The removalist who defied an ACT government order to quarantine after working in Victoria is to continue his current job despite a visit from the police.
Colin Mitchell said he would complete carrying material from Sarsfield in Victoria to Cowra in New South Wales via the ACT.
On Monday night, he said the police had called at his home in Canberra and asked his wife, Christina, where he was. She didn't know but in fact he was in the Victorian town which is 299 kilometres to the east of Melbourne.
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It is not clear if the police plan to prosecute him or whether they would simply spell out the law. He had not been phoned by the police even though ACT Health had his number.
On Tuesday morning, he was driving the load towards Canberra and then on to Cowra, north of the ACT. He would over-night in Canberra.
He said he would quarantine for 14 days "when I get this job out of the way" on Thursday - but he was planning to fight the order legally.
He has now started turning away jobs at a cost of $25,000. He said he would also have to work out whether he could keep his staff of five employed.
He is angry at the "idiots" in the ACT Government for not recognising his trade as essential.
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"I don't understand the logic," he said. "They say freight is OK - well, freight is what I do."
His situation is confused. He said that he had no problem getting a permit to enter New South Wales from Victoria but that he was then told by the ACT government that he didn't have an exemption to enter Canberra without going into quarantine on arrival.
He is particularly annoyed that Members of Parliament are counted as "essential staff" able to enter the ACT without going into quarantine but he is not.
The ACT's categories of essential worker who don't need quarantine on entry are:
- health care
- government, law enforcement or military
- Member of Parliament or staff
- education
- agriculture
- construction, Engineering, or manufacturing.
But not delivery companies working interstate.
ACT Health was asked for comment last week but had not responded by the time of writing.
Mr Mitchell's problem may be that there are different rules for people staying in New South Wales or the ACT than for those travelling through.
To be eligible for a no-quarantine permit, the NSW and ACT rules say you must be "an interstate resident transiting through".
