Pauline Hanson labels Australian anthem schoolgirl ‘a brat’

PAULINE Hanson has attacked a nine-year-old Brisbane schoolgirl, labelling her a ‘brat’ for refusing to stand during the national anthem at school assembly.

PAULINE Hanson says a Brisbane girl should be pulled out of school over her refusal to stand during the national anthem during school assembly.

Harper Nielsen’s peaceful protest has sparked a heated debate about whether her actions are disrespectful.

Harper Nielsen, 9, refuses to stand for the national anthem. Picture: Annette Dew

On Wednesday morning the family was unable to leave their home with TV crews camped out the front but the nine-year-old says she has “no regrets” about standing up for what she believes is right.

Queensland senator Pauline Hanson uploaded a Facebook video where she claimed Harper had been “brainwashed.

“This is divisive. Where is it coming from?,” she said.

“I’m hearing from too many people that feel our kids are being brainwashed in our educational system, this transgender sex stuff, this safe school problem, what the hell is going on?

“I’m angry about this … This kid is headed down the wrong path … take her out of the school.”

Ms Hanson said because Cathy Freeman was “proud” to sign the anthem during the Sydney Olympics Harper shouldn’t have an issue with it.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has refused to be drawn on the issue, insisting it is a matter for the school, the student and her parents to solve.

But she slammed Opposition frontbencher Jarrod Bleijie’s tweet calling Harper a brat.

“I don’t think we need MPs out there having their views such as that on Twitter,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“What sort of role model is that.

“I think he probably needs to grow up a bit.”

Shame on her parents for using her as a political pawn.Stop the silly protest and stand and sing proudly your National Anthem. Refusing to stand disrespects our country and our veterans. Suspension should follow if she continues to act like a brat #qldpol https://t.co/F0StkeBJDa

— Jarrod Bleijie (@JarrodBleijieMP) September 12, 2018

Mr Bleijie tweeted about the story today, questioning what was behind Harper’s stance.

“Shame on her parents for using her as a political pawn,” he tweeted.

“Stop the silly protest and stand and sing proudly your National Anthem. Refusing to stand disrespects our country and our veterans. Suspension should follow if she continues to act like a brat.”

Shock jock Alan Jones — who was on Wednesday hit with a record defamation bill by the Supreme Court in Brisbane — and controversial commentator Mark Latham said Harper was “defying the school”.

“We used to have special schools for children with behaviour problems,” Mr Latham said on the 4BC radio show.

“Not standing is a behavioural problem, so kick her out.”

Jones was furious about the Year 4 Kenmore South State School student’s decision.

“What on earth do you do … other than call the parents in and say ‘listen, these are the rules here, if you don’t like them you do as we say or go somewhere else because we’re not accommodating you”.

Mark Nielsen, Yvette Miller and daughter Harper Nielsen. The family have been inundated with attention over Harper’s controversial stance on the national anthem. Picture: Annette Dew

Harper told The Courier-Mail yesterday that the line in the national anthem, “for we are young and free”, disregarded Aboriginals who had lived in Australia for tens of thousands of years and only saw Australia as a country post-colonisation.

Jones was incensed by this and said that “colonisation brought the kind of tremendous wealth that all Australians now enjoy”.

Despite the 4BC commentary, Harper has received a lot of support online.

“I do applaud her for considering the words of the national anthem, a lot of people just rattle it off and don’t consider the meaning and I also applaud her strength of character to stand up for what she believes in,” Today show host Georgie Gardner said this morning.

Meanwhile, her co-host Karl Stefanovic levelled blame at the parents.

“The schools have rules, I’m exasperated by it this morning so if you don’t like that as a parent, if you don’t like that your child will have to stand for the anthem then go somewhere else. Schools have rules and they have to be abided by,” he said.

Harper’s father Mark Nielsen, