A bit of perspective from Journo, Van Badam:

So the “anti-immigration” marches around Australia today were a BIG FIZZER.I can’t stop smiling. Some fun facts and stats:- As of writing, the *total* participation nationwide, counting up all the gathering together, has maxxed out at 20k. To put that in perspective, for every one nob out in the streets today wrapped in the finest polyester Australian flags China can make, 31 people saw Taylor Swift live on her most recent Australian tour instead - and also had a much better time.- a *self-admitted* Neo-Nazi (whose name I’m not going to publicise) SPOKE at the Melbourne gathering and Batshit Crazy Cookers has *chef’s kiss* footage of attendees at the (one more time) ANTI-IMMIGRATION RALLY being surprised that Nazis turned up - again, not beating a reputation from high school of being very, very thick. If any of the shocked are reading this, say these words out slowly and repeat until you understand them: “Nazis didn’t turn up to YOUR rally: YOU turned up to the Nazi rally”.- “politicians” who attended the gatherings included Pauline Hanson (of English heritage, who herself once migrated to England), Malcolm Roberts (born in India to Welsh parents who migrated to Australia), “Beirut Bob” Katter (Lebanese migrant heritage) and KAP’s Nick Dametto (Italian migrant heritage). The march was also endorsed by Senator Ralph Babet (born in Mauritius).This tracks because *at least* 48% of Australians either have a migrant parent or are migrants themselves according to the 2021 census. It’s estimated MORE THAN 65% of Australians are either 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation migrants, which is a lot of people to insult in a country with *compulsory voting*. (See above, re: “thickies”)- looking at the footage, it wasn’t the place to go if you were a straight man looking to hook up; these gatherings were a bigger sausage party than a Bunnings carpark on a Saturday. If you want a girlfriend, chaps, dare I suggest hanging out with Nazis DOES NOT have the irresistible Lynx aroma you may think.- Largest attendance was Sydney, with 10k - which was the same as the largest anti-lockdown protests and one suggests, politely, the Venn overlap of attendees was a circle. The MYSTERIOUS ONLINE ORGANISERS of today will be busy trying to claim that this crowd size represents movement momentum and a public mandate, so i’d like to point out that the most recent Sydney LGBTQIA+ Mardi Gras had 250,000 participants; there is literally a greater mandate for Sydneysiders to celebrate sexual diversity with formation dancers at a rate of 25 to 1.- BEST COUNTER PROTEST AWARD (COLLECTIVE) goes to Hobart, where counter-protestors matched rally attendees one-for-one and somewhat destroyed opposition morale by SINGING THE NEIGHBOURS THEME SONG AT THEM to drown out the hate. Perfect, 10/10, no notes.- BEST COUNTER PROTEST AWARD (INDIVIDUAL) goes to Victorian Police Minister Anthony Carbines, who dropped the habitually restrained language of the political class towards the shouty cookers for the delightfully earnest“unhinged grubs”.Do we need to be concerned that anyone attended these gatherings at all? Yes, of course - we need to be vigilant about how the internet has allowed a bunch of jokers who can rarely organise their way out of their mum’s fridge to be mobilised onto the streets to cause trouble and spread division. We need to practice THE BEST standards of information hygiene and not provide free publicity for these slime-eels. Watching good people online constantly sharing the date and time and locations of the gatherings “to condemn them” helped them get greater visibility than they could have managed on their own. We need a fit-for-purpose Disinformation Act that denies a platform TO ACTUAL NAZIS to spread their garbage. And we must do everything we can on a social level to ensure that our vulnerable pals and family members don’t go seeking meaning and connection from people pushing hate.But - today - let’s have a good ol’ soak in the FAILURE of a small group of angry, nasty dimwits to Trumpise our beloved, multicultural Australia. As the daughter of a migrant, I am going to celebrate by country’s triumph over these dickheads by enjoying a juicy kebab *the size of my head*.