[Updated 21 May]
Though called at only a few days’ notice, Melbourne’s rally and march in protest at the Coalition Government’s first budget attracted numbers rivalling the March in March: organisers claimed ten thousand during the initial rally rising to twenty-five thousand by the end at Federation Square. (Rallies in other cities were also large scale, for example ten thousand in Sydney and six thousand in Adelaide according to the ABC.) The format was traditional: speakers at the State Library, march down Swanston Street (though a departure from custom was the splitting up of the march at Bourke Street, with part continuing directly to Federation Square and part making a detour via the Mall and Elizabeth Street and back to Swanston via Collins Street) and final speakers at Federation Square. (For more information on the event, see the Facebook page).
At the State Library
Warm-up music was provided by Celine Yap. The list of speakers was a long one, here and again at Federation Square, and was increased by an unscheduled ‘intervention’ on the part of Indigenous activist and broadcaster Vivian Malo. Among those who spoke at the library were: Karen Pickering, feminist and organiser of Slutwalk Melbourne; Yorta Yorta man Jason Tamiru; ACTU President Ged Kearney (see also http://www.actu.org.au/Media/Mediareleases/AbbottGovernmenttearsapartAustralianwayoflife.aspx); Shaun Murray, Coal spokesperson with Friends of the Earth; Mohammad Ali Baqiri, a refugee who spent three years in detention (see http://umsu.unimelb.edu.au/a-second-chance-the-stories-of-fawad-ahmed-and-mohammad-ali-baqiri/); and Adam Bandt, Greens MHR for seat of Melbourne. MC was RRR presenter Richard Watts.
Others have posted video of some of these speeches on YouTube, for example:
Vivian Malo by Sean Bedlam – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB8gY7WiDJY
Adam Bandt – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WW4MsgdTp8&list=UUExNRjztVKtVu1CNzPpIFCQ
Celine Yap with Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the wind”
Mohammad Ali Baqiri
Karen Pickering
Adam Bandt
Vivian Malo
Jason Tamiru – “We’re at the bottom of the stack in this country”
Shaun Murray
Ged Kearney
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Mohammad Ali Baqiri
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Shaun Murray
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Celine Yap with Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the wind”
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Vivian Malo
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Adam Bandt
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Karen Pickering
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Ged Kearney
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Jason Tamiru – “We’re at the bottom of the stack in this country”
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On the march
Marching down Swanston Street
This marcher attracted much attention from photographers
As did this one
Busking against the Budget
(See
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnZtyOLTSuk)
Plenty of dogs on the march
Even if some had to be carried
As did some of the younger protesters
Bringing up the rear
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Marching down Swanston Street
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This ‘senior citizen’ attracted much attention from photographers
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As did this one
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As did some of the younger protesters
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Plenty of dogs on the march
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Even if some had to be carried
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Bringing up the rear
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Busking against the Budget
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At Federation Square
By the time marchers had assembled at Federation Square organisers felt able to announce a revised attendance figure of twenty-five thousand. Here there were more speakers, with Father Bob Maguire his usual self prominent in a list that included disability activist Jax Jacki Brown and NUS Education Officer Sarah Garnham, Operations Coordinator at Friends of the Earth Samantha Castro, Danae Bosler of Public Transport Not Traffic, broadcaster, writer, media maker and festival director Marcus Westbury, and Tamika Hicks, ALP candidate for Rowville. Rounding everything off was activist singer/songwriter Les Thomas, with a song specially written for occasion – caught here on YouTube.
Danae Bosler’s speech has also been posted to YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf-JCjlEGNo and Tamika Hicks’ can be found here.
Disability activist and spoken word performer Jax Jacki Brown
NUS Education Officer Sarah Garnham
Father Bob Maguire
(Father Bob amongst other things used the view over the river to the Eureka building to make a point he has made before about the symbolism of the gold panels at the top of the tower and the blood-red ribbon flowing down from them. See for example at 7min 30 in this video from the eve of the 2007 Federal Election –
http://www.engagemedia.org/Members/pc/videos/23nov-eureka-engagemedia.avi)
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Father Bob Maguire
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NUS Education Officer Sarah Garnham
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Disability activist and spoken word perfomer Jax Jacki Brown
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