Thousands of SA students from nearly fifty schools walk out over One Nation
Thousands of students from public and private schools across the state joined an Australia-wide protest today. See the gallery.
SA Police estimate that 2000 South Australian high school and university students walked out of class today in a nationwide protest against One Nation and its leader Pauline Hanson.
Students from at least 46 schools took part in the protest at Parliament House at 1pm, including those from Adelaide High School, St Aloysius College, Christian Brothers College and Marryatville High School.
Julia (who did not share her surname) from the Australian Science and Mathematics School said her teachers were supportive of her joining the protest today.
“I’m here to protect my future as a first-generation immigrant, and as someone who had to move here out of survival, I hate being torn apart by the idea of a monoculture – multiculturalism is what makes Australia so great,” she said.
“It’s our future as the young generation to protect ourselves, so we’re here to protest against her to keep our future safe.”
Student protest organiser Jordan Armstrong said there had been “absolutely huge momentum building for people wanting to fight back against One Nation here in South Australia, particularly in high schools”.
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“We’ve been overwhelmed with just how many people are willing to come out from schools both in Adelaide but all across South Australia up to two hours away from the city,” the Adelaide University student said.
The protest, endorsed by the National Union of Students, lasted for about an hour, with speeches from high school and university students.
Students held placards with messages like “Nazis are monoculture” and “there are no good racists”, while students chanted slogans such as “Nazi scum off our streets”, “migrants in, Hanson out” and “trans rights are human rights”.
A counter-protest organised to support Pauline Hanson advertised on Facebook had no visible presence.
Traffic was brought to a standstill as students then marched along North Terrace and King William Street before making their way through Rundle Mall.
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The students could be heard from blocks away, with Armstrong saying it was about “making our presence known through the streets of Adelaide that students are standing against Hanson”.
“They’re talking about bringing back a white Australia policy, needing a monoculture – this is really extreme stuff – and we want to walk out of class to say that we say no to absolutely all of it,” he said.
“This is about giving a voice to the millions of people in this country who despise everything One Nation stands for, and students are going to be that voice today.”
Asked for a comment, a One Nation spokesperson pointed InDaily to Senator Hanson’s X post, where she said students should instead be protesting the cost-of-living crisis and stagnant national wage growth.
“The Labor Greens government is selling out your future, and you’ll inherit a weaker, poorer and less safe country,” she wrote.
“Whether you know it or not, One Nation and I are fighting for you.”
Hanson has denied wanting to bring back a white Australia policy after comments she made on a podcast with controversial anti-Islam figure Tommy Robinson, telling an event that her policies on immigration have “got nothing to do with the White Australia policy at all”.
Armstrong said there would be another student walk-out on September 17.
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