The pugnacious pernicious parade of protestors who packed a few powerful punches on “good old Will the police horse” last week as they disrupted the International Mining and Resources Conference in Melbourne are presumably passionately powering on to Flemington for tomorrow’s big race.

Those same activists hitting and abusing the police horses will undoubtedly be the same ones protesting against animal cruelty and unable to see their collective’s continual double standards.

Pushing on with their principled pragmatism, they regard Australia’s ‘present’ as pathetic while pining for their perceived precious ‘past’ — conveniently forgetting the amazing advancements made since the industrial revolution which give us the standard of living we have today.

Those protesting claim the police were interrupting their ability to free speech.

No doubt “Will the police horse” claims being slapped in the face isn’t part of his job description either.

Most Australians are “p’d” off, rightly so, but not able to say it. But I can.

No doubt with an organic, BPA free, environmentally friendly, sustainable, carbon-neutral ‘keep cup’ filled with vegan fair-trade coffee and/or tea to get them through, until the cameras click and roll once more for the 24/7 news cycle, these so-called representatives of Australia are still patting themselves on the back over last week’s antics.

Protestors are not known for having a sense of humour.

Presumably each time they used their mobile phone to report ‘the evils’ of mining companies the irony was lost on them that the mobile phone is made from minerals and elements of precious metals which need to be mined in the first place to make the device!

Out of sight, out of mind, but all need to be dug up out of the ground. And for the record, the pickaxe doesn’t cut it. These protestors need the latest technology to keep everyone up to date with their myriad of causes.

The Blockade IMARC Alliance — an Environmental Conservation Organisation- called for indigenous leaders, students and activists to join them at the protest.

In the #MeToo world, everyone wants a piece of the action and why not indeed.

Extinction Rebellion didn’t want to miss the chance of having a presence either.

Hashtags and posts peppered social media, Greens icon and secular saint Bob Brown even made a cameo sending a message of solidarity.

West Papuan activists didn’t want to be left out, they stood in solidarity, and if anyone forgot why they were there, namely all were reminded on placards, “It’s time for revolution”, that those inside the conference were ‘the worst climate criminals’ “Uranium Mining is a dead end”, “The Earth can’t breathe”, we have to “F*** Fossil Fuel”, “No to Fracking in Colombia”, “Latin American land”, “Aboriginal land”, and the socialist war cry from the unions that day was, “the people united will never be defeated.”

Presumably, not all protestors walked or cycled to take up their positions.

But surely hypocrisy cannot reign supreme. Public transport relies on a combination of diesel, gas and electricity — these are resources and need mining. Cars too. Did any protestors arrive from interstate? Shock, horror, surely not on an aeroplane and was that carbon offset box ticked?

The punches and pouts from the protestors who never had any intention of protesting peacefully have put Australia front and centre and achieved their international aim.

The message is now loud and clear, ‘Want to invest in Australia? Prepare for your project to be put on hold in perpetuity. Got any questions? Adani can answer them all. Why did it hang in for nearly a decade before being granted approval for the mine? Who the hell knows, but hundreds of normal Australian workers are bloody glad it did.

The right to protest is part of democracy, but when ignorance is matched by arrogance it doesn’t work.

Protestors want people to respect their protests, they just seemed to have misunderstood the teeny bit about people wanting their right to go about their lawful business respected too.

Finally, I’m sure as “Will” the police horse recuperates he’s given a heads up to his mates at Flemington this coming week.

Maybe the activists who were arrested on animal cruelty charges will do a crowdfunding page for you “Will” rather than crowdfund for their upcoming court appearance.

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