40,000 rock against IR laws

Opposition environment spokesman and former Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett says Prime Minister John Howard should be worried.

"We've got a lot of young people in crowd who love the music but also know that their rights are important to them," he said.

He says Australians are fed up with their rights at work being taken away.

"The fact that you've got some 40,000 people coming out to march on a weekend in Australia shows that John Howard's IR legislation is distinctly and definitely unpopular," he said.

"People are concerned about it, and particularly for young Australians, the ones who don't have that negotiational grunt that other Australians may have, the younger Australians, these issues are more important than ever."

Many of the performers made political statements and encouraged young people to get more involved in politics.

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