Cops aware of rogue truckie protest

A man identifying himself as a truck driver has claimed a group of his fellow truckies are planning to carry out protests against lockdowns on highways across Australia.Truck drivers are at breaking point across the country due to the exhaustion of Covid-19 testing, interstate border closures and deadline pressures.In the video circulating on social media, the man warns Australians to rush out to grocery stores and buy food “for the next week, or two” because supply chains would be interrupted.“It’s on. The truckies are doing it,” he said in the video.“The truckies are going to shut down the country; what that means is you need to go shopping now, get what you can for the next week or two, load your fridge, freezers.“The truckies are coming and they are going to pull this country down and we are all going to do it together and remove this shit government.“The vets (war veterans are in the truckies are in I’m in.”The man also airs anti-vaccination views towards the end of the video.The Transport Workers Union (TWU) said this protest was not sanctioned by their organisation but could understand why truck drivers are fed up dealing with the pandemic.Michael Kaine, TWU national secretary, told NCA NewsWire truckies were fed up with the federal and state governments.“Truckies have been the backbone of the Covid response, dealing with border chaos and closed roadhouses,” Mr Kaine said.“They are angry for a legitimate reason. The current testing regimen forces them to wait many hours, eating into already scarce time that should be used to earn an income.“By now, the federal government really should have built a more flexible and rapid testing regimen that recognises the reality of long-haul trucking.“This would make life a lot easier for people who are already doing it tough due to the pandemic.”A NSW Police spokesman said the force was aware of the planned protest. “NSW Police will continue to conduct Operation STAY AT HOME to ensure compliance with the public health orders,” they said.The TWU is sanctioning a separate protest planned for Friday, when 7000 drivers are expected to walk off the job site on Friday over an employment dispute with operator Toll.Paul, a truck driver from Victoria, told 2GB’s Ben Fordham “it stems from frustration”.“At the end of the day there’s a lot of people who lost their job, we’ve worked through the whole Covid (crisis),” he said.

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