"I'm standing on the outside looking in"
The strains of Cold Chisel's Standing on the Outside served as a warm-up to Wednesday's union protest in Brisbane, part of a coordinated national campaign, outside Parliament House on George Street.
It was, perhaps, an odd choice of song.
For the first time in three years, the Queensland unionists were quite content with the occupants of the old sandstone building.
Still, in the absence of a Queensland villain, Prime Minister Tony Abbott earned the ire of the crowd of between 1000 and 2000 unionists at the Queensland Council of Unions-organised event.
This time, a large-headed caricature of Mr Abbott replaced the Campbell Newman pantomime villain that had become a mainstay of the unions' protests.
QCU president John Battams told the flag-waving crowd that, after the Queensland Labor victory of 2015, Australia's trade unions now had Canberra firmly in their sights.
"Three years ago there were 78 LNP members in that house," he said, pointing at Queensland Parliament House.
"Today almost half of them are gone and they are gone because, in no small way, of the campaigning of the trade union movement over the last three years.
"You deserve to be congratulated."
Or, more succinctly.
"In short, we won, they lost. We're still here, they're gone," Mr Battams said.
The aim now, Mr Battams said, was to take the fight to the federal Coalition government, which he said was threatening penalty rates and other work conditions through the Productivity Commission's review of Australia's industrial relations system.
As Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk approached the side of the stage, the union members were led in chants containing some colourful language and imagery.
Their chants compared Mr Abbott to a distinctly male part of the anatomy, before moving on to suggest some amorous solo exploration of said anatomical part.
On a day that saw federal Queensland MP Clive Palmer suggest Mr Abbott should commit suicide – a comment he later apologised for – Ms Palaszczuk appeared to raise her eyebrows at the personal attack on the Prime Minister.
If she had any thoughts about the personalisation of politics, however, her office was not revealing them after the rally following repeated calls by Fairfax Media.
At the rally, Ms Palaszczuk received a hero's welcome and thanked the union movement for its support during the state election campaign.
"We now have a new era in Queensland, a government that will listen, a government that will deliver, a government that is focused on jobs – jobs for your family and jobs for future generations," she said.
"I want to thank everyone here for standing up for workers' rights and workers' conditions right across Queensland."
Following what was essentially part protest and part celebratory pep rally, Ms Palaszczuk slowly returned to Parliament House, pausing regularly for congratulatory handshakes and the now-customary selfies.
The union movement was, clearly, no longer just standing on the outside, looking in to the corridors of power.
