PROTESTERS in Melbourne are not exactly the flavour of the month.
The climate change protests have merged into coal mining protests, which is all kind of one and the same, and it has gone on and on, blocking traffic and causing chaos.
Has it made the government sit up and take notice or just turned everyday working Australians off?
Their cause may be worthy, but protests generally work if the wider public is with you and not against you.
On Thursday, Ali Cupper went on her own personal protest on the steps of parliament.
The Member for Mildura went on strike from her role inside the chamber to highlight what she says is the terrible state of roads in her electorate.
It was a move to attract attention, no doubt.
And it worked.
National news cameras turned up to see what this little-known independent from way up in the north west was up to. You can picture them all searching “Mildura” and “Cupper” for background info.
Talkback giant Neil Mitchell from 3AW even gave her a call, asking her if it was an indictment on parliament that she felt protesting than speaking inside the chamber was more effective?
“We’re doing all the traditional stuff — I’m being a good girl and I’m doing things in parliament and waiting my turn and speaking when I’m asked to speak and all that sort of stuff, but it’s not enough,” Ms Cupper said.
“If it was enough then we wouldn’t be out here.
“I feel like I owe it to my electorate to do everything I can to make a point and get this firmly on the radar and ultimately to achieve road-funding.”
Ms Cupper admitted she felt “like a bit of a knob”, but for that she deserves credit.
When we think about what we should expect from our elected members, it’s that they listen to their community, they fight for that community, and, most of all, they produce results.
Ms Cupper’s attention-grabbing stunt on Thursday allowed the rest of the state to hear that our region contributes $3 billion of agricultural exports a year to the state’s economy but our roads are inefficient and dangerous.
The Victorian Government will not have liked the stunt, as it made them look bad, but it was a protest that they must sit up and take notice of.
I drove to Geelong with my family last week and the roads in parts are disgraceful. Up here, we all know they need to be better. And safer. Please, safer.
The section between Donald and Birchip, for instance, is as bumpy as driving on corrugated iron. It’s more like a goat track than a highway.
Premier Daniel Andrews made an assurance he would meet with Ms Cupper over her concerns, which is one step forward.
“We are dealing with the failures of a successive government that has cause growing levels of desperation over 20 years on these roads,” Ms Cupper said.
“I need to use every opportunity I have that’s available to express what our electorate needs because that’s what politics is about.”
As publicity stunts and protests go, Ms Cupper achieved what she set out to achieve on Thursday.
Now she just needs to get Mr Andrews in a car for a trip to Mildura to really drive home her point.
