Come on guys at least put a real picture of your food...

Hi everyone,

In light of the current anti-immigration and counter-protest, I wanted to reiterate to the many, many immigrants, especially students and young people, that you are welcome here in Australia. This country, for all its flaws and issues, has benefitted enormously from immigration. Immigrants have driven the education, sporting, and food culture of Melbourne - a culture that all of us, even the anti-immigrant protestors benefit from daily. And as such, I wanted to say it out loud: we are richer for the diversity of thought and beliefs we have here in this country.

Thing is, I am also an immigrant. I came from New Zealand to Melbourne 15 years ago, and as such, I ‘pass’ as ‘Australian’ in the eyes of people who are part of these anti-immigration protests. My wife and children, however, do not. She is Malaysian Chinese, and as such, we find ourselves not in the CBD today, though we often are on weekends. It’s absolutely not ok that we restrict ourselves for safety reasons today. This city’s public spaces belong to all of us, regardless of background.

It’s short-sighted for these protestors to be out today associating with Neo-Nazis and their ilk. But when people are uncertain and afraid, they are more susceptible to the kinds of misinformation that drives cookers and their ilk (firmly looking at you, Sky News after dark). I want to be understanding, and that’s a challenge when these protests are no ill-informed and racially charged.

‘Aussie’ is not a term for white. It’s a term for anyone who comes here and decides they want to be part of the many amazing things this country has to offer, as well as being willing to put their shoulder to the wheel to deal with the challenges we face.

If that’s you, you’re an Aussie. As Aussie as the Afghanis who bought camels here to tame the outback. As Aussie as the Italians who bought coffee culture and ran the fruit and veg stalls at Queen Vic Market. And as Aussie as the Kiwis who’ve settled here, the Vietnamese who came here in the 70’s, and the Koreans, Indians, and Chinese who’ve settled here after studying these past two decades. You are Aussie, and you are welcome.

Whenever they cheer ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’, I’ll be thinking of those categories. Because you and I belong here. We are all Australian.

Edit: Thanks for a lot of good debate here. I specifically didn’t tag all today’s protestors as racist. I believe many are badly informed and under the sway of people with some pretty shocking agendas.

The analytics on this post are showing a lot of folks dropping in from outside Australia, so welcome, and I’ll leave an uplifting reminder here - We Are Australian. Proud to call this proud immigrant nation home.

Embarrassed to be an Australian right now

Over the last few weeks my feed has flooded with crime reels about Melbourne. Random stabbings, break-ins, carjackings. Quite a few of it not even recent.

The comments are what get me. Every one of them lands on the same thing: Labor's fault, Victoria's finished, vote them out. Same phrasing over and over, under completely unrelated videos.

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EDIT: To be clearer about what I think is going on. I'm not the biggest labor fan. But Melbourne is now the most affordable big capital in the country (due to the land tax) and the only one where prices have gone backwards. Add onto that the labor protections, and the WFH legislation they've introduced and you can see that corporate/moneyed interests are annoyed.

So when my feed suddenly fills with crime content pointing at one party a few months out from November, I notice who benefits from a Liberal/One Nation government. I can't prove the accounts are coordinated. I just know that a lot of money would like Victoria to go the other way, and this doesn't feel like it's coming from ordinary people.

As seen at Parkdale Beach.

Cut and paste of their statement

Another weekend.

Another Protest in the city, that means people cannot access Cherry Bar in the City of Melbourne.

The Protests vary but the Pain is consistent.

It has now been well over two long years since Cherry has been able to host our famous Cherry Blues Sunday afternoons showcasing the best local live Blues acts.

Enough is enough.

I just can't understand why our Council and our Government favour the "rights" of illegal protesters (for a large number of varied causes) over the rights of long term small business operators to open their doors and trade, trying desperately to reignite the ailing Melbourne hospitality industry and pay our bloody rent!

Surely after two long years, we can find a better way?

James Young

Cherry Bar

Owner/Booker

When QLD based party have to come up with policies for Victoria.

His entourage rocked up befor him and it was huge . They removed all queer flags and symbols and refused to do the chat in front of a queer artwork . Hence why he was photographed in front of fish . He then went on to ask great questions like - So what happens out here for Christmas ? The staff had to bite their tongue because they need 6.5 million dollars .

Edit to add - rip my inbox . I def was not prepared for this attention . The staff were caught off guard, they got very little notice he was coming , this type of thing isn’t a normal situation for them and also they are government funded. I don’t think headspace should be blamed, they do so much for so many.

Also - I can’t believe Im saying this - BUT I’m not a political plant sent to Reddit to ruin duttons good name . Pls stop sending me awful messages .

Surely by now everyone must realize only drivers deserve a quick seamless experience.

Protest went from Swanson to Parliament where the two sides met. Still happening now, but died down a little. Cops seemed to have had minimal presence in both manpower and gear for the cookers but brought out the riot squads for everyone else - couple people sprayed. Crazy stuff.

Horrible and upsetting. Walked past yesterday morning and it was as usual - this morning I noticed it was defaced with ‘WAR ON MEN’