Alex Bainbridge, Sydney
While rich celebrities and politicians gathered at the Opera House on February 17 for the state-organised glamourisation of the life of Australia's richest person, around 40 people protested outside.
The protesters pointed out that PM John Howard was using taxpayers' money to celebrate the life of a tax cheat and that Kerry Packer's obscene wealth was created by the hard-working millions.
"John Howard is using today's memorial to promote the myth that Kerry Packer was a great Australian", Socialist Alliance member and one of the protest organisers Duroyan Fertl told Green Left Weekly.
"The more Howard can convince workers and poor people to admire corporate bosses, the easier it will be for him to smooth the implementation of his anti-union laws and welfare-to-work policy", Fertl said.
Protesters had made an informal agreement with security and police to hold their protest some distance from the front entrance to the Opera House, to ensure that the protest would not be closed down. The protest organisers made it clear that the protest would be peaceful and would not obstruct people attending the official event.
Despite this, midway through the proceedings, police unilaterally seized the portable sound system then used the resulting reaction as an excuse to arrest six of the protesters.
"The police action was appalling", protest organiser Peter McGregor told GLW. "Is this the beginning of Howard's police state?"
"Just as Howard's anti-union laws and attacks on civil liberties go hand in hand, we saw today that Howard's celebration of the life of a corporate parasite goes hand in hand with unnecessary police violence", Fertl added.
The protest received support from passers-by and was reported in all mainstream media in Australia, and in Britain, China and other countries.
From Green Left Weekly, February 22, 2006.
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