On February 12, 2022, Canberra saw what was probably the largest rally ever held on Australian soil. Commentators mockingly said that the group had multiple agendas – a bit of freedom, a bit of anti-vax, a bit of Jesus. My experience was the opposite – that the half a million people who gathered there were unified around one common hope – to rescue our country back from totalitarian control.
The highlight for me was John Stephan singing, “You’re the Voice”. This was my highlight, not simply because I love John Stephan’s singing, but because of the way the lyrics summed up the spirit of the event – “We’re not gonna sit in silence. We’re not gonna live with fear.” Watch the video and you’ll see one of the Indigenous elders who was at my side, arm in arm with a non-Indigenous woman, dancing and singing those words together. For me, that summed up the event.
