Two far-left protest groups did more harm than good this week | David Penberthy

Sometimes people on the left can be so stupid that you suspect they might actually be right-wingers in disguise trying to discredit their cause, writes David Penberthy.

Politics is something most people endure.

Ask most people if they regard themselves as neo-cons or socialists, libertarians or anarchists, and you’ll get a blank response.

Most of us do not self-define because we don’t see politics as an all-consuming, life-defining issue.

We simply try to vote for the person who seems the most competent (or least incompetent) from the available field, in the hope that they will be true to their word and not stuff things up.

For those who immerse themselves in politics to the point of becoming obsessive full-time activists, we can see how their passion can manifest itself in a complete loss of perspective and inability for tactical self-reflection.

We saw two stellar examples of that in South Australia this week, with the profanity-laden carry-on outside the formal launch of the No campaign’s SA launch against the Voice to Parliament, and the response of climate extremists Extinction Rebellion to the news that Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher has had his private residence visited by climate protesters.

Sometimes people on the Left can be so stupid that you suspect they might actually be right-wingers in disguise trying to discredit their cause.

Such was the case outside the Convention Centre on Monday when about 20-odd adolescent Trotskyists gate-crashed the No launch, screaming “f***ing racist pr***s” among other things as the attendees and speakers arrived.

Walking into the launch of the @FairAusADV NO to the Voice campaign in Adelaide this evening.

Is this the “unity” the Australian Labor Party promised us their referendum was going to bring? pic.twitter.com/3Iyi6yYXUo

— Senator Alex Antic (@SenatorAntic) September 18, 2023

I say Trotskyists not as a slur but as an accurate political description as these people are part of the Socialist Alliance, the far-left group which traces its ideological lineage back to the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, with his aim of infiltrating and radicalising more moderate organisations.

Too smart to miss such an obvious opportunity, conservative Liberal Senator Alex Antic filmed this ratbaggery on his iPhone, and by 7am Tuesday it was leading news bulletins around the nation.

As many people probably saw this video as they did those nice new advertisements featuring the young Aboriginal man imploring us to vote Yes.

It is debatable which of the two had the most views; sadly, it’s less debatable which had the most impact.

Now, it makes zero sense to judge the Yes campaign on the basis of two dozen scruffy attention-seekers who had taken time out from the rigours of their Arts degree to engage in some spontaneous foul-mouthed political action.

But the damage it did to the Yes vote was significant, as for most politically disengaged people, watching all this nonsense on the news that night was just another reminder of something they’re probably now well sick of hearing about.

The Yes camp did all it could to distance itself and denounce this inexcusable behaviour.

The conduct of these protesters was the living embodiment of the warning issued by Peter Malinauskas the day before the Yes campaign launch in SA last month, where he said calling No voters racist and stupid was the surest path to failure.

“I do not know whose cause these people are helping,” Malinauskas said of the protests. “I’ve said from the outset that I don’t think somebody who votes no is automatically defined as a racist. I don’t think Australia is a racist country.

“If the people shouting and calling people names think they are changing anybody’s minds, well, they don’t understand human behaviour very well.”

A fair point, albeit one which anyone with half a brain would be capable of making, which makes the response of these idiot protesters even more baffling with their statement saying they stand by their actions.

“The No campaign has drawn from and contributed to an atmosphere of vile racism. We don’t think these ideas deserve ‘respectful debate’, they deserve clear opposition and protest, which we were there to do,” concluded the official statement from Socialist Alternative Adelaide.

At least they’re honest about it, I guess.

We aren’t interested in arguing the toss, or agreeing to disagree, we’re just here to harass you and call you abusive names.

In an equally stupid vein was the statement issued this week by Extinction Rebellion where they breezily batted away any suggestion that they were responsible for visiting the private home of Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher.

Santos chief executive officer and managing director Kevin Gallagher. Picture: Morgan Sette

Gallagher made the revelation last week, which followed the scandal in Perth where Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill and her husband and daughter had been harassed at their home by climate activists, the event given encouragement by the guileless decision of the ABC’s Four Corners to cover this dawn ambush at a private residence.

Despite Gallagher not accusing Extinction Rebellion of being behind his own encounter with the climate protesters, the organisation this week said glibly that even though they weren’t responsible, they’d be happy to go to his house at some stage.

“We haven’t yet targeted Kevin’s house as part of our ongoing efforts to call out Santos’ climate crimes, but it can certainly be arranged if he is feeling left out!” Extinction Rebellion spokesperson Catherine Cox said, presumably thinking she was being funny, as per the jaunty exclamation mark.

Ms Cox also said that her organisation intended to continue with its now-weekly practice of arriving at Santos headquarters and hassling staff while they try to go to work, which she described somewhat hilariously as “respectful conversation” while also accusing the workers of complicity in “climate crimes”.

There is no part of any of this which passes the pub test.

People look at this stuff and shake their heads. It has the sum effect of pushing uncommitted people further to the Right or keeping them in favour of the status quo.

The lesson for those who want progressive causes to succeed is that there’s a few progressive people with a bad dose of politics who should be encouraged to stay home for as long as possible, lest they do further damage to the cause.

There’s a reason Alex Antic was laughing while he was filming this video. He knows awesome free publicity when he sees it.