James Campbell: Victorians want Premier to take action on protests so we can go about our lives
Jacinta Allan must understand that if her government isn’t prepared to act on anti-Israeli protesters targeting the public by blocking the Myer Christmas windows, in two years’ time we are odds on to elect a government that will.
James Campbell
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Yes Premier, when it comes to the Gaza protests, Victorians are indeed “sick of this stuff”.
But after more than a year all we want to know is what are you going to do about it?
It’s one thing for protesters to target governments and even corporations for their alleged misdeeds.
But anti-Israeli protesters who planned to interrupt the launch of the Myer Christmas windows were not targeting it because of anything the company has done.
They were targeting the public – particularly families who planned to bring children – leaving Myer no choice but to cancel an event that has been a part of Melbourne’s Christmas traditions for generations.
Victorians shouldn’t have to put up with it and the Premier needs to understand for own political good that if her government isn’t prepared to act, in two years’ time we are odds on to elect a government that will.
Her tweets this morning show Jacinta Allan has yet to grasp this.
They made her sound like a bystander not the state’s leader.
It’s all very well to say you’re “furious that a small group of people have chosen to politicise a beautiful event for children”.
It’s also stating the bleeding obvious to say blocking the Christmas windows “won’t change a thing in the Middle East, but it will let down a bunch of kids in Melbourne.”
She’s right too to slam the Greens who have indeed “quietly stoked this division” and egged the protesters on.
But instead of telling us what she’s going to do we got nothing but commentary.
“People have a right to demonstrate, no one has a right to divide,” she said.
Sorry, Premier, but what does that even mean?
Demonstrations are by their nature an expression of division.
If you’re going to say “We cannot let ugly protests ruin a beautiful Christmas tradition” you need to tell us how exactly you are going to stop them.
But instead we got blather about how “we must come out of it united, not divided” and “There are different ways to get there” and a reiteration of her plan to introduce social cohesion laws – “to wind back this culture of division and put an end to vilification and hate.”
That Jacinta thinks she can legislate to heal the emotions which have been unleashed in the past year would be touching if it wasn’t so funny.
She needs to grasp that after a year of “this stuff” Victorians are way past caring about root causes
We just want the government to act so we can go about our lives.
Originally published as James Campbell: Victorians want Premier to take action on protests so we can go about our lives
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