End the lies:
Show Howard the door!

More than 500 people rallied in Perth to hear speakers 
and march through Northbridge to protest against Australia having 
troops in Iraq.

Ben Taylor, Aboriginal elder, in welcoming the people to Noongar, 
said his people were refugees in their own country, and that he 
had faced 50 years of racism. He called on the meeting to work to 
force Howard out.

Jo McDonald, state Assistant Secretary of the CFMEU, condemned 
the Howard Government's Royal Commission into the building 
industry. He pointed out that it cost $65 million, enough to 
build two hospitals. Not one charge has been laid.

He condemned the jailing of Victorian unionist Craig Johnson, who 
had won excellent conditions for metal workers. Joe called for an 
end to the Howard Government.

The Greens WA Senate candidate, Rachel Siewert, said, "We have 
had enough of lies, enough of refugees behind bars, children 
behind barbed wire, and a third of Aborigines living in poverty." 
Under the Howard Government, she said, workers' rights were 
constantly undermined. She called for refugees to be welcomed 
with open arms.

About a thousand people gathered in Adelaide's 
Victoria Square last Sunday to protest the lying and 
spin-doctoring the Howard Government has used to cling to power 
since 1996. Kaurna Elder Veronica Brodie gave the crowd a welcome 
to the traditional land of her people. She took the opportunity 
to pass on some of the shameful facts from the not-so-distant 
past about the treatment of Aboriginal people and the involvement 
of successive Liberal governments.

At Parliament House Brian Deegan — independent candidate for 
Downer's seat of Mayo — kicked off the afternoon's long list of 
Howard Government's lies from the "never ever" GST to the "fair 
trial" promised to David Hicks to the "four star" accommodation 
forced upon refugees in detention. NOWAR activist Stephen Darley 
went into further detail of the WMD lies used as a pretext for 
the invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq. Brian Noone of the 
Greens contributed to the account as did speakers from no nuclear 
waste dump groups, refugee and student organisations.

In Sydney 3000-4000 people rallied at Town Hall 
Square and after listening to speeches marched to Belmore Park 
for a concert. Greens, Democrat and Labor candidates and other 
prominent figures addressed the rally. Midst their diversity, 
there was one common theme: "Howard out".

Speakers reminded everyone of the lies regarding refugees and 
"children overboard", the war and illegal occupation of Iraq, the 
"never ever" GST, the Free Trade Agreement, the environment and 
much more.

Other rallies were held over the weekend in other cities around 
the country and in some regional centres.