Gillard’s lost shoe to be sold on eBay

27 January 2012

Photo: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard (centre in white jacket) is bundled out of a restaurant by security service agents after it was surrounded by furious Aboriginal rights protesters in Canberra yesterday and (inset) aboriginal tent embassy activist Pat Eatock, 75, with Gillard’s shoe.

Sydney: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard had to be bundled out of a Canberra restaurant yesterday by security service agents after it was surrounded by furious Aboriginal rights protesters.

Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott were stranded in The Lobby restaurant as dozens of demonstrators from a protest against Australia Day, which marks the arrival of British settlers in 1788, converged on the hotel. The two leaders were dramatically escorted through the crowd by security agents and riot police brandishing shields, and the visibly rattled Gillard tripped and fell during the rush.

She later made light of the incident, saying she was “made of pretty tough stuff and the police did a great job.”

Gillard had been presenting medals to emergency services workers when the protest erupted and said “the only thing that angers me is that it distracted from such a wonderful event.” The demonstrators had reportedly pounded the building’s glass walls, shouting “shame” and “racist”. They had been attending so-called “Invasion Day” commemorations at the nearby Aboriginal tent embassy, a permanent camp of indigenous activists celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

Meanwhile, aboriginal activists were treating Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s lost shoe as a trophy and will try to sell it online to raise money for their Canberra tent embassy.

The prime minister lost the shoe as she was dragged away from an ugly confrontation with protesters at an Australia Day awards ceremony.

Activist Pat Eatock ended up with the size 36 blue heel and said it would not be returned to Gillard, even if she asked.

“She can’t have it, this is going on eBay,” said Eatock, 73.

“We are going to see if we can get some money for the (tent) embassy.” A defiant Eatock accused the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott of being “provocative” by holding an Australia Day awards event down the road from the tent embassy.

“Why come and be so provocative?” she said.

Despite protesters holding makeshift weapons, Eatock said “nobody was interested in hurting” Gillard or Abbott: “Why on earth would we?”

Michael Anderson, Billy Craigie, Bertie Williams and Tony Coorey set up the site during the McMahon Liberal government.

Since then the tent embassy has become a focal point for protests over Aboriginal sovereignty.

Abbott sparked outrage among some parts of the Aboriginal community yesterday when he suggested it was time to “move on”.

Tent embassy co-founder Michael Anderson said this was the major reason for surrounding The Lobby restaurant.

“We thought no way, so we circled around the building,” he said.

“What he said amounts to inciting racial riots.”

Michael Anderson, founder of the tent embassy, said the group had been angered by remarks Abbott made earlier in the day about the Aboriginal protest no longer being relevant.

“He said the Aboriginal embassy had to go, we heard it on a radio broadcast,” Anderson told the Australian Associated Press news agency. “We thought no way, so we circled around the building.”

Aborigines, whose cultures stretch back tens of thousands of years, are believed to have numbered around one million at the time of British settlement, but there are now just 470,000 out of a total population of 22 million.

They are Australia’s most disadvantaged minority, with shorter life expectancy and much higher rates of imprisonment and disease than their non-Aboriginal counterparts.  Agencies

PM's staffer may have tipped off protesters

by: Lanai Vasek

From:The Australian

January 27, 2012

The Australian

 ABORIGINAL tent embassy leaders say the police allowed Julia Gillard's security to be compromised during yesterday's dramatic protest, which forced the Prime Minister and Tony Abbott to flee an Australia Day event.

As Tony Abbott condemned the protesters as "un-Australian", tent embassy founder Michael Anderson said he regretted what had happened but protesters weren't to blame.

Addressing about 200 protesters at the tent embassy this morning, Mr Anderson said yesterday was "an absolutely wonderful day".

He accused the media of "cutting and splicing" images to make it look like the Aboriginal activists were attacking the Prime Minister.

"The problem was the police, they weren't controlling the situation," he said.

"The police weren't looking after Julia Gillard properly."

Earlier, Mr Anderson told The Australian Online things had gotten out of hand.

"I'm not proud of it, no one is proud of if," he told The Australian Online.

"I condemn the fact that it occurred but I don't shirk my responsibility for taking part in it."

Mr Anderson said he had discovered today that there were "professional protesters" involved in yesterday's rushing of the restaurant where Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott were attending an awards ceremony for emergency services workers.

But he conceded that the original rush over to The Lobby restaurant was started by two Aboriginal women - Marianne Mackay, 33, and Selina Davey-Newry, 36.

"There were some professional protesters and we are in the process of weeding them out," Mr Anderson said.

Mr Anderson, 60, said comments from mainstream indigenous leaders Mick Gooda and Warren Mundine slamming the protesters were unhelpful.

"They do not represent us," Mr Anderson said.

"They were not elected by us, they were just appointed by the government not Aboriginal people. They're just interested in representing the middle to upper-class indigenous Australians and paying off their mortgage."

Another speaker addressing a crowd at the tent embassy today attacked Mr Mundine, Mr Gooda and indigenous leader Sue Gordon for condemning the protests yesterday.

"Mick Gooda is a little lap dog," he said.

"He got paid big money to sell us out."

He said native title had "busted up all our communities".

"Native Title is not your birth right, it is not your land rights."

Mr Anderson said Australia was "the most racist country in the world".

"We have to blow the lid off that."

Fred Hooper, 50, from Weilmoringle in northern NSW, said yesterday's protest was "a good thing". "It is going to wake up Australia to the fact that what is being said in board rooms by black fellas appointed by government is not how we all really feel," he said.

Mr Hooper said he didn't believe yesterday's protest got out of hand.

"They (Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott) were crashing our party really," he said.

"Things didn't get out of hand, we were just expressing our viewpoint."

He urged Mr Abbott to visit the tent embassy to speak to the protesters.

"He should come down here and tell is what he really thinks," Mr Hooper said.