Tuesday there were crowds (up to 1000) in front of Parliament House attending rallies for Stop Adani and medical evacuations of refugees from their island gulags (though you wouldn’t know it from the mainstream media).

There was some interest in the People’s Embassy and its message ‘Drive the money changers from the temple of democracy’, though the numbers were not large. Mostly a passing ‘good on you’.

A highlight was emphatic support for the message from Greens leader Richard DiNatale, who was cruising the crowd.

Nevertheless it became clear most people were not responding to our message. Perhaps they were just focussed on their cause. Perhaps the influence of big money is so normal most people find it a novel thought to call it “corruption”. Probably many people want to see a crowd they can join.

So we tested the waters and did not get much reaction, even though there is a rising push to change our politics to something more positive and constructive, as evidenced by the number of independents standing.

The wind rose steadily, as forecast. By the 11am refugees rally it was a problem. By noon it was time to give it away for the day. At that point the low response did not seem to justify being back the next day, so we bailed.

Driving home to Braidwood the sky was yellow-brown with dust, an appropriate commentary on our situation.