engage well with defence, but some don't. They might have had a medical discharge and they, they're no longer interested in what defence they, they shun that. therefore they haven't received a benefit or they haven't got healthcare in place, those kind of things. you could call them the one percenters. I managed a program there for a while that grabbed or helped pick them up and, and connect them with services, if they wanted to. medical services, income. and, and, get them to a point where they just were comfortable because some of them were living rough, some of them were living on couches, you know, and, and some six success stories we had were getting people to get their own rental, for example, I know that sounds, certainly it's unusual for someone to even not have their own place to rent, but that that's genuinely who we're dealing with. Clients that had just fallen through the had no support network, no, financial. Whereabouts just weren't interested in that. And yeah, the goal was to put some support around them, get them some income and then get them in their own residential. so it was quite small but very, very rewarding because, you're dealing with not unskilled labourers, you're dealing with skilled people, people who have done some things but because of their service and usually mental health issues. have just disconnected from society. So that was one. The other one, the last sort of six or seven years, I was the senior contract manager for private hospitals. So again, that's supporting our clients because historically, military personnel have, were only able to go to repat hospitals. There was one in each state. In the nineties, we did, devolve that and said, we can go to public hospitals. And then probably in the mid two thousands, we thought, why, why can't our guys go to private hospitals? We do a contract scenario. And so my role was to negotiate with those facilities and, get rates for services. And so that our clients could go to any facility in any town. Excellent. And we did some really good work there, getting really the expansion again of mental health. and as mental health, particularly amongst men is a very, topic that is close to my heart. as someone who's. How to set back mentally and overcome. I like to lean and support in that space. yeah, it was, as I said, it was my honour to actually Do that for those clients.
Adam:Fast forward to now. Yeah. That's very different to what you do now. Tell us about not, not only what you do now, but how that came about.
Matt:Yeah, I love it. I love, I love this as well. So I got to my 25 years, DBA and I had done some succumbent work with defense as well. So I was across both, but predominantly DBA. and I had, they put on a lunch and everything for me and it was great, but I just felt a little hollow, like I can't really explain it, but I just felt I think I've achieved what I wanted to achieve. Yeah. And I went to a recruiter and I started to look around. And the first thing she said to me was, have you, what do you look, what do you want? I said, I need more time because my kids are now grown up. I have a farm with cattle on it, which I don't live at, but I, need to spend time to tend to them. And I was finding it difficult to put everything into the weekend, into a two day allocation of time. So I said to her, is there, is there anything out there that I can do where I can get a little bit more time? The first thing she said was, have you considered being a real estate agent? I said, look, I know a few and I don't have the flamboyance that looks to be required in that sort of role. I said, is there anything else? And she said, have you considered mining? I said, keep going, and so she just, floated a few ideas around the procurement and contract management stuff that I had been doing. I'm, I'm accredited to do that. and then she hit on operating and I thought, unpack that for me. What does it look like? She said, they do what's called a lifestyle roster where they work for seven days and then they get seven days off. And then that just keeps going and going and going. And to me that sounded like Seven days off sounded like a good amount of time to do life. cause working seven days, I'm sure in your business, businesses, I'm sure you've worked a Saturday and a Sunday when you felt, I probably should have time off. I certainly have. there's been times where I've taken work home and, and worked on it on a Saturday and Sunday and I thought, Oh, Then you're back to work on Monday, so for me, once that was expanded on and understood what it looked like, I thought, is there a work trial I can do? I didn't want to jump in straight away. So this recruiter was able to get me a work trial, which only went for, I think, six weeks. Mm hmm. And it just, it just, it just fit. It just, those three weeks off that I had, I got so much done. And we're spending quality time with quality people. And yeah, I've jumped in. Excellent. Yeah, like it just And it had you flying, flying up north? Yeah, to central Queensland. Okay. Moorumbar is the capital of that Bowen Basin, so there's quite a lot of mining companies. BHP, Stanmore, there's many. Whitehaven, of course, they're a huge part. Wow. in that region. So they're pulling coal out of the ground. So we're keeping the lights on for everybody and helping build steel as well. like it's, it's the interesting thing for me is it's very much a capitalist environment where I've come from more of a socialist kind of scenario where it's, we're doing it for the common good. Mining, is very much about money and I'm not objective. I don't object to that. I think it's good. but they make a lot of it, and, and it's, it's just a totally different, like you'll hang around people that are clearly making great money, but you know what? You hear the same things. There's similar themes amongst people. And again, I want to say in particular men, it doesn't really matter what you do. same issues, regardless of your income and whatever your job is. Plague, I think men in, and I'm talking about things like depression, anxiety, and just trying to discover who they are as people. I think those are questions that a lot of us ask. You enjoying it? I love it. Awesome. Yeah, I really love it. It's, it just gives me just enough mental stimulation to keep me engaged.
