Peter Lalor got me out of bed this morning - for a wet Lend Lease picket

Enjoying being dry

I have to confess that it was very hard to get out of bed to attend the Lend Lease picket this morning. But I'm an Australian history freak from way back and I just had to remind myself that Australia's iconic revolutionary act, the Eureka Stockade, was nearly a fizzer because of the rain. We couldn't let that happen, so slowly I eased the doona back, thinking all the time that Peter Lalor would be proud of me. Despite the big wet, there was a record number of picketers who met at 7am to enjoy a brief dry spell under cover at the corner of Bourke Street and Harbour Esplanade, before wading down to the Lend Lease building.
Because of the police behaviour last week, some of us were nervous. A group who had been most helpful then, ensuring that people didn't fall on to the road if they were pushed  and monitoring police behaviour in general, was the Street Medics. It was most reassuring to see this red-cross arm-banded group in attendance again this morning -

Welcome presence

The media was also well-represented, and interviewed various protestors.

Tony adroitly avoiding any suggestion that our protest was other than peaceful

By the time I left for work at 9am the fears about violence had dissipated. There was a solid police presence, but the officers kept largely to themselves -

On best behaviour

Despite that, whenever a group of police approached our line, we shuffled up closer and held on more firmly to each other. At one point a passing policeman, observing this, quipped: 'Relax.'
We joked that the only violence we spotted was that done to a rat - that we later concluded, given the weather, was probably a crab - that had been squished on the road nearby.
No Lend Lease personnel had appeared for work by the time I left and the few Fujitsu workers passed seamlessly through the picket at the side door.

Front door picket on TV

The firmness of resolve, the wide representation and the camaraderie of the picketers all combined to make this morning a most inspiring experience. I was very glad I'd gotten out of from under that doona. Thank you, Peter Lalor.