Striking truckies were picketing the Toll Holdings depot in Brisbane, which was not supporting the shutdown.

When a Toll driver passing through the gates to the depot was called a 'scab' by a picketer, he returned fire.

"Why are you calling me a scab?" he shouted back. He went on with words to this effect: "I support what you blokes are doing but you should have got everyone on board before you went on strike. Why didn't you get the union's backing?"

And that is exactly where this week's shutdown has gone wrong.

Promising up to 80pc of truck drivers to be on strike for up to two weeks, just a fraction of that number have actually gone on the picket line.

Most businesses that would have been affected have been able to carry on as per normal, thus removing any economic pressure the truckies were hoping to place on the Government.

There is strong public sympathy for the plight of truck drivers (roughly 80pc according to this week's FarmOnline poll), but the bitter rivalry between trucking lobby groups meant the message behind this week's strike was lost in the noise.

The shutdown was led by the National Road Transport Forum, which wanted a peaceful strike to highlight the national economy's dependence on road transport and the raft of unfair government regulations that are affecting drivers' profitability.

However, the Australian Long Distance Owner Drivers Association also wanted to set up truck blockades on major roads.

This immediately presented a fragmented argument to the public's eye.

In Queensland, where most of the action took place, the Queensland Transport Union did not support either approach and was endorsing more formal lobbying of government.

Add to that the lack of support from the Transport Workers' Union and it was little wonder that not many drivers actually went on strike.

And somewhere in the middle of all the confusion the message getting to the public was that the protest was about petrol prices, rather than registration fee hikes and unfair regulations.

What was left of the shutdown was an inconsequential effort due to the fragmented nature of the industry.

While they managed to attract media coverage their message was lost in the conflicting industry views.

What was needed was a united front that would have kept the focus on the issues and the pressure on the government.

What do you think?