Next morning, the state-wide strike figured prominently on news bulletins, extensive footage showing deserted city streets and trains parked in sidings at the start of every commuter route. Overhead shots of the main freeways – empty except for the occasional taxi – completed the depiction of a closed-for-business city, unheard of within most citizens’ lifetimes.
Around noon, interviews were broadcast with the few politicians that deigned to answer calls, each one clearly at a loss to explain why Victorians had chosen to engage in such uncharacteristic behaviour. Their main concern appeared to be the date chosen for the strike, the Minister for Employment stating he was ‘saddened by this inappropriate response to a Labour Day that had seen thousands take to the streets to acknowledge the
