One Nation calls for SA schools investigation after protest
One Nation is calling for an investigation after thousands of students skipped school to protest Pauline Hanson – but it will not deter organisers from coming back “even bigger”.
One Nation has called on Education Minister Lucy Hood “to fully examine which schools promoted, raised awareness of, or advocated for” a massive student protest against Pauline Hanson and her party.
In a statement provided to InDaily, the right-wing party also called for a full investigation into South Australia’s education system, claiming it had been “hijacked by those pursuing a radical, Marxist, anti-Australian agenda”.
SA One Nation Leader Cory Bernardi attended the march and made a social media video labelling the protesters “losers”.
SA Police estimated 2000 high school and university students walked out of classes yesterday for the protest, later marching along North Terrace and King William Street before making their way through Rundle Mall.
Students from at least 46 schools took part in the protest at Parliament House yesterday afternoon, including those from Adelaide High School, St Aloysius College, Christian Brothers College, Unley High School and Marryatville High School.
The protest, endorsed by the National Union of Students, lasted about an hour, with speeches from high school and university students, as well as Greens MLC Melanie Selwood.
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Students held placards with messages like “Nazis are monoculture” and “there’s no good racists”, while students chanted slogans such as “Nazi scum off our streets”, “migrants in, Hanson out” and “trans rights are human rights”.
In a statement sent to InDaily, a One Nation spokesperson said that “an education system that empties its own classrooms to march children into the streets has failed at its most basic task”.
“A school exists to teach young Australians how to think, not what to think. Yet these students were placed at the tip of the spear by activist teachers who lacked the courage to march under their own banner, and who sent children to do it in their place. That is manipulation, not education,” the One Nation spokesman claimed.
“One Nation is fighting for the future of these unfortunate, ill-advised and manipulated students. As matters stand, without our intervention, they face no prospects of owning a home, crippling government debt hanging over their futures – the direct result of the failed policies of the uni-parties.”
Protest organiser Jordan Armstrong said that yesterday’s walk-out “was a triumph in pushing back against the vile politics of One Nation”.
“Two thousand students came out to oppose the racist, sexist, transphobic politics of One Nation and to fight for a better future for themselves and their peers,” he said.
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“This protest was built by young people exercising their free speech and democratic rights.
“One Nation is now calling for a Trump-style crackdown on our right to free speech.
“There is no conspiracy of ‘indoctrination’ leading students and young people to recognise that racism and bigoted politics are wrong.”
Bernardi posted a short online video of himself at the protest, which now has 32,000 likes, calling the protesters “an extraordinarily small bunch of losers” and “incels” and using an offensive term for transgender people.
Asked why he made the video of high schoolers, Bernardi said: “For the same reason every local media outlet was there”.
“It was newsworthy and seeing the brainwashed and manipulated young tools of socialist enablers is of interest to many,” he said.
Asked about Bernardi’s video, Armstrong claimed that “it’s indicative of One Nation’s politics that they can’t even imagine how young people could come to their own conclusions and take a stand against bigotry”.
“There is every reason for young people to hate One Nation,” he said.
Armstrong said there would be another student walk-out on September 17, saying “we expect this one to be even bigger”.
Education Minister Lucy Hood’s office was contacted for comment.
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