Police aware of rogue truckie protest threat circulating on social media as drivers tell Aussies ‘buy food now’

An irate truck driver has taken to social media claiming a group of truckies plan ‘to shut the country down’ with a protest on major highways.

Rogue truck drivers have warned Australians to stock up on food for the “next week or two” ahead of a planned protest against lockdowns.

The Transport Workers Union has distanced itself from the action, planned to take place on major highways, which its organisers claim could “shut the country down” due to supply disruptions.

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 sh** government.

“I’m in.”

Rogue truck drivers are reportedly plotting to shut down major highways across Australia to protest against Covid lockdowns. Source: Twitter

The video is circulating on social media. Source: Twitter

The man also airs anti-vaccination views towards the end of the video.

The Transport Workers Union (TWU) said the protest was not sanctioned by their organisation but it could understand why truck drivers were fed up dealing with the pandemic.

TWU national secretary Michael Kaine 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.

Toll said it was disappointing the union was threatening industrial action in the middle of a global pandemic. Picture: David Vile/Big Rigs

The TWU is sanctioning a separate protest planned for Friday, when 7000 drivers are expected to walk off the job site over a dispute with operator Toll.

Paul, a truck driver from Victoria, told 2GB “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.

The Toll drivers will strike for 24 hours, with the TWU saying the decision to take drastic action was made after the company “refused to withdraw its attack on jobs, rights and entitlements at crisis talks” following months of failed discussions, warning it would disrupt food and fuel supplies this weekend.

Toll’s president of its Global Express division Alan Beacham said the company had made a generous offer, was committed to further discussion and urged the union to get back to the negotiating table “and sign this deal”.

Another development threatening to throw a major spanner into the works of an already chaotic, Covid-hit supply chain is truckies at Linfox and subsidiary Bevchain applying on Wednesday for protected action “over similar attacks to job security including wanting to bring in new employees on second-tier rates”, the union says.

There are now more than 15,000 truckies heading towards strikes, the TWU says.

NCA NewsWire has attempted to reach Linfox for comment.

Originally published as Police aware of rogue truckie protest threat circulating on social media as drivers tell Aussies ‘buy food now’