what they are protesting for in the USA is valid, what they are protesting about here in Australia is not an issue
why is not an issue here in Australia?

Australia is part of the world economy, our companies and our government engage in the market economy. I am not sure how your statement makes sense?

I think that people will find that once they actually attend a general assembly and engage with the movement on a even footing (ie stepping away from radio and television) that what you will find is a really diverse group of people attempting to create change. Not only change in the way liberal economic markets are handled, but also change in the way in which publics engage with and help determine those policies and actions.

Maybe we are foolish for wanting and demanding change. But I will never lose hope, and whenever there is an opportunity for collective outpouring I will be there.

I bring my girls. Why? Because it is safe. What happened on Friday morning was horrific and unprecedented. We were the only country other than Bahrain to use such violent dispersal. Thankfully, there was the chance for people to leave before it got ugly and our family decided to not attend as I am not interested in my girls witnessing such repression of freedom of expression and the right to protest (and not to mention the unexpected violence). But we were there a few hours later and crossed the police line to attend. And it was safe. Because the Occupy movement is a PEACEFUL one.

I have NO IDEA where people are getting the idea that the protesters are being 'silly' or 'fools'?? I have attended Occupy Melbourne and I have not seen this behaviour? What have I seen? I have the militarisation of the city of Melbourne by the police. A militarisation of a city and the violent dispersal of people who have the constitutional right to protest in a public space. I am with PZ on this one, dismantle the tents, but do not disallow people from protesting. That is unconstitutional. And the world WAS watching and there has been widespread condemnation of the violent actions undertaken by the police force that day (and no, not just by radical, uni hippies lol!).

A little insight into just who is attending the assemblies and the debates and discusssion sessions (the marches and the protests are only a small component of the Occupy movements BTW): we have families, uni students, nurses, midwives, construction workers, lawyers, academics, hippies, union representatives, BB members (), NGOs, homeless representatives. This is what makes the movement unique. It is for everybody because it concerns everyone.