A crowd of approximately 500 people marched on Anthony Albanese’s office today to protest about his insult to the Convoy of No Confidence on 22 August 2011. The rally and march were organised by Consumer and Taxpayer Association Jacques Laxale, as a result of public outrage after Mr Albanese, called the Convoy “the Convoy of No Consequence” during question time while the protest was underway.
Mr Albanese is the Federal Labor Member for Grayndler, the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and Leader of the House and his comments were reported by the media across Australia. The Gillard Government laughed at Mr Albanese’s comments and an emboldened Kelvin Thompson, Labor MP for Wills in Victoria, later called the Convoy “the convoy of incontinence” after he’d seen a two Winnebago’s and a caravan parked near Parliament House. At no time did any member of the Government walk 200 metres and cross the road to meet with the Convoy and listen to their grievances.
The well behaved but very vocal crowd marched down Marrickville Road behind the ‘death of democracy’ coffin, carrying various signs and armed with megaphones, Australian flags and inflatable toy hammers. People of all ages and many nationalities joined in the call for a new election, to stop the carbon tax and Government waste. Many were angry about the Government’s mishandling of the Malaysian solution, the direct threat to News Ltd by Bob Brown’s media enquiry and Julia Gillard’s outrageous threatening early morning phone calls to media bosses, demanding censorship of an opinion piece about her well known love affair with a union con man. But what the crowd really wanted was an apology from Mr Albanese for his comments. None was forthcoming.
Mr Albanese, flanked by security, addressed the rally and answered questions presented to him by Chris Johnson from CATA. Mr Albanese’s answers outlined his support to the Gillard Government and his support for the Government’s position on the carbon tax. He also told the rally that there were more people at the Petersham Town Hall question and answer night than at Marrickville. These comments did nothing to endear him to the crowd, and his voice was drowned out by calls for a new election and for the Government to stop the carbon tax.
Other speakers at the rally included the Victorian Liberal Federal Member for Indi, Sophie Mirabella, who called on the Government to call a new election. Malcolm Roberts from the Galileo Movement spoke to the crowd about the science and presented a two-page document containing scientific facts to Mr Albanese. Anita Donland drove all the way to Sydney from Bendigo Victoria to address the rally. Ms Donlan was MC at the Convoy rally and was insulted by Mr Albanese’s comments against decent, hardworking Australians who had travelled for days to be heard in Canberra. A 94-year-old ex-POW, Verdun Walsh, who had never attended a rally in his life, also addressed the rally. Other speakers included Norma Biggood, Angela Liati and Peter Madden from the Christian Democrats.
It is concerning that Mr Albanese’s minders allowed a middle-aged lady close enough to pull his tie. The rally organisers did not witness this incident, however footage appeared on one of the evening news programs. Mr Albanese was not intimidated by the confrontation by the crowd – indeed he appeared to relish it – and at no time was his personal safety at risk, otherwise the police and the minders would have stepped in and whisked him away.
The mood of the crowd when Mr Albanese addressed them was more hostile today than at previous rallies. After speaking to many people, they vented their frustration on Mr Albanese because it was the first time a Labor Member of Parliament had bothered to attend a protest rally. It was evident that they were disgusted by the performance of the Federal Government and the Malaysian solution debacle was the final straw for many of them. After Mr Albanese spoke, may protesters expressed their opinion that if the current Government sees out its full term, the damage will take generations to repair.
The Gillard Government’s arrogant refusal to acknowledge that something is really wrong when conservative Australians, many of them elderly and who have never attended a rally before, take to the streets to protest against Government policies and failures. It is this arrogance that will ultimately lead to the Government’s downfall.
A smaller pro carbon tax rally was organised by GetUp! and the Climate Action Newtown to commence an hour before the Convoy rally. Crowd numbers were small – estimated at between 25 and 50. Mr Albanese told the GetUp! supporters that the carbon tax was about “our future as a people on this planet and unless we as a people take action on climate change, we can look forward to disastrous consequences in terms of our economy, but also in terms of our environment“.
In my whole life, I have never seen an Australian government display such an utter and deep contempt for protests by mainstream normally conservative and usually silent citizens. The majority of protesters were elderly, given that it was a weekday. These are the peope who built this country and many have never protested before. They travelled from all over Sydney, the Central Coast, the Blue Mountains and Wollongong to voice their dissent. These are the people who are taunted, called ‘of no consequence’ and ‘incontinent’ and laughed at by their elected representatives. Apart from the outrageous abuse of trust and loss of touch with the electorate, the public relations aspect of this is as suicidally incompetent and stupid beyond belief. Just as almost every other thing this Government has botched up in the last 4 years. Anne Easby, MichaelC58
Update:
Pictures from the GetUp! Rally – perhaps 25-50 people – complete with professionally printed signs and cardboard, anti Alan Jones signage and a cardboard cut-out of Tony Abbott with Labor’s negative Tony slogan.
Excellent photojournalism and article
From the Herald Sun;
He pointed to a placard that read “Convoy of Courage”, saying, “It doesn’t take a great deal of courage for 150 people to abuse one.”
He keeps at it, doesn’t he. Trying to denigrate voters who have every reason to be upset. Anyway, he is the gutless wonder who abused these people, with all his labor mates cheering him on in parliament, much like a school yard bully.
I am like these people at the rally today. I am incensed by the total and complete disregard by this government of the rights and concerns of everyday Australians that this Labor Govt claims to represent. They are treating us all like children who don’t know what is right and what is wrong. How dare they presume to tell me what is good for us and what is not. I have been around for a long time and managed very well making my own decisions. So far I have made all the right ones. We don’t need or want a Govt that controls every aspect of our lives. We are constantly being told what to do and how to it. They tell us that they are the only ones that know what is the right course of action to protect the environment. Of course these scientist that they quote from are either paid directly by this govt or are under threat of losing funding if they don’t tow the Govt line. This Govt so far has demonstrated that they are totally clueless about practically everything, with one failed policy after another and then expecting us to trust them with another thrown together idea on the run. Their failures are too many to count and continue with every passing day. It will only take one labor member to grow a backbone and cross the floor of the house to stop this insane Govt destroying this country completely. Just one, they might even find themselves re elected at the next election for having the moral fortitude to stand up for what is right.
500?
Really? I’m assuming you can count but 500 that’s a bit of stretch.
Yes 500 and getup 25
Whether it was 500 or only 55, it is irrelevant really. The sad truth is a hell of a lot more people would be there voicing our dissapointment with LABOUR and its pathetic lack of leadership. Many of us are clinging to our insecure jobs as best we can and living in fear of another industry shut down, unable to take days off or time out to go to the rallies. Hats off to the 94 year old gentleman, ex prisoner of war … he knows what is happening. I hope ALBANESE finally gets the message.
Exactly Jewel. I was there because I have my own business and could shut for a few hours. Most cannot but they are there letting the Govt know by voicing their opinion through Polls etc. I have never in my life joined a march but I cannot stand by while these incompetent people ruin a good country. They have no idea what they are doing and are just creating one fiasco after another. If this man had had the decency to apoligise for his utterly contemptible comment about decent hardworking australians he may have been allowed a voice. When asked about the comment , he instead did as all labor politicians do..he asked and started to answer his own question as written in the Labor handbook. They all sound like over rehearsed puppets and it is insulting. Over and over again he was asked to answer the question but would not. He thoroughly deserved the contempt of the people because he was not man enough to apoligise. Or perhaps he really does think he is above hard working decent Australians and they are of no consequence. In which case he will learn how wrong he is in the very near future when he is looking for a job , if there are any after Labor destroys the Economy. The people want an Election to decide their Govt , they dont want a shony Govt only there after deals done with shady MPs lining their own pockets eg: Windsor.
I was also at the march, albeit towards the middle and couldn’t see the people at the front who were yelling out. It was very hard to hear Albanese speak due to the shouts of the people at the front and the traffic noise. He mistakenly said there were 150 people there because he couldn’t see around the corner. I think his security and minders were lax for not ensuring he had a platform to speak from and a buffer zone between him and the crowd. I think it was a set up and Albanese invited the confrontation. He knew people would be upset and it had the potential to damage the protesters’ reputations, the cause and he would come out smelling like roses because he appeared amongst the ‘rabble’. I think the most odious comment I heard all day came not from the protesters, but one of the GetUp rent a crowd. He said “no wonder they don’t care about the environment – they’ll all be dead soon”. This was a spiteful attack on the elderly people who attended the march. This odious little twerp stood to the side with his professionally printed and funded sign and kept chanting “we believe climate change is real” and “we want a clean energy future for our children”. Well stupid, if you’re reading this – so do we. But Gillard’s carbon tax is not the way to achieve it. The trouble is, Labor’s scorched earth policy will make it hard for the next Government to clean up Rudd/Gillard’s mess, e.g. High Court decision, carbon tax, NBN and the list goes on. It’s depressing.
Typical arrogant politician. The convoy was virtually ‘hijacked’ in that they were not allowed to park in certain areas making sure that there were as few as possible able to rally. I was not there but heard a truck driver who had driven from north Queensland to join with others only to be told to move along and could not get close enough nor able to join up with others. This is the worst government ever and it is criminal what they have done to this country. Three independents who now get a lot of goodies for their electorates (I hope their citizens don’t forget them selling out)helped get a minority into power. It is about time that the preferences go and a government elected with the majority of votes not boosted by by support from others. No carbon tax
I hope this protest will help them to reach their aim!
Protest is not very good way for getting necessary result from government. Such activity could brings terrible effect.