One Nation Tasmanian president Lee Hanson has accused “political organisations” of “grooming” school students, after about 200 people rallied against the party outside Parliament House.
Speakers at the Hobart rally called Pauline Hanson “un-Australian” and a “moral entrepreneur”.
They accused her of spreading “vile hatred about her fellow Australians” and said she and her One Nation colleagues “spew rhetoric of racism and misogyny”.
One speaker said her rhetoric had turned ordinary Australians into “hateful extremists brainwashed by her material”.
Another told the crowd One Nation “does not care about you” and would “claim one thing and then vote another”.
The rally was framed as “a stand against racism, homophobia, transphobia and misogyny”, with one speaker describing it as a fight against “the rise of fascism”.
The rally was organised by students who travelled from across the state to hold the event on Parliament Lawns.
Among those organisers was Solomon Doyle from Tasmanian Socialists, a new group described as a “new electoral party shaking up politics as usual in Tasmania”.
Speaking to the young crowd, Doyle closed the rally by encouraging those in attendance to follow him to St David’s Park and join the socialist movement.
“I encourage all of you … just after the rally, we’re going to have a meeting at St David’s Park if you want to learn about how to get more organised,” he said.
“I think each and every one of you should become socialists, please come along.”
He told the crowd One Nation offered “no solution except more of the same” and that Labor and Liberal governments had “paved the way and given legitimacy to her racist rhetoric”.
Protesters chanted “f**k off Hanson”, “migrants are welcome, racists are not” and “no hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here.”
Protesters also targeted Pauline Hanson with placards reading “pighead Pauline”, “no racism, no sexism, no homophobia, no Pauline”, “Pauline is a racist bh” and “immigrants are welcome here, you’re not”.
One placard carried a checklist with all ticked reading “racist”, “sexist”, “anti-queer” and “c**t”, above the words “Pauline you’re not welcome here”.
Lee Hanson said the rally, part of a national day of student action, was “deeply concerning on many, many levels”.
“It demonstrates that our kids are being indoctrinated through school and they’re being groomed, pure and simple, by political organisations that I believe are associated with the rally event today,” she told Pulse.
Hanson said she believed some of the chants were inciting harm and that the students did not understand what One Nation was about.
“These kids have been misled as to what they think One Nation stands for, which is [the] complete opposite,” she told Pulse.
Tasmanian Treasurer Eric Abetz took to social media on Thursday evening, singling out an attendee wearing a shirt bearing the communist hammer and sickle.
“More people died under the hammer and sickle of communism than any other ideology last century,” he wrote while sharing an image from Pulse’s earlier coverage of the rally.
“A bit more time in the classroom and a bit less time protesting would be instructive”.
Independent Franklin MP Peter George, who was in attendance, rejected Hanson’s claim of grooming and indoctrination.
“One-word answer, bullsh*t,” he told Pulse.
“The idea that young people of that age can’t think for themselves is ridiculous.”
“I could say exactly the same thing of One Nation. Maybe they’re trying to groom young people. That’s bullsh*t.”
George said he went to hear what young people had to say and would attend a pro One Nation rally for the same reason.
Several speakers called for the voting age to be lowered, with organisers asking those old enough to vote to cheer, followed by those who were not. The second group was noticeably louder.
Owen Fitzgerald, a self-described “community activist”, told the crowd he had run for office four times since turning 18 and called on those in attendance to fight for a lower voting age.
“To all of you who cannot vote, I am sorry,” the 21-year-old said.
“You are clearly more educated than the majority of our parliament.”
Fitzgerald was forced to end his campaign for federal parliament with the Greens last April after discovering he a citizen of New Zealand, falling foul of dual citizen electoral laws.
He is now running as a Greens candidate for Clarence Council at next month’s local government elections.
George said lowering the voting age to 16 was “worthwhile thinking about”, noting he was part of the generation that saw it cut from 21 to 18.
George said support for One Nation was driven by Labor and the Liberals failing to understand “the anger and the dislocation” felt by Tasmanians, arguing both major parties faced an existential threat.
Hobart deputy lord mayor Zelinda Sherlock and independent candidate for Hobart City Council Tiffany Ashdown also attended.
Lee Hanson said the protest would not deter the party and had instead highlighted what it was campaigning on.
“It’ll only strengthen our cause. It’ll only strengthen the support for One Nation,” she said.
Pauline Hanson criticised similar student protests on the mainland last month, posting that “schools should teach young Australians how to think, not what to think.”
One Nation registered as a Tasmanian political party in August and is polling at a record 21% in state voting intention.
