A Clash of Cultures

Always on the border of great events. This was the memorial service for Kerry Bullmore Packer, Australia's richest man for as long as anyone could remember. A woman rolled down the tinted window of a brand new grey Audi and said to the demonstrators in plummy tones: "We don't want you here."

Just before she was arrested protestor Louise O'Shea, 25, describedKerry Packer as a ``fat scum bag''. ``Stick it to the idiots who thinkKerry Packer was worth mourning,'' she told a small crowd at theentrance to the Opera House. ``He died, that is one thing in hisfavour.''Police then moved in and removed the protestors microphone and sound system, claiming inappropriate language. In an efficient crackdown, police, including two officers on horseback, arrested eight of the protestors from a group calling itself the Kerry Packer Dis-memorial Collective, made up primarily of people fromthe Socialist Alliance and the Socialist Alternative.

Two women and six men were retained in police custody for several hours. They werecharged with offences including resisting arrest, failing to complywith police directions and hindering police. The group claimed the closing down of the protest was an attack on free speach. As a stream of expensive Mercedes, BMWs and Audis dropped off theirpassengers, the group waved placards such as ``Kerry Packer Lived OffOthers and Gave Us Nothing'', ``State Funerals 4 All Not Just TheRich'' and ``Tax Cheat Packer Dead At Last''.

One protestor, Duroyan Fertl, a 27-year-old law student, said he was offended that Prime Minister John Howard was using taxpayers money toprovide a memorial service for ``an individual who dedicated his life to exploiting other people, and avoiding tax, legally or illegally.The police response was over the top.''Before her arrest Louise O'Shea described the public funding of theservice as an ``atrocity''.

``Packer is getting a state fundedmemorial while Howard is attacking the working conditions of the verypeople who worked to create Kerry Packer's fortune,'' she said.

Comedy artist Marcel Cameron, 31, from the Socialist Alliance, said Packer was a modern day Ned Kelly. ``He stole from the poor to give tothe rich,'' he said.

They also said Howard wassending a message to all Australians glorifying the extravagantlifestyle of the corporate rich and promoting an unfair and unequalAustralian society.

Organiser Peter McGregor said he was offended by the idea that KerryPacker was a great Australian and that public money was being spent ona media extravaganza for the richest man in Australia. ``His life wasnot one I admired,'' he said. ``If Kerry Packer was a great AustralianI feel like burning the flag. The arrests were appalling. The guy dida lot in his life, he was a very capable capitalist, but I am anti-capitalist. We don't see him as a hero.

The protestors received almost no sympathy from passers by, with a number labelling their behaviour as disgusting.