A group of around 150 Northern Rivers residents travelled over the state border on Sunday to join Brisbane’s march in support of journalists killed in Palestine.
Most of the participating members of the Northern Rivers Friends of Palestine group wore blue pretend media vests, each one bearing the name of a killed journalist.
Two hundred and twelve journalists working in Palestine had been killed since the Hamas attack on southern Israel on 7 October, 2023, data shared by The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on 18 August 2025 showed.
ABC journos asked to remember colleagues ‘dying in droves’
The Northern Rivers contingent on Sunday made a special effort to be photographed outside the ABC building at Brisbane’s South Bank.
Former Independent Byron Shire Councillor Cate Coorey was part of the group, having made the trip from Byron Bay with some of her family members.
Ms Coorey said the ABC had until recently been ‘pretty disappointing in how it’s covered,’ referring to the nigh-on two-year military devastation of Palestine.
The Northern Rivers representatives standing outside the busy metropolitan ABC newsroom on Sunday were acting as ‘a reminder to the journalists that their colleagues are dying in droves,’ she said.
‘Our march was trying to draw attention to the fact more journos have been killed in Gaza in less than two years than in most other wars combined,’ Ms Coorey said, ‘and evidence points to the journalists having been deliberately targeted by the Israeli Defence Force’ (IDF).
Earlier this month, international news agency Al Jazeera reported an IDF attack on a tent in Gaza that killed five reporting staff.
The IDF told media at least one of the Al Jazeera journalists was actually a Hamas terrorist, an allegation the agency said was conspired.
Multiple video reports available online showed the worker actively reporting news from the crisis in Palestine.
‘They’ve stepped up a bit lately,’ Ms Coorey said of Australia’s national broadcaster on Monday, ‘since international opinion is changing a bit’.
Relaxed day in the sun for Brisbane’s rally
Ms Coorey has been a committed supporter of global compassion for Palestinians since well before the 7 October trigger point.
She was at the recent enormous march in Sydney over the harbour bridge, which went ahead despite heavy rain and condemnation from the state’s premier.
Brisbane’s event happened in much fairer weather, with most estimated numbers of the crowd ranging from around 50,000 to 75,000, while police cited 10,000 based on Queens Park’s capacity of 7,000.
The QLD Police Services said the park was full with people spilling over into surrounding closed-off streets, leading them to estimate attendance of 10,000.
‘All different ages,’ were represented at the rally, Ms Coorey said, including ‘lots of young people,’ which, she said, ‘was really gratifying’.
The apparent ethnic and cultural mix at the rally was also diverse, Ms Coorey said, and there was obvious strong support from several unions.
‘Police presence wasn’t nearly as heavy as it was in Sydney,’ the Byron resident added, before referring to the only incident she knew of to have caused disruption requiring police response.
‘A guy waving an Australian flag’ who was ‘trying to make trouble’ was escorted away by QLD police, she said.
Ms Coorey said the man had been trying to ‘snatch someone else’s Palestinian flag’.
QLD Police last week won a court bid to prevent protesters marching across Brisbane’s iconic Story Bridge.
The rally instead used the city’s Victoria Bridge.
Similar marches happened on the same day in cities and towns across Australia.
Ms Coorey said anyone wanting to actively support the Northern Rivers Friends of Palestine group could find them on Facebook, where the group shared details of monthly film screenings and other events.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
