It was the picture that got truckies’ blood boiling all around Australia: Scores of hard-working drivers snapped standing in the freezing rain while waiting their turn for a Covid test in Tarcutta, NSW.
Road Freight NSW is happy to report that after much lobbying by themselves, WA Senator Glenn Sterle, and others, Transport for New South Wales has done the decent thing and finally erected a marquee at the busy site.
“Road Freight NSW made the offer that if government or the provider didn’t want to pay for cover for these essential workers, RFNSW would pay for it,” said RFNSW CEO Simon O’Hara in his latest bulletin.
“We are pleased to see that the NSW government and TfNSW have heard us and quickly improved the site with this marquee.
“We would like to thank those involved for hearing us and acting on an issue that most of us would find unacceptable.”
O’Hara said TfNSW has also since responded to RFNSW requests for answers to why truckies continue to be made to wait for test results.
“In response to your feedback on reports of delays to test results being received I have requested timeframes for test results being issues across all of our testing providers from across the five TfNSW operated testing sites,” a TfNSW spokesperson said.
“We did experience some delays in courier services for the tele-health sites (Forbes and Narrabarba) but have now resolved this issue.
“Our assisted testing sites have performance requirements as part of medicare to provide results within 24 hours. We will review the data and take any action if there are delays beyond 24 hours.
“I cannot comment on how long test results are taking from community testing facilities.”