Why Thousands of Students Walked Out of Class to Protest Pauline Hanson

Thousands of high school and university students walked out of classes on 13 August 2026 in protests across every major Australian city and several regional towns. Their target: Pauline Hanson and her party, One Nation (The Guardian).

The National Union of Students ran the rallies under the banner "Say No to Pauline Hanson." Flyers urged protesters to "fight against racism" and "stand up against the far right." Events were held in state and territory capitals (The Guardian; SMH). A group called High School Anticapitalists was also reportedly involved in organising the walkout (news.com.au).

At the University of Melbourne, students were set to gather at South Lawn at 1pm (UMSU Facebook). Organisers hoped to draw thousands nationally (SMH).

The reason this protest is getting so much attention is One Nation's surging popularity. A Roy Morgan poll cited by The Guardian found One Nation's primary vote had climbed to 26% in the 12 months before August 2026 (The Guardian). In Australia, your primary vote is the percentage of voters who put your party first on the ballot. One Nation has usually sat in single digits. Jumping to 26% means more than one in four voters are choosing them ahead of everyone else.

The head of the National Union of Students, Akash Nagarajan, said Hanson "does not stand for things that benefit students' lives." He pointed to her voting record against free TAFE, more funding for public schools, and reducing student debt (The Guardian).

Hanson's recent public appearances have added fuel to the fire. In June 2026 she used a National Press Club speech to call for a "monocultural" Australia. A month earlier, she appeared on a podcast in the UK hosted by far-right activist Tommy Robinson (The Guardian).

Hanson fired back on social media, telling students they should be focused on the cost-of-living crisis and flat wages instead. Victorian One Nation MP Rickie-Lee Tyrrell said the party was not racist and accused the Socialist Party of misleading students (The Guardian).

Federal education minister Jason Clare and Victorian premier Ben Carroll both told students not to skip school for the protests (The Guardian). Melbourne high school student Jules Arpula wasn't having it, saying there was "nothing more important" for students to do that day (The Guardian).

Benjamin Moffitt, a politics lecturer at Monash University, said a walkout was one of the best ways for students too young to vote to have their say (The Guardian).

The thing to understand here is that walking out of class midweek is a deliberate choice. If you are too young to vote, you do not have many formal ways to influence politics. Leaving the classroom is both a way to grab attention and a real political act.

A 26% primary vote is not a fringe number. If One Nation can hold that level of support, it forces Labor and the Coalition into some uncomfortable decisions about how to deal with Hanson on preferences and policy without giving her legitimacy.

In my view, the walkout probably will not shift those poll numbers by itself. But it does show that Hanson's rise is stirring up an organised pushback from young people who will be able to vote in a few years. The big question for the major parties is whether that 26% is a temporary spike or a lasting change, and whether the students who protested on 13 August will still be fired up when they can actually cast a ballot.