The city of Melbourne has been rocked by protests against the Victorian government lockdown, several of which appear to have been organised by construction workers objecting to new restrictions introduced by the Victorian government in recent days.
On Friday 17 September, in response to new rules forcing the closure of break rooms on construction sites, thousands of construction workers took to the streets of Melbourne for their smoko and lunch breaks. Intersections in Melbourne’s CBD, Spencer Street and Richmond were blocked by workers setting up tables and chairs in the streets to have their breaks. This action was organised by the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).
Construction sites across Victoria have remained open until this week, though new restrictions were introduced in the previous week as they continue to be the source of a high proportion of new Covid-19 cases. These included the closing of indoor tearooms on building sites, a move that CFMEU Victoria State Secretary claims had “forced” thousands of workers to relocate their tables and chairs to the streets.
“Hard working construction workers who have fought so hard to keep everyone safe, are then told by the chief health officer after dirty, hard dangerous work, they can’t even sit down to have a cup of coffee.”
Other rules include the creation of worker shift bubbles, having a CovidSafe marshal on each site, banning the movement of workers across the metropolitan-regional boundary and a requirement that workers must’ve had one vaccine dose by 23:59 on Thursday 23 September to be allowed to continue working.
On Saturday 18 September a protest that had been advertised as taking place in Melbourne’s CBD had to alter plans after all public transport to the city was shut down by police to prevent the so-called Freedom Day protest. Police also set up checkpoints and barricades around the city with 2,000 police participating in the operation. Attempts to prevent a repeat of the 4,000 head protest in the CBD in August 2021 had mixed results as protestors coordinated a change in location, meaning over 1,000 took part in violent protests in the suburb of Richmond. Police said 235 protestors were arrested with 193 also facing fines for breaching public health orders.
On Monday 20 September, construction workers resumed protest action but this time they had their own union in their sights, partly due to CFMEU secretary John Setka’s lacklustre response to Victoria’s vaccine mandate on construction sites. Hundreds of tradies gathered outside the union offices in the Melbourne CBD, turning violent after being addressed by John Setka, throwing bottles at the building and attempting to force their way inside.
The unions were very quick to disown those engaging in violence with CFMEU national construction secretary Dave Noonan claiming the crowd had been “infiltrated by neo-nazis and other right-wing extremist groups”. Former Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said he was “shocked” by the behaviour of the crowd, which he said was made up of “man-baby nazis, rent a crowd” and “professional trouble-makers.”
Following Monday’s protest, Premier Dan Andrews implemented a total shutdown of all construction sites within the state for two weeks. “What I would say is that protests don’t work. Getting vaccinated works, following the rules works. That’s how you stay open, that’s how you get open if you’re not open now.”
Setka has also threatened consequences for CFMEU members who were involved in Monday’s protest outside union offices. Furious, John Setka warned that CFMEU members “won’t have a job to come back to” if they were found to have participated in the protest. He added that if they wanted to “damage union property. They can go and pick fruit.”
The temporary shutdown of Victoria’s construction industry and the threats from union leaders have not stopped continued protests, with subsequent actions taking place outside CFMEU offices on Tuesday 21 September and the Shrine of Remembrance on Wednesday. Organisers of melbournefreedomrally.com have said they intend to continue showing up to protest until construction sites open again.
Dan Andrews released a roadmap out of lockdown for Victoria on Sunday 19 September. Unlike an earlier roadmap released for New South Wales, this was not called a roadmap to freedom and it certainly shouldn’t have been. The Victorian government has no plan to end the requirement that people wear masks inside, even when 80% of the population is double-vaccinated. Limits will still apply on the number of patrons permitted inside bars and restaurants, which will make some businesses unviable. The end result of Andrews’s roadmap does not mention any return to life as it was prior to Covid-19.
Is it possible that an Australian state government has finally pushed people too far? By 5 October Victoria will have the dubious honour of being the longest locked-down place in the world. While harsh lockdowns are generally popular with those in pandemic locations, I hope that there eventually comes a point when people are no longer going to tolerate tyranny for the sake of public health. When one of Victoria’s most powerful unions has lost control of an angry membership in response to the actions of a union-friendly government, it is hard to predict what may happen.