Hundreds of cars full of protesters have travelled from across Australia to convoy through Melbourne as part of the freedom movement’s latest protest against COVID-19 restrictions that no longer exist and conspiracy theories that were never true.
Over the weekend, organisers mobilised a vehicular convoy of like-minded “freedom fighters” to converge on Melbourne for the Mission 2 Melbourne, their attempt at a Sri Lankan-style popular revolt.
Several barefoot protesters welcomed the arrival of the convoy on Friday from a pedestrian overpass over the Tullamarine Freeway in Brunswick West. Undeterred by torrential rain, they flew flags, blew trumpets at the cars that roared beneath them and cheered enthusiastically at every fleeting horn.
One protester, suspended doctor Billy Bay, told me he’d travelled from Queensland to “stand up against the tyrant Dan Andrews, and to stop the vaccination of children”.
Some Australians were drawn to the fledgling freedom movement during the height of the pandemic by a genuine indignation towards vaccine mandates and seemingly endless lockdowns.
While many of those protesters have moved on with their lives, a robust cohort of protesters remain motivated by an insidious misinformation campaign about the pandemic. They believe in far-right conspiracy theories depicting them as the “the awakened” against a nefarious “new world order”. In other words, we’re just left with the die-hards.
Mission 2 Melbourne, spanning five days and a dozen events, was the movement’s plan to stir a mass civil uprising against Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews because of its belief that he’s bringing in a new world order under the guise of public health restrictions.
The official poster promoting the demonstration demanded an immediate end to the state of emergency, which had ended nearly a year ago. Once they realised their blunder, organisers amended the poster to instead demand an end to the state’s pandemic declaration which, coincidentally, is also ending this week.
So did the protesters pack up their drums and head home? Unfortunately not. In fact, the end of the declaration has seemingly gone unnoticed by protesters, who are unlikely to stop until they overthrow the government in its entirety or are torn apart by factional feuds.
Whether or not public health orders and vaccine mandates are still in effect has become irrelevant to protesters who have become invested in the movement’s existence. Many have lost friends, family, and money; the freedom movement is what they have left. Protesters insisted that returned liberties are a political smoke screen designed to distract the population from encroaching totalitarianism in the form of several development initiatives planned by intergovernmental organisations, such as “the great reset” and Agenda 2030.
The impetus of the movement is now the conservation of their community, even as it fractures and becomes ideologically incoherent. New fragments of misinformation materialise online everyday to keep protesters energised and united.
On Friday, several protesters, including Billy Bay, entertained the idea that torrential rain that lashed much of Australia’s east coast was the result of cloud seeding technology, insisting “whenever there’s a protest, there’s always a good amount of rain — connect the dots there, perhaps”.
On the podium at Flagstaff Gardens where protesters converged for the first night of demonstrations, an American man, Donald Anderson, addressed a festive crowd which included Catherine Cummings, a member of the Victorian Legislative Council. Anderson — who is rarely seen without his Rambo-style flag depicting former president Donald Trump as a muscle-bound GI equipped with a semi-automatic rifle — evoked similar conspiracies.
“They had a big black cloud swirling around, they tried to drop that graphene oxide on us, but it didn’t work, and now we are here,” he said.
Members of the public abused the protesters as the group took to the street on Friday night. Some even threw eggs from their balcony as the demonstration passed below.
At Saturday’s demonstration, former Qantas captain Graham Hood, who emerged as an unlikely leader of the freedom movement’s Convoy to Canberra protest in February, addressed a crowd at the Flinders Street steps.
“Some of us don’t even know what each other’s agendas are. But if we keep calling someone that disagrees with us controlled opposition, or a Freemason, or a paedophile, nobody wins,” he proclaimed to hisses and boos.
By Sunday night, divisions within the movement had reached boiling point, an argument between the Melbourne and Canberra leadership over alcohol use and the verbal abuse of police officers, which was publicly live-streamed in its entirety, left many freedom protesters feeling disaffected with the movement. The event wrapped up on Tuesday, but by then many protestors had already made their way home.
Mission 2 Melbourne — and the freedom movement generally — has failed to present a compelling, coherent and attainable set of goals. The leaders of the protests lack the experience or political know-how to influence the public discourse around the legacy of Victoria’s lockdowns. Many protesters proudly state they had never attended a protest before joining the freedom movement.
Completely oblivious to the fact that much of the world has returned to normal, the freedom movement remains determined to overcome whichever benign injustice they subject themselves to, so they aren’t likely to disappear anytime soon.
Is there anything at all to the freedom movement’s claims? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
I would dearly love to know the mix of the protesters. How many are from interstate, how many from country Victoria, how many from Melbourne’s outer suburbs and how many from within 20km of the CBD? Is there a chance that Melburnians are being ‘saved’ from themselves by people without the actual lived experience of the past two and a half years?
The fact that these pathetic wretches are still on the rampage speaks volumes about the way our society treats the mentally ill and just how serious we are about providing the masses with a good quality education.
When a crisis as serious as a global pandemic comes along you would think that that would provide some sort of incentive for us to come together and unite for the good of all. But no! Not with this mob.
Also, don’t forget, as one of my friends often says, “50% of the population has below-average intelligence”. This crowd that Scobie talks about in his article causes me to think that there might be hope for me yet.
There is considerably more that could be said but reading this article makes you almost want to ‘give up’.
a good quality education – yep! – everyone should be taught basic language and maths skills and a full understanding of the scientific method
Could not agree more rob. I tried to do my best in that regard (I wasn’t always successful though).
I watched my dyslexic son have his confidence undermined by his father. “You don’t need schools mate, everything will be alright”, from a First Fleeter who didn’t want anyone thinking he could father a ” stupid disabled child”.
It is not always a lack of IQ or education.
I might add that my son is not involved with this rabble and would be offended if it was suggested that he was.
It’s fringe Robert. In a population of approx 26 million you are going to have a broad range of folks. The vast majority of us are just going about our day to day lives, I guess we can accommodate the slightly less informed amongst us… 🙂
However, the social media creators squeeze far more mileage out of it than the actual physical event.
dilettantebeth I am definitely NOT prepared to tolerate “the slightly less informed amongst us” when they display patently irresponsible behavior that puts the rest of us at great risk. May I remind you beth that this SARS-CoV-2 virus has killed approximately 15 million people worldwide according to World Health Organization estimates.
All I can say beth is that you are rather “accommodating”!! I am not too sure that the families of those who died unnecessarily in aged card facilities would share your insouciance.
About .000003% or less.
Don’t they make a lot of noise for their size.
A good quality education that teaches critical thinking. Low critical thinking skills is prevalent amongst those who believe in conspiracy theories.
It’s really nothing to do with the ‘mentally ill’. Even if some of the protestors do have fragile mental health, they can’t be forced into treatment unless they are a danger to themselves or others. It’s their choice to acknowledge and choose to treat mental health issues. But I very much doubt that mental health issues are at the heart of this. Being brainwashed and deluded is not necessarily a symptom of poor mental health.
Not sure it’s a symptom of poor education, either. It’s certainly not indicative of intelligence. All kinds of people believe all kinds of stuff.
Yes Kathy, a mate of mine has fallen into the QAnon vortex, and he had a good secondary education.
I notice a difference in people who have tertiary education, they’re more inclined to critical thinking. Though I had no shortage of it at school, I was constantly in trouble for applying it.
The narrowing of exposure to ideas because of social media I think has a lot to do with it. Also our ‘leaders’ in the post truth era, where reality has become an optional belief and tribalism is exploited for political advantage.
What’s a good quality education? The primary and secondary sector is more concerned with inculcating conformity and higher education is a mess. It was once about training people to think, but that lapsed years ago.
I was just talking to said mate and teased his thinking.
As politicians, CEOs and much of the media constantly lie, people don’t believe much of what they read and hear. That’s fertile ground for conspiracy theorists and ‘influencers’.
These present ‘alternative facts’ with no evidence but with certainty, People trying to make sense of it all find it easier to subscribe to those rather than research, and probably lack lack the skills to do so.
And Peter, he was educated not years ago but decades ago. But point taken, education has been commodified, Universities are largely degree factories.
VJ I cannot agree with one word that you have said in your post.
Looking at the behavior of those involved in this mob activity and listening to the utter nonsense they espouse (and even the way that they espouse it) causes alarm bells to ring for me. Perhaps, unlike me, you have not dealt with the mentally ill before.
Your comment that:
“Even if some of the protestors do have fragile mental health, they can’t be forced into treatment unless they are a danger to themselves or others”
implies that those who do represent a danger to themselves or others would be compelled to enter a mental health facility. VJ, do you realize just how ‘stretched’ mental health facilities are thanks to government cutbacks and failure to invest in these places? Do you pay attention to the number of police shootings of those with a mental illness? (I guess in a neo-liberal economy, that is a cheaper and “more efficient” way of dealing with this problem). Have you not read stories of those who have sought treatment in a mental health facility only to be turned away because no bed or ward was available?
Your final comment that:
“Being ………. deluded is not necessarily a symptom of poor mental health”.
absolutely took my breath away. It appears that this ignorant comment reflects the fact that you have never visited a mental health facility, or if you ever have, then you were not paying attention. VJ, I suggest that you stick to making comments on things that you have some knowledge of and experience with.
Ok, this is so bloomin’ hilarious! But something is missing… no mentioned of the WEF’s role in the new world order? What about QAnon? They are true believers you know.
Former Qantas captain Graham Hood, or Hoody as he is known, is also a self-confessed former porn addict who found god. Yup, that’s their leader.
On Friday, several protesters, including Billy Bay, entertained the idea that torrential rain that lashed much of Australia’s east coast was the result of cloud seeding technology, insisting “whenever there’s a protest, there’s always a good amount of rain — connect the dots there, perhaps”.
Why are we spending so much on defense when a bit of cloud seeding would stop any invading army in its tracks in Australia.
I vote that next time we start going into a drought we just get a whole lot of protestors out. If only we’d known it was so easy!
To my dismay, they appropriated the “Free Julian Assange” rally in Melbourne on Saturday. I assume they think that anything which includes the word ‘freedom’ is for them! I was sorely tempted to engage with a guy brandishing a sign asking “Where’s the woke left?” – but he was bigger, younger and angrier than me!
Surprisingly (for me at least) – John Shipton – Julian Assange’s dad seems to be on board with the anti-vax/freedumb movement. I watched him attend a ‘cooker’ event/show/meeting earlier this year, where he was the guest speaker and he SEEMED to agree with everything the anti-vax/freedumb fighting crowd were saying.