I'm currently in the process of going through decades of pieces of paper that have grown so high and take up so much space, they need to be culled. Some people call it pre-death downsizing, I call it culling.
I came across a grade two report from St. Brendan’s Primary School in Brisbane (class size 47) which demonstrated I had a flair for mathematics. On Wednesday 8th February all my mathematical flair finally paid dividends. As the Joint Convenor of Defend And Extend Public Housing (DAEPH) I received a message to ring a Senior Sergeant who had the task of organising security for our little rally on Wednesday.
We had a phone conversation on Tuesday about the rally. I mentioned I didn’t think there would be very many people there as it was a week day. He informed me that an Inspector would be in charge of the operation. I didn’t give our conversation much thought, although I do remember I received an email from Parliament House security about all the ins and outs of how to conduct a protest outside the Victorian State Parliament.
I arrived with a few bits and pieces, banner, sticks and a boom box/microphone around 11:37am. I thought something had gone down at Parliament House as there were police cars everywhere. I was surprised at the number of police in front and at the side of Parliament House, maybe something nasty was happening inside.
As a few of us gathered on the steps of Parliament House the Senior Sergeant I had spoken to introduced himself. It’s then I realised the 30 or so police and 7 or 8 police cars that were at Parliament House were there for our benefit.
At the height of the rally we must have had a grand total of 80, maybe 90, people at a pinch. The rally went on for about 2 hours. Usually when the police deploy too many people at an event, they are assigned to other more important duties. Not this time, not one officer was relieved of his or her duties. A few of them got a bit tired and tried to find a little bit of shade at the side of Parliament. We have had two previous DAEPH rallies in November and December 2016. At neither of those rallies did any Victoria Police turn up. Security was handled by the Protective Services Officers that normally provide security for Parliament House.
Not at any of the 3 rallies was there a hint of trouble. It’s strange so many police turned up, maybe they’d been given their orders through the Housing Minister’s office as we had been landing a few political punches on the lad. This is where my mathematical flair came in handy. According to my calculations, it would have cost Victoria Police approximately $20,000 to run this little exercise. Not mentioning the removal of 30 police officers from normal duties and the deployment of 7 or 8 police cars that could have been used for much better purposes.
We gave Victoria Police 3 cheers at the end of the rally for protecting us from the Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council. You can never be too careful when it comes to feral politicians, you wouldn’t want them rushing down the steps hitting us with their brollies! – that would never do. Another point I’d like to make is that although we sent a personal invitation to all of them to come out of the parliamentary dining room during their lunch break and address the question of public housing, none turned up. I assume the police cordon was organised to keep them in Parliament House, not us out of Parliament House.
As I said to the Senior Sergeant at the end of the rally when he came over to have a chat, you can’t buy that type of street credibility. The next rally is on International Women’s Day – Wednesday 8th March. If we’re really really lucky, the Dog Squad, Police horses, the Special Operations Group and the police helicopter will turn up. You can’t be too careful when dealing with people who want to Defend And Extend Public Housing.
Dr. Joseph Toscano / Joint Convenor Defend And Extend Public Housing.