Australian Students Protest Pauline Hanson

Hundreds of university students have marched through Australian cities to protest against Pauline Hanson and the growing popularity of her party, One Nation. Demonstrations occurred in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.

In Sydney's Hyde Park on Thursday, protesters chanted slogans such as: 'When I say Pauline, you say f*** off' and 'Pauline Hanson go to hell, take your racists there as well.' An organizer, Jasmine Al-Rawi, stated the protest was fueled by concern over Hanson's recent polling gains and her increasing presence in mainstream political debate, expressing worry about what they described as Hanson's 'racist vision of society.'

At a Melbourne protest, an attendee wearing a furry animal head accused Hanson of unfairly targeting minority groups and warned against her growing political influence. 'I don't think I want to live in a country where, you know, we have people like Pauline Hanson who are trying to, you know, be in our government,' they told News24. The protester added, 'It's not really fair for, you know, the people who have lived here for so many years, just, it's not fair... You're trying to single out an entire group of people.'

Jules Arpula, an organizer in Melbourne, described One Nation's rise as part of a broader political project. 'They've been building a vitriolic, hard, far-right racist base, and then they're being able to win bigger votes because of that,' Arpula said. They argued that the party's growing support needed to be challenged, stating, 'We think that this needs to be absolutely brought to a halt. We need to throw a hammer into the gears of their political project, and so we want to fight back on every front.'

Arpula also criticized advice from Victorian Premier Ben Carroll, who had previously urged students protesting earlier this year to remain in the classroom. Carroll had stated, 'If you want to change the world, stay at school, focus on what you're learning in the classroom.' Arpula rejected this, calling it 'bulls***' and 'condescending,' and encouraged students to defy such advice.

These demonstrations follow similar national protests against Hanson held in August. Those events, dubbed 'Say No to Pauline Hanson,' saw thousands of students walk out of classes in cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth, Wollongong, and Newcastle.

During the August protests, Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi shared a video of herself signing a 'permission slip' for students to attend a rally. In response to the earlier protests, Hanson blamed left-wing teachers for encouraging student participation, stating, 'Schools should teach young Australians how to think, not what to think.' She also suggested students should protest issues like stagnant wages and rising costs, and criticized the Labor Greens government.

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce also commented on the protests, suggesting that the students were being influenced by a group with a political agenda, saying, 'They have been told to hate this country... because it's not on the students' own volition... they've been advised by a clique of people who have a political purpose.'