It was a sad day in Melbourne on Tuesday. After watching various live streams of the protest for seven hours, there was no other conclusion to reach. The mob had won the day and ruled the streets of the Great Southern City.
Nomenclature is difficult. Supporters referred to the group as tradies. But that’s not quite true. Certainly, there were union members there. Some bearing the names of the CFMEU on their fluoro tops. Others bore the name of the Electrical Trades Union.
If we’re going to use one name for protesters, I’m going to go with fluoros. Real or cosplaying. It’s hard to know.
Some of the generic fluoro gear did look suspiciously new. Kmart purchases late Monday perhaps.
One character toting a Trump-Pence 2020 flag wore a fluoro vest four sizes too large for him and a safety helmet that looked like it had just come straight out of the packet.
Even more intriguing was the sight of two fluoro marchers who were filmed by an observer from across the road having a snifter of what looked to be an illicit substance while taking a brief sojourn from a march where they fervently declared no experimental drug would enter their bodies.
In Victoria, construction work has continued through the almost interminable lockdowns. While employees in non-critical retail have been unable to work and have faced enormous economic hardship, construction workers have worked more or less uninterrupted.
Construction unions have had months to argue the case of mandatory vaccination to their members based on sound and sensible workplace health and safety criteria. Victorian CFMEU Secretary, John Setka babbled about choice. It has been an abject failure of leadership.
A press statement was released on Tuesday dripping in spin and lovely words, claiming there was no need for mandatory vaccination in the construction sector because members would make sensible decisions. All but a stubborn few would roll up their sleeves, according to the statement issued jointly by the CFMEU, the ETU, the Plumbers’ Union and the AMWU. It was a statement in contempt of what we were all watching.
If these unions walk back from mandatory vaccination, they may as well kiss any principles they have left goodbye. What’s the purpose of a trade union if not to ensure the health and safety of its members in the workplace?
The Andrews government had failed to adequately consult or communicate, sticking to its hard, government-by-edict, no questions asked, no-correspondence-entered-into approach.
The problem has become virtually unsolvable for the foreseeable. Either the Andrews’ government backs down or it stays the course on mandatory vaccinations for industry sector workers.
Most likely is that while most Victorians diligently head off for a shot of the vaccine if they haven’t already done so, there’ll be a marauding mob on the streets in the Melbourne CBD.
Victoria Police had a shocker yesterday. No one expects VicPol to endanger public safety and that of their own members in open confrontations with the fluoros but there has been a failure of intelligence gathering, a failure to monitor and act on some of the more disturbing plans of the fluoros.
Last week I received screenshots of chatter on Telegram among anti-lockdown activists which contained a threat to ambush Victoria police and take their weapons. Later, there was a photograph of a marcher at an earlier rally claiming to have a homemade taser. It may have been hollow chest thumping but at face value, it’s difficult to understand why counter terrorism squads and laws have not been engaged.
The question for Victoria’s Chief Commissioner of Police, Shane Patton, to address is why is VicPol battling under the weight of angry protesters while in New South Wales planned rallies have come to almost nothing? I’d suggest the answer, in part, is NSW Police have been more earnest in their intelligence gathering and focus on organisers.
Finally, to the fluoros themselves. The marchers on Tuesday had no overt sign of leadership. While the rally did a couple of laps of the CBD, there didn’t seem to be anyone in charge. There was one exception when a fellow not in fluoro stood at the steps of the Victorian parliament with a bullhorn, urging the fluoros not to confront police.
Persuaded, the fluoros turned away and headed down Bourke Street.
Although I didn’t see him yesterday, one of the major organisers of the so-called freedom rallies in Melbourne is Harrison McLean. McLean is happy to tell those who choose to listen, “I am not Far-Right. I am a Libertarian Populist, and I support Freedom of Speech.”
But back in November, MacLean was exposed as something entirely different. In one of a number of ugly posts, he declared a strategy to radicalise anti-lockdown protesters: “We start at ‘Dan Bad’ and go right through to “No Coercive Vaccines” and get into the pedo suppression orders and [New World Order] agenda and one world government as a concept to be opposed.
“We have a lot of very normie people coming in from banners and [social media] groups that are not ready for the JQ yet.”
In case you are wondering, JQ is shorthand for the Jewish Question.
The fluoros are a mixed bag, no doubt, but their long, angry march to oblivion has begun. It’s a dying cause. In some cases, it will be so literally but in others the activism is merely unsustainable. What happens to anti-lockdown, anti-vax activism when the country hits 80 or perhaps even 90 per cent fully vaxxed and opens up never to lockdown again? The fluoros will have no choice but to retreat further to the fringes.
More Coverage
‘Disability reform timeline hasn’t been agreed yet’: states
Foundational supports were meant to start with a phased rollout from July 1, but states are waiting until the federal government ticks off a five-year hospital funding agreement.
Toorak mansion our most expensive home
An grand Italianate estate in Melbourne’s Toorak has been crowned the nation’s most expensive home after changing hands for a price believed to be $150m.