Coordinated student strikes against Pauline Hanson's politics took place in every major city and several smaller locations across Australia on Thursday afternoon. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
Flyers for the "Say No to Pauline Hanson" rallies distributed by organizers, the National Union of Students, include calls to "fight against racism" and "stand up against the far right".
According to the union's general secretary, Akash Nagarajan, "Pauline Hanson actually doesn't stand for things that benefit students' lives … [and] a lot of students are galvanised by that."
According to the latest Roy Morgan poll, Hanson's One Nation primary vote has ballooned in the last 12 months and now sits at 26%.
Responding on social media, Hanson said students should instead be protesting against the cost-of-living crisis and stagnant national wage growth. "The Labor Greens governments is selling out your future, and you'll inherit a weaker, poorer and less safe country," she wrote.
Federal education minister Jason Clare and Victorian premier Ben Carroll urged students not to skip classes. "If people want to protest on the weekend, then fill your boots, but I want you at school when school is on, learning," Clare told reporters on Wednesday.
However, Melbourne high school student Jules Arpula said there was "nothing more important" for students to do on Thursday. "We refuse to just adapt to the new 'normal' of Hansonism," she said.
Nagarajan noted that Hanson has voted against education policies such as free Tafe, increasing funding for public schools and reducing student debt.
The 72-year-old senator used her National Press Club address in June to call for a "monocultural" Australia, and appeared on a podcast hosted by British far-right activist Tommy Robinson during a trip to the UK last month.
Victorian One Nation MP Rickie-Lee Tyrrell said the suggestion her party was racist was "false" and accused the socialist party of misleading students. "We are not racist. If you have a look at our followers, our members, our candidates, there is a diverse range of people," she told reporters at state parliament on Thursday morning.
According to Monash university senior politics lecturer Benjamin Moffitt, a walkout was one of the most effective ways for students, some of whom are too young to vote, to voice their dissent. The planned rallies will aim to implore a relatively large group of Australians "flirting with the idea of voting One Nation" to question their choices.