(Picture: AP, Kym Smith, Craig Greenhill and Ray Strange, The Australian)
Eleven convoys from the furthest reaches of Australia descended into Canberra on 21 and 22 August. The purpose of the convoy was to protest on the lawns of Parliament House about the carbon tax, live cattle exports, the BER, border security and Government waste.
Convoy #1 was lead by Peter Whytecross who left Port Hedland on 16 August and travelled round the top end, through Falls Creek and Katherine in the Northern Territory. Darryl Pederson lead # 2 Convoy from Atherton/Cairns through Townsville and Charters Towers. Peter reported that Clermont, a tiny community of 2000 people, collected $13,000 to support the convoy. Tony Hopkins was the convoy leader for # 3 convoy from Rockhampton and there were two convoys from Brisbane – # 4 lead by Russ Martin and # 5 lead by Ken Wilkie. Ken’s convoy drove through Sydney on Sunday, 21 August, stopping for a short photo shoot on Pennant Hills road, before travelling around the outskirts of Sydney and picking up additional convoy participants in Marulen …. including the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott. Mr Abbott drove into Canberra in the lead truck with Ken Wilkie.
The size and number of vehicles in the convoy was difficult to estimate, with hundreds of vehicles joining the convoys along the way for short segments, as they were unable to make the entire journey. The convoys arrival times were staggered to avoid traffic congestion in Canberra. Some arrived on Sunday afternoon, others in the evening, while Convoys 6 to 11 arrived on Monday morning. The trucks and vehicles were parked at two different showground locations (EPIC showground and Bruce Stadium), and the protesters were bussed into Parliament House. Some drivers who couldn’t get into the Parliamentary precinct to protest drove around State Circle, blowing their air horns loud enough to be heard from the steps of Parliament House and often drowning out the speakers’ voices. With the convoys broken up into segments, it made the size of the protest harder to estimate and seem much smaller than it was. Whether this was by accident or by design is unknown.
Calls to Alan Jones from convoy drivers reported they couldn’t get to Parliament House and that that a 2km convoy was held up outside Canberra. Peter Baker on Convoy # 7 from Adelaide said he was stopped at the border to be given instructions to go to Bruce Stadium and told they couldn’t access Parliament House. Karsten Gephardt, who lead the unofficial Canberra convoy, said they were denied access to Parliament House. http://www.2gb.com/index2.php?option=com_newsmanager&task=view&id=9838
Craig Kelly, Liberal MP for Hughes in Sydney’s South asked the Speaker of the House to investigate reports that some in the convoy were denied their democratic right to protest around Parliament House and on whose direction was the convoy denied the right to protest at Parliament House. Some drivers were told they could park along side the road near Parliament House, only to return and find red parking fines.
In Question Time on 22 August, Anthony Albanese inflamed protesters and people around Australia with his derogatory remarks about the Convoy. Albanese said “….. those opposite have been working with a different organisation, of Mick Pattel, who organised, of course, the convoy of no consequence outside …..”
It was heartening to hear from many employees within Parliament House, who said privately that they supported the Convoys. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that some law enforcement officers went back to the camping grounds in the evening to cook for the Convoy.
This Government of No Conscience may denigrate the Convoy of No Confidence by downplaying the number of people who protested in Canberra. But in doing so, they also denigrate and further alienate those ordinary Australians who supported the convoys along their routes, waving signs and thank you banners, cooking sausages in small country towns to feed the convoy, taking the hat around to collect petrol money, and walking the streets to collect petitions. Although these people who couldn’t physically attend the convoy, they were a major part of it’s success.
Anne Easby
[...] The ‘Convoy No Confidence’, carefully controlled to avoid disruption in order to avoid demonisation, was then ridiculed as irrelevant, a Convoy of no Consequence and [...]