Adam:Yep.
Matt:And then I go home. I don't take any work with me. Maybe a little bit of study, that's optional. but it's just, yeah, super, super positive. Good fun. The crew's great to be around. We enjoy each other's company. We know they're there to do a job. Then we go home. Tell me about your farm. Farm's great. um, I spent a lot of time as a kid in a town called Wandoan. and we had, I think, 2, 500 acres there of cattle. some wheat, a little bit of sorghum, and, came back to school for high school, for mid, grade nine onwards. and I always just wanted to get back to it. It was just something that, I really enjoyed. And with family, my cousin, he's, cattle farmer in Crow's Nest, and it was just something that I wanted to do. It was just something that I wanted to do. going through a divorce in 2019, obviously made it a little financially a little more difficult but I ended up finding just a small 50 acre block up Gympie Way and, we've got 35 head of cattle on there. just love it. Enjoying that? It's just, it's just, again, it's something that you get out of, you get out of the city and I love the city, you know this. Yep. I love, I love everything that the city brings. I'm not anti city, but it just gives that nice balance of city life and socialising and friendship and support even, and then country life, being alone, enjoying the, the space and. Just getting dirt on your feet. It's really good.
Adam:And you've got the farmer's vehicle out there. What have you got out there parked in my driveway? Yeah,
Matt:I've got, like you, a bit of a car freak. I've got a few too many cars. I think at last count there was about ten. But this one is a, 75 series Land Cruiser. So it's a 1986 model. Yep. So it's 37, completely original. Yep. What colour is it? Yellow. Sandy Taupe is the, is the, is the name.
Adam:It is quite the absolute farmer's, you, I saw you pull up in a win. You've just, you've gone all farm. And you do have a little passion for cars, cause you've got something poked in a little garage somewhere. it's red. tell
Matt:me about that. Yeah, so I restore spare cars. Old cars in my spare time. Which, there is a little bit more spare time, yeah? Yep. but yeah, the one I'm currently working on is a pretty special one. It's a Porsche 928. It's, I didn't know much about them to be honest. And when I, when I bumped into it, I consulted a few, one of our friends, Nick, who we're talking about. and he knows a lot about them. and he's Hey mate, if you can get your hands on it at the right price, you will not regret it. And never a truer word was spoken. And since then I've actually become quite passionate about them. I actually really enjoy Porsche as a car. As a car, and taken like Toyota, like I'm a, I love Toyota. I think they're, they just make flawless vehicles. so yeah, so yeah, it looks like it's getting towards the final stage. It is. Yeah. I was driving around the other day actually. Oh Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's not road registered, but it's, I took it for a little spin, around, Breakfast Creek and yeah. If you and I had hair, mate, it would blow our hair back. but yeah, so that's, it's just, again, it was just a passion. I've always liked cars, growing up, you'd watch Bathurst and it'd be Ford versus Holden. And, you'd love the colors, those specs of Dick Johnson green. I don't know if you know that color. He had a car in that color. like there was just something about the colors and the mountain and all that kind of stuff. And, yeah, so for me, it's just a, Just a side passion, Awesome.
Adam:thank you very much for coming along chatting to me about your dots in your various careers and stretching all the way back to our, when we met in 1991.
Matt:I love what you're doing, mate. honestly, awesome. Just keep going. Like you, you're, as I said earlier, the way you communicate with people, it, it's a gold standard that we aspire to. And I've had those conversations with other people that like, if we could communicate the way that Adam does. and have the energy that you have, we'd be better off,
Adam:I appreciate
Matt:that.
Adam:You're a special breed. Go put some wonderful stuff in your dots.
Matt:Thank you for a spin in your