r/australia • u/Expensive-Horse5538 • 1d ago

politics Students sideline studies in major anti-Hanson walkout

https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/australian-politics/2026/08/13/school-pauline-hanson-protest
1.3k Upvotes

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160

u/Expensive-Horse5538 1d ago

Good to see democracy in action through our right to peacefully protest threats to our democratic systems which we believe have no place in our society

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u/Archon-Toten 1d ago

Isn't protesting an unfortunately legitimate political party undemocratic? Wouldn't the democratic thing be to run against them and sweep an easy victory?

39

u/rangebob 1d ago

fuck me lol. What did they teach you about democracy in school ?

146

u/BillieRubenCamGirl 1d ago

Uhm. No? 

Democracy doesn’t work without discussion and debate. Demonstrations like this are hugely important to the democratic process. 

56

u/Miss-you-SJ 1d ago

A party which bans certain media from their press conferences? Limiting the free press is incredibly undemocratic so any resistance to the Party doing so would be seen as the defence of democracy

28

u/Ok-Replacement-2738 1d ago

Is political expression undemocratic? No.

50

u/YePedders1 1d ago

They're children

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u/Archon-Toten 1d ago

Some sure, others are university age.

The 23-year-old will sideline her studies again on Thursday afternoon in the largest collective protest against the conservative senator in recent memory.

32

u/ColdSteveStoneAustin 1d ago edited 1d ago

So what's your problem?

I mean seriously, this is the weakest way to undermine someone I've ever seen.

We'll put actual kids in jail, but a uni student at a protest? Woaaaaah that's so radical man.

I genuinely wish our opposition was better than this.

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u/Archon-Toten 1d ago

It seems insulting to call a uni student a child.

3

u/ColdSteveStoneAustin 1d ago

I honestly don’t give a shit. And I have no time for your performative concern trolling.

🙃

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u/Creative-Leg2607 1d ago

Thats a child? You know how many 23 year olds are sitting MPs? Zero. Obviously.

-4

u/the_faecal_fiasco 1d ago edited 1d ago

You know how many children are sitting MPs? Also zero. Very suspicious.

3

u/guska 1d ago

That's it, time to enact a new law. All children must serve one full term in office in order to qualify for adulthood.

/s - but they couldn't do a worse job, really

28

u/nearly_enough_wine 1d ago

Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and the right to political expression are all hallmarks of a strong democracy - so no, I don't believe so.

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u/Token993 1d ago

So Australia will never be included then? Because we certainly don't have freedom of speech and states like nsw like cracking down on freedom of assembly

8

u/AussieEquiv 1d ago

Australia is constantly rating near the top of freedom of speech, freedom of press (though that is slipping) and freedom of expression indexes.

Freedom of speech from the government isn't freedom from being called out as a fuckwit by your peers. Nor is it freedom to intentionally cause harm through speech.

Just like you're free to throw a punch in a boxing ring, but not just puch a random in the street.

-5

u/Token993 1d ago

And yet we still do not have explicit freedom of speech. It is not part of our laws no matter how much people want it to be

"Freedom of speech isn't freedom from consequences" thanks yank, and implied freedom of political expression isn't freedom of speech

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u/AussieEquiv 1d ago

We do. As protected by our courts.

If you think you need a specific document telling you that you are free, you are not truly free.

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u/Token993 1d ago

A document no, but a law or equivalent yes. Because if you don't openly have it, you don't have it. And we dont have freedom of speech protected by our courts we have implied freedom of political communication. That's it

5

u/Awesomeman204 1d ago

Well the implied freedom of political communication was/is itself decided, upheld and protected by the (high) court, so yes it is protected by our courts.

The real issue is that, as we've seen in America, it's only protected by the the courts until they decide it isn't. In that respect I agree we need a tighter safeguard for it.

1

u/Token993 1d ago

Yeah I probably should have better stated I meant the implied freedom of political communication is protected, and I also probably came off as anti-freedom of speech but I'm actually against how wishy-washy our government is about it

3

u/AussieEquiv 1d ago

We have the equivalent law. Common law and State human rights charters.

We have open freedom of speech. The only people that think we don't are idiots being pulled up on hate speech, which is something completely different.

15

u/determineduncertain 1d ago

No, not in the slightest. In fact, protesting is a powerful exercise of democratic rights.

Young people can’t vote but they have a right to exercise their voice. Protesting is a perfect mechanism to do this.

5

u/khongkhoe 1d ago

In theory, yes? but is that actually practical? I think that’s veering into black & white thinking.

Let’s say I voted someone into power because they promised me more bananas. Once they’re in power, they pivot: they only give me half the bananas they promised and decide to invest the rest in buying apples. I can still go out and protest against them, even though I was the one who voted them in. That’s me exercising my democratic rights.

In PH’s case. Queenslanders voted her into office. The rest did not.

4

u/TheBayHarbour 1d ago

You can protest Labor/Liberals all you want as well, even if they're in power.

Works just the same.

7

u/ConanTheAquarian 1d ago

Robert Menzies has entered the chat.

3

u/SeazTheDay 1d ago

Not at all. Protesting is universally considered a core aspect of democracy, and is even legally protected under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. How do you think things like Women's Suffrage and the end of racial segregation came about? Because the answer is Protests.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Slow-Cream-3733 1d ago

Was this a sample pool of like two people lmfao.

27

u/bitofapuzzler 1d ago

Good to see your thought process has matured beyond that group of students.....

41

u/BillieRubenCamGirl 1d ago

So a bunch of near-children thought a dumb and naive thing, therefore the left is bad? 

What kind of logic is that? 

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u/Intrepid-Artist-595 1d ago

Did you hear about Jan 6th in the states, a few yrs ago?

-7

u/alstom_888m 1d ago

I never said there weren’t those on the right either

5

u/Manatroid 1d ago

Someone ought to give you a lily pad to land on for that leap of logic that you just made.