THE Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese might have passed it off as the “Convoy of no Consequence,” but Brisbane truckie Ken Wilkie reckons it was worth every bit of the time and expense it cost him.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
“I would say to all politicians, wipe us off as being a failure at your own peril, we represent thousands upon thousands of people who weren’t able to be here. Had they been with my convoy coming through Sydney on Sunday morning, they would have been absolutely astounded,” Mr Wilkie said.
“The number of people on overhead bridges, the number of people on the sides of roads waving to us: they can’t all be here (in Canberra), but my word aren’t they backing us.”
An owner-driver since 1974, Mr Wilkie became increasingly fed up with what he saw as a government out of touch with the will of the Australian people, and particularly small business owners. He volunteered to lead the white convoy - one of 11 smaller convoys under the ‘Convoy of no Confidence’ umbrella - which left from Brisbane on Saturday morning, stopped over in Marulan on Sunday, before reaching the capital for a drive by of Parliament House on Monday morning.
They were calling for a double dissolution of federal parliament to give voters the chance to return a majority government, which they said wouldn’t be beholden to minor party and independent influence.
When the Post caught up with Mr Wilkie yesterday morning, he was attending the last of the ‘No Confidence’ rallies on the lawns of Parliament House among a dwindling crowd of protestors. Radio announcer Alan Jones had furiously driven the rallies as MC over the two days, and Coalition MPs Barnaby Joyce, Warren Truss, Joanna Gash and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott all made appearances at the rally.
“There are hundreds of you here, there are thousands of you who would like to be here and there are millions of you who are sick of being ripped off by a bad government,” Mr Abbott told the assembled crowd.
Yet the convoy has had to fight off criticism that it was a massive flop after only a small amount of the expected people and vehicles found their way to Canberra.
An estimated 320 vehicles took part in Monday’s main protest, a far cry short of the thousand-plus expected.
For the full story, please see the print edition of Wednesday's Goulburn Post.
