‘Legal threats’ launched over viral One Nation SA protest video
One Nation claims it has received notices of legal action from parents demanding its social media videos featuring school children at a recent Adelaide protest be deleted.
One Nation has received “formal legal threats” over a series of videos posted by One Nation SA leader Cory Bernardi featuring school children at a recent ‘Say No To Hanson’ protest on the steps of Parliament House this month.
Bernardi attended the march held on August 13 and made a series of social media videos labelling the protesters “losers” and “incels”. The video amassed more than 753,000 views, 32,000 likes and thousands of comments on Instagram, while the same video made by Bernardi and reposted by Turning Point Australia gained more than 1.5 million views.
Organisers of the protest did not wish to comment on ongoing legal proceedings and InDaily was unable to contact the families allegedly pursuing legal action. The video was criticised in state parliament for mocking school children.
But One Nation South Australian politician Carlos Quaremba has remained defiant, saying the party would not “let anyone dictate what Australians are allowed to see”.
In a video posted to social media on Wednesday, the Legislative Council member confirmed the party had received a formal legal notice to delete the videos from lawyers acting on behalf of parents whose children were featured in the social media videos.
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The One Nation member said the party would not delete the videos and “won’t let anyone dictate what Australians are allowed to see about events on the steps of our own parliament”.
Quaremba told InDaily that “all footage taken at the public protest was lawfully obtained” and called the notice in his social media video “legal threats”.
“It is concerning that students from Adelaide’s universities and high schools were encouraged to participate in this protest,” Quaremba said.
“Where educational institutions facilitate or encourage student participation in political demonstrations, they must also accept some responsibility for the conduct and environment students are being encouraged to enter – this also extends to parental responsibilities.
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“That responsibility is particularly relevant where a public demonstration descends into vile chants, threats of death and violence, and the repeated use of profanities.
“Encouraging students to participate in hateful public protests cannot be separated from responsibility for social standards of conduct and acceptable public discourse.”
Bernardi’s social media video sparked backlash from Greens leader Rob Simms over the use of anti-trans slurs, calling the conduct “disgusting and unbecoming”.
“I was horrified to see the honourable member take footage of school children rallying on the steps of this parliament referring to them as losers and incels,” Simms told parliament last week.
Other social media users commented on Bernardi’s video saying “same bloke fighting for freedom of speech calling people losers for using their free speech”, while others supported his stance saying they objected to the protest.
SA Police estimated 2000 high school and university students walked out of classes in early August to take part in the protest, the students 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 ‘Say no to Hanson’ protest at Parliament House, including those from Adelaide High School, St Aloysius College, Christian Brothers College, Unley High School and Marryatville High School.
The protest was endorsed by the National Union of Students and lasted for about an hour, with speeches from several high school and university students.
Protesters held placards with messages like “Nazis are monoculture” and “there’s no good racists”, while students could be heard chanting “F**k Pauline Hanson” and “F**k Cory Bernardi”.
Another protest is set to be held on Adelaide streets on September 17, with organisers expecting the event to “be even bigger”.
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