Convoy of No Confidence are whingers, says Brown

Matt and Janet Thompson, the organisers of a "convoy of no confidence" from Perth to Canberra. About 11 convoys from across Australia converged on Canberra on August 22 for a rally against the federal government and its mining and carbon taxes. (AAP Image/Lloyd Jones)

THE ‘Convoy of No Confidence’ of about 1000 people from every state and territory rallied outside Parliament House in Canberra on Monday.

Three women from the convoy later stood in the public gallery of the lower house during question time and yelled “election now” but were not thrown out.

While no government ministers met the protesters, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott told the rally Australians were being “ripped off by a bad government”.

“We say ‘no’ to a carbon tax because we say ‘yes’ to a manufacturing industry, we say ‘yes’ to affordable transportation, we say ‘yes’ to affordable energy and affordable power in this country,” Mr Abbott said.

Australian Greens leader Bob Brown described the truck rally as a “general smorgasbord of whingers”.