EDITORIAL: Protesters, get a job and leave Christmas alone

How on earth did something as inoffensive and innocent as a department store’s Christmas-themed window display find itself the target of pro-Palestine protests?

Best to leave explaining the tangled logic to organisers of the now-cancelled action.

“Myer’s ‘Share the Joy’ campaign is offensive given the absolute devastation children in Palestine are experiencing right now,” Amy Settal said.

“Celebrating overconsumption while the historic birthplace of Jesus is under bombardment is abhorrent. The intention was to interrupt the media spectacle and economic gain sought by Myer.”

Jesus was born in Palestine, Palestine is now a war zone due to the murderous actions of the territory’s terrorist regime, therefore kids on the other side of the world in Melbourne shouldn’t be allowed to enjoy looking at dancing Santas.

It’s the sort of incoherent irrationality we’ve come to expect from these full-time disrupters of the peace.

Melbourne is Australia’s undisputed protest capital.

There’s the weekly rallies held in support of Palestine which have tied up enormous amounts of police resources. Then there’s the regular protests against just about everything.

Anti-war, anti-coal, anti-COP, pro-CFMEU.

It’s not just the Left of politics either. Melbourne has also been host to plenty of anti-immigration demonstrations by far-right and neo-nazi groups.

It comes at a cost.

Violent demonstrations in September against the Land Forces military expo cost Victorian taxpayers an estimated $30 million.

In January, tens of thousands of containers of goods were delayed leaving Australia by pro-Palestine protesters blocking Melbourne’s port.

Then there’s the cost to CBD businesses which have lost trade thanks to the never-ending rallies and protests, as well as the significant cost to social cohesion.

Part of the problem is the lenient attitude of Victoria’s Labor Government to protests. Unlike most other States, Victoria has no permit system for those wishing to hold protests.

That’s emboldened these woefully-misinformed crusaders to continue their campaigns of disruption and division.

That’s a tragedy for the sensible majority of Melburnians who just want to go about their business and enjoy their city without the constant threat of being caught in an hours-long freeway snarl thanks to some dill who has decided to park a truck across a bridge in support of some cause or another. One suspects some of the protesters themselves lose track.

The right to peaceful protest is a fundamental democratic right and one we must jealously guard.

But there’s also the expectation that in a civil society that right to protest is employed responsibly and with consideration for others — alien concepts to this unwashed and underemployed mob of rabble rousers.