Australia's freight industry has called for pop-up COVID-19 screening stations on major freight routes that would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, saying inconsistent testing rules have left drivers stuck in queues of up to four kilometres at borders.
"If they have no symptoms, there is no need for them to be tested every seven days," said Noelene Watson, managing director of Don Watson Transport. Mrs Watson said concerns about the status of a long-distance truck driver could be resolved with testing done at border crossings, adding that checkpoints already had dedicated freight lanes.
Mrs Watson's business, which is based in Victoria, is a refrigerated transport company that moves chilled and frozen goods up and down the eastern seaboard.Ben Maguire, chief executive of the Australian Trucking Association, said industry representatives met with Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Michael McCormack on Thursday and asked him to ensure that testing requirements were clear and consistent, and make testing facilities more accessible to truck drivers.
ALL truckies need to be tested for COVID and follow strict social distancing /isolation protocol wherever they are.