Woohoo! Exams are over, so today I went into Perth to hang out with cool people (fancy that! It’s not something I’ve done in a while.)

While there, I saw the front of today’s big protest rally meandering ominously down William Street (which I’d wanted to cross), so I ran against a red light and paused in the shadow of the BankWest building as the procession went by. It was big and colourful and noisy and cool, except that I was hoping it would be bigger and there were a few moments where it was decidedly not noisy.

Those bright red flags in the last photo say “Communist Party of Australia”. They were being carried by a group of three middle-aged blokes. Solidarity, comrades!

The TV news quoted a union source who estimated a turnout of 30 000 people, and other estimates of around 10 or 15 thousand. I reckon they’re all wrong: there are more people wandering around UWA most days than were in that march. I would put the numbers closer to 7 000 or 8 000.