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Australian Broadcasting Corporation Broadcast: 22/08/2011 Reporter: Chris Uhlmann A self-proclaimed convoy of no confidence descended on Canberra to have their voices heard on issues ranging from live cattle exports, Christianity and the carbon tax. Transcript LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: Job losses weren't the only issue preoccupying Canberra today. Outside Parliament House, the so-called "Convoy of No Confidence" paraded its grievances against Julia Gillard. Labor tried to dismiss the criticism which would perhaps be a bit easier if the Government weren't dogged by a string of controversies, not least of all the case of the MP, the credit card and the prostitutes. Here's political editor Chris Uhlmann. CHRIS UHLMANN, REPORTER: And what made you decide to join this rally? DAVID JOHNSON, NSW TRUCK DRIVER: Oh, I just felt pretty strong about what she's doin' to the country at the moment, so - and I think this won't help, i don't think, 'cause she won't listen, but ... (laughs). CHRIS UHLMANN: Its organisers dubbed it the "Convoy of No Confidence", but others saw it differently. ANTHONY ALBANESE, TRANSPORT MINISTER: The Convoy of No Consequence outside. The Convoy of No Consequence, Mr Speaker. The Convoy of No Consequence, where a coupla hundred people gathered with no support from the mainstream organisations, the people who believe in one world government. BOB BROWN, GREENS LEADER: It seems like a bit of a flop, really, and for every truck that's turned up, five have stayed away. CHRIS UHLMANN: 3,000 were predicted, but only a couple of hundred scattered themselves across the Parliament House lawn. (Vehicle horns sounding in unison as the convoy passes). It's not as large a gathering as some of the organisers had hoped, but the crowd has certainly found a way to make itself heard. Although there was an anti-carbon tax theme, the convoy had picked up many hitchhikers along the way. PROTESTOR: That's the international Christian flag. You see the cross up there. And I just brought this down today because God told me to bring it down. CHRIS UHLMANN: But to dismiss them all as cranks of no consequence meant you didn't bother to talk to any of them or ask why they would travel so far. So where have you come from? ALISTER MCCLYMONT, QLD BEEF PRODUCER: Where have I come from? North Queensland, over 2,000 kilometres, yeah. RASHIDA KAHN, NT BEEF PRODUCER: We left home last Wednesday and we've been averaging about 1,100 k's a day. So, yeah, we've done some big days on some really bad roads. CHRIS UHLMANN: Both Alistair McClymont and Rashida Kahn saw their businesses shattered by the suspension of the live cattle trade. ALISTER MCCLYMONT: Oh, it knocked us for a six. Immediately, the local market or the fat cattle market for Australia, it dropped by 20 per cent virtually immediately. RASHIDA KAHN: A lot of these people that you see behind me here, they haven't ever done anything like this before. They have actually been pushed to the point where they will have to get in a truck and drive to get their point across, 'cause they don't feel they have a voice anymore. And that's very sad, because they - while they don't represent the mass of the population, they do represent the mass of the Australian land mass. CHRIS UHLMANN: It's sometimes unwise to simply dismiss people who you have no truck with. In private, some Labor members are deeply disturbed by the number of fights this government has picked, big and small, and they worry that it routinely draws visceral anger from across the political spectrum. A very different group gathered in Melbourne on Sunday. This wasn't a massive demonstration either, but border protection and mandatory detention are big problems for the Gillard Government. Today and tomorrow the High Court is hearing a challenge to the Government's asylum seeker swap deal with Malaysia. And ever more voices are being raised against its policies on irregular arrivals. The President of the Human Rights Commission issued a statement today warning against re-opening the Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea. And a group of prominent Australians led by a former head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet wants mandatory detention phased out. JOHN MENADUE, FMR DEPARTMENTAL SECRETARY: There must initially of course be mandatory checking for security, for health, police, character purposes. That could be done quickly. And I believe that if the Government committed itself to this phasing out of mandatory detention within two years, it could be done. It would mean that that dreadful hellhole of Christmas Island could in fact be closed. CHRIS UHLMANN: Inside Parliament, there are problems of a different stripe. The Opposition is keeping up its attack on the Member for Dobell, Craig Thomson, pursuing him over the misuse of a credit card issued in his name when he was the national secretary of the Health Services Union. He has consistently denied that he's done anything improper. This morning the Coalition repeatedly tried to force him to make a statement to Parliament. CHRISTOPHER PYNE, MANAGER OF OPPOSITION BUSINESS: The Prime Minister herself should demand that the Member for Dobell attend the House and make a personal explanation dealing with each of these so-called misrepresentations. CHRIS UHLMANN: The aim is to force a by-election. For that to happen, Craig Thomson would have to be convicted of an offence that carries a sentence of more than a year. So far, the New South Wales Police haven't launched an investigation because his union hasn't complained. But in some ways, forcing the Prime Minister to repeatedly defend an MP accused of using union funds to procure prostitutes is an end in itself because it drags Julia Gillard into the mire of the NSW Labor Party. JULIA GILLARD, PRIME MINISTER: Questions of personal explanations are for the individual parliamentarians involved. Number two, yes, I do have full confidence in the Member for Dobell. Number three, the situation continues to be as it has been for some time: Fair Work Australia has an investigation in train and we should await the outcomes of that investigation. LEIGH SALES: Political editor Chris Uhlmann. .