Youth Group played the ‘Rocking For Rights’ rally at the SCG in Sydney on Sunday. For those of you who live outside of Australia (or under a stone) this event was to protest the Government’s new workplace relations laws which seek to undermine workers’ right to unionise, strike and protest unfair dismissal. Pretty basic rights for a developed country in the 21st. century you would think. The most important role of Government is to protect people from the effects of capitalism; to provide what newspapers love to call ‘The Safety Net’. These new laws are holes in the net. One of the proudest achievments in Australia’s history, I think, has been the Labour and Trade Union movements’ civilization of work practices. At the same time John Howard decries ‘black armband’ views of history, he seeks to destroy a genuinely positive and humane part of our history. …anyway, enough lecturing.
It was a great day. The Sydney Morning Herald said 40,000 people came through the gates which is brilliant. We arrived in Sydney that morning, direct from a six week tour of the US and Rockhampton. We literally drove straight from the airport to the SCG, which provided an unusual homecoming to say the least! All the bands got to play two songs. We toyed with the idea of covering Billy Bragg’s ‘Power in a Union’ or the Whitlam campaign song from the 1970s ‘Its Time’, but in the end went with good ol’ Forever Young and Shadowland. It was wild and exhilarating. I wasn’t able to take much in, but do have an image in my head of a burly union bloke, southern cross on his singlet, singing along to Forever Young next to a couple of indy rock kids. And that warms my heart. My other personal highlight: Kev Carmody and Missy Higgins playing Kev’s ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’. Such a great, simple song and genuinely moving. Goosebump material!
TOBY