Of Convoys and Cobblers ...

.. and ratbags and rednecks.  I am sure that if Lewis Carroll had been around the Parliamentary Triangle today he would have added a couplet along those lines to the Walrus's oration to the oysters.   He is certainly heading in that direction with the topic ".. whether pigs have wings."

As many of you will be aware a bunch of folks from the more rural areas of Australia have decided to run a set of Convoys of No Confidence to come and let the Government know that the Government needs to listen to such folks.  Various predictions were made about how this was going to screw up Canberra's traffic really really badly today (22 August) as the hundreds of trucks orbited Parliament House and the masses then rallied to be addressed by the Mad Monk - no, not him, but him.

From some of the coverage in the Sydney Morning Herald it appeared that this movement has been adopted as a 'cause' by Alan Jones, the 2nd most obnoxious shock-jock in Australia. I have put 'cause' in quotes as it is a bit hard to see what the actual issues are.  The carbon tax is a biggie and so is the ban on live cattle exports and the Malaysian solution to illegal immigrants got a mention (as did the National Broadband Network - which really puzzles me).  They generally seemed to want an election.- and if the Government called one they would undoubtedly complain about 2 elections in a year.

Most of Canberra who had to use the road system made arrangements to dodge the chaos.  I had to go in for a medical appointment so had planned to ride from Queanbeyan.  One text to the ABC mentioned a guy who had a crucial meeting in Canberra at 9am so arranged a Hotel for the night before. 

In the event there was no disruption at all.  ACT Police had put in all manner of arrangement to handle about 600 trucks and when only about 100, top estimate, turned up they were a little embarrassed.  (However if they had done nothing and 600 had turned up they would have been crucified.  I'd accept embarrassment.)  The first (of three) convoys scheduled to be escorted around Parliament House was cancelled as no trucks turned up!  So what are the facts?

I don't know but here is what I saw and heard after leaving the doctors (having been given a tick as a magnificent sample of human life) in my car. 

Part of the idea was to park all the trucks at Exhibition Park (EPIC)  and the Bruce Stadium and bus people to the House for a gab fest.  There were a few trucks around EPIC.

This one is a worry because, apart from the nonsensical message, the art is so poor I can't tell if it is about Bob Brown or Bob Hawke (the "AAHH" certainly sounds like the Silver Bodgie).

Salient points from this image are although it appears to be sponsored by a/the 'Coalition of Industries" an item on the ABC website said that:

"The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) says the convoy will do nothing to help the trucking industry.
"The association's Bill McKinley says the rally will change nothing.
" "The danger of protests like these, which are well-meaning, is it reinforces the stereotype of the trucking industry as cowboys who are not worth dealing with," he said.
" "On behalf of our members, the ATA gets excellent results including a two-year exemption from the carbon tax.""

The second interesting matter is that of the slogan "No more lies.".  One might respond to that suggestion by discussing the Children Overboard affair in which many politicians not in the parties forming the current Government did not tell the truth. 

This image shows the main truck park.

I didn't count how many there were but 50 or 60 is a possibility.  There were also a bunch parked - IMHO illegally - at Parliament House.

There were a few people at the rally.  Certainly nowhere near 9,000, and my guess is that many of those present were-  like me - rubberneckers.

The speakers who were going on - during the few minutes I could stomach this event - were extremely angry, about everything.  In particular they were angry about the lies being spread by the media that the roll-up was low.  They asserted forcefully that this was because a 2km long convoy had been held up at the border - presumably by the cops.  Conspiracy theories anyone?

Interestingly a number of gentlemen in AFP uniforms and standing beside powerful motorbikes were nearby so I asked them if they had heard this allegation and whether it was true.  Two responses were given:

1. "Its a democracy sir: he can say what he likes."
2. "A shaken head followed by "It wasn't us."

I was listening to ABC Radio a little later and those comments seemed relevant so I phoned in to the presenter Genevive Jacobs.  As I did so she got a Tweet from AFP - covered in this News article - rebutting the claim of trucks being held up.  The organisers then tried to change the tale to them being held up at the Victorian border - which is completely unbelievable  since the Governments of both Victoria and New South Wales are of a different persuasion to the Federal Government!

It was particularly galling to see someone claiming 'democracy is dead'

since the fact that these clowns were allowed to walk the streets and spout their stupid venom is proof that democracy is alive and well.

My final comment from this day is an aside from the ABC coverage in which it was reported that some social media has been set up under the name of "Convoy of No Consequence".  Good call.

Follow up:  the media had a field-day the next day.  Highlights (for those of a similar view to me) included:

• The SMH getting stuck into Alan Jones for his harangue of one of their reporters who asked a question he didn't like; 
• The ACT Government losing enough money with overtime for cops and emergency shift operations at hospitals that they are going to negotiate a different arrangement with the Federal Government (Canberra Times);
• The Wood Duck Inn at Hall having arranged many extra supplies of beer and stayed open all night, at the suggestion of the convoy organisers and getting 5 truckers call in;
• The small town of Wallendbeen was told to prepare for 1000 protestors but only 10 turned up.  The only sold 10 egg and bacon rolls having prepared for 300.  The publican was quoted in the Canberra Times as saying the event was badly organised and had inconvenienced small country towns.

To quote Australia's worst shock jock "Shime, shime."