Union chief defends tent embassy ‘wind-up’

Policeman confronts protesters

A policeman brandishes a can of pepper spray at protesters from the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. Picture: Ray Strange
Source: The Advertiser





A UNION official accused of stirring up protesters at the Aboriginal tent embassy on Australia Day said the rally had originally been told that it was the Government which wanted the 40-year-old camp shifted.


Unions ACT chief Kim Sattler said today she had told just two people at the rally of news reports, later found to be incorrect, that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott wanted the tent embassy “moved on”.

Aboriginal activist Barbara Shaw had heard the reports and relayed them – adding her own major error – from the stage of the rally, Ms Sattler told Canberra ABC today.

“I did not speak directly to Barbara Shaw until she got up on the stage and – after taking the microphone off the person who was speaking – declaring that Tony Abbott was the Deputy Prime Minister,” said Ms Sattler.

“I couldn’t let that go. I thought that was a very unhelpful remark to make to a crowd of people as that gave the suggestion that the Government was threatening the tent embassy, which was totally incorrect.”

Ms Sattler confirmed she had spoken to former press secretary to Julia Gillard, Tony Hodges, who quit after the tent embassy rally became a noisy protest threatening Mr Abbott and the Prime Minister.

The mistaken interpretation in news reports led to protesters surrounding the nearby restaurant where Mr Abbott and Ms Gillard were attending an awards function.

Security police dramatically hauled the pair out of the building because they thought their safety was at risk.

The rescue, in which the Prime Minister lost a shoe, has been seen by some as an overreaction and by others as the central feature of a “race riot”.

The Opposition is calling for an inquiry and has demanded the Prime Minister “give a full explanation to the House about the circumstances involving her office and the representatives of the tent embassy protesters” that led to the dramatic scenes.

Liberal frontbencher Christopher Pyne last week told Parliament that in particular Ms Gillard had to “answer the charge that a culture of dirty tricks exists in her office preventing her from addressing the serious policy issues besetting the nation at this time”.

But Ms Sattler today said the rally was more concerned about dirty toilets and an inadequate supply of wheelie bins than dirty tricks.

The office of ACT Aboriginal Affairs Minister Chris Burke had called her and asked her to call Mr Hodges.

When she did, “he said he wanted me to let people know that Abbott had made a statement and that people needed to decide whether they wanted to respond to it.

“He talked in vague terms about … he didn’t give me a direct quote of what he said.

“(He said) that Abbott was attacking the embassy, was saying that it shouldn’t exist any more, it should move on…

“He didn’t ask me to tell the crowd. He asked me to tell the organisers of the tent embassy.”

She said Mr Hodges was “obviously expecting that the people there might make a media comment. That’s what the purpose of the information was.”

“Now simultaneously, there were people going back and forth from the cafe (next to the Lobby) to the embassy site because the toilets were very inadequate on the site. They were using the Pork Barrel (cafe) toilets.

“So anybody who went past the Lobby side of things would have seen what was actually happening. The media gaggle was the first clue.”

Apart from Ms Shaw, the only other person she had passed on Mr Hodges message to was a local Aboriginal elder Michael Anderson.

She denied telling Ms Shaw that Mr Abbott was in the restaurant talking about closing down the tent embassy, a claim made by Ms Shaw.

“I never use those words and I did not speak to her directly until she was on the stage,” she said.

“I said he has made comments that the tent embassy shouldn’t exist any more. And I only spoke to two people.

“It was all academic because people had already left the embassy grounds and gone over there (to the Lobby) because they had already seen the officials arriving and the press outside the the Lobby.”

Ms Sattler said the main reason she was at the rally was to assist with logistics, such as the problem of having only 12 wheelie bins, and of portable toilets which had not been cleaned for three or four days.

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