23rd November, 2008, Kingston Beach.

One of the more imaginative (well, I hope it was imaginative) placards read “Bartlett eats bilbys”. Another funny one was “celebrities against the pulp mill”; this was being held up by two grinning ferals. 

The gathering occurred because nobody here trusted Bartlett’s promise of withdrawing Government support for the pulp mill if Gunns does not commence construction of the mill by November 30. Or any related statements coming from Gunns, otherwise this protest would not have been considered necessary.

During a speech describing some of the evil deeds of Gunns and the present and past Tasmanian governments, one respectable looking old lady yelled out a withering ”wicked”. She didn’t use the word with the new age meaning of “really cool”; it sounded like the worst possible adjective she could give voice to while remaining respectable.

The crowd was made up of all ages, and generally looked well heeled and conformist (new cars, expensive casual wear, pedigree dogs etc). There were a lot of children and pampered pooches.

(c) Andrew Calder

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