August 13 saw Western Sydney University (WSU) students joining a nationwide protest against Pauline Hanson and the One Nation collective. The rally was organised by High School Anti-Capitalists and the National Union of Students. For many involved, it was about more than one politician – it was about refusing to remain silent in the face of political change. Mohammad Noun reports.
For weeks, students at WSU have been printing leaflets, making banners and walking into lectures to recruit fellow students for a planned protest against Pauline Hanson. The students at the Parramatta South campus left their classroom on Thursday before travelling into the Sydney CBD and eventually joining the larger demonstration opposing One Nation and its figurehead.
Luisa Vosalotaki, a WSU Journalism student and first-time protestor, said, “It’s been a really concerted effort for the last couple of weeks … we’ve dedicated a lot of our time to it, and we’ve just been out here every day trying to let people know, get the word out.”
The march was part of a nationwide demonstration against Hanson’s politics, with thousands of school and university students reportedly taking part across Australia. A key motivator for this call to action is the rising support for One Nation in national polling, with a Roy Morgan poll in late July recording the party at 25.5 per cent of the primary vote, putting it ahead of the Liberal Party. With Hanson’s party gaining greater electoral influence, protesters and young people have been motivated to engage with politics rather than remaining on the sidelines.
Amy Lamont, one of the key organisers, said young people needed to “stand up to Pauline Hanson,” and that students had a direct stake in the political issues being debated. “It’s their future, in the same way it’s our future,” she said.
She rejected the criticism that high-school students were too young to participate, describing such arguments as “patronising.” The comments come in response to statements by Hanson and her supporters about students leaving schools and universities to attend the demonstration. Hanson said young Australians should instead focus on issues like cost of living.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare also urged students to remain in class, despite expressing his own opposition to One Nation. Speaking to reporters the day before the rally, he encouraged young people to protest on the weekends instead. “I want you at school when school is on” he said, highlighting tensions between school attendance and students’ political participation.
Lamont said the increased publicity had actually encouraged more young people to attend, stating that being told they were “too young to care about something” had “backfired” on the political right.
Their actions reflect a broader idea that contributing to political discussions does not necessarily begin with voting; rather, young people can express their views and participate in public debate, including protests.
Keira Fairley, an affiliate of Socialist Alternative, first attended a school strike for climate change in 2018. She said she does not regret walking out of school to protest and that she encourages other young people who want to create change to become involved in local events and protests rather than remaining silent and isolated.
“We should get every single person that is, you know, alone in their bedrooms, wanting to change the world, get them onto campus, get them onto the streets, and get them involved in actually being part of that fight back,” she said.
Credit List: Mohammad Noun, Brynlee Fazio, Ceren Gencturk, Shannon Menendez, Priyanka Nandan and Lin Fu
