A convoy of trucks is set to travel from Perth across the Nullarbor to Canberra as part of a major protest against the Albanese government.
The National Ag Rally will take place on Tuesday September 10, and thousands of truck drivers, farmers, pastoralists, shearers, and others within the agricultural industry are expected to attend.
The protest has been organised by the Keep the Sheep campaign in the aftermath of Labour passing a ban on live sheep exports.
Paul Brown, a former member of parliament in Western Australia who has been in the agricultural industry for the past 35 years, is putting the rally together.
He told Big Rigs: “I think it’s important for our industry to stand up against the continual attacks by the federal government on the agricultural industry.”
Brown said that although the Keep the Sheep campaign failed to prevent the ban from being passed, they’re not giving up that easily.
“We were always clear that we had two parts to our campaign,” he said.
“We failed to defeat the legislation, missing by a few votes, so now the second part of our campaign is to defeat the government.
“We’re targeting marginal seats in Western Australia, to flip those seats away from the current government into candidates that support our industry.”
The convoy of trucks is set to be led by Keep the Sheep spokesperson and transport operator Ben Sutherland.
It will travel across the Nullarbor and via South Australia into the ACT, ending up in a rolling convoy around Parliament House in Canberra.
The exact details have yet to be confirmed, but Brown expects the convoy to leave the Big Merino in Goulburn on Friday September 6.
“After the trucks have done their convoy into Canberra and around Parliament House for a few hours, then they’ll go out to the Exhibition Centre in Canberra and park,” he said.
“Then we’ll bus everybody up to the rally on the lawn area outside of Parliament House.”
For those who cannot drive to Canberra, the Keep the Sheep campaign are organising a chartered flight.
“One of the major airlines has provided this chartered flight at a very reasonable price,” Brown said.
“We’ve been able to pass that cheap flight on to all those people that want to attend – but we will need to fill 170 seats by COB Thursday August 22, or we will have to cancel.”
Contact the Keep the Sheep campaign on info@keepthesheep.com.au for more information or to book a spot on the flight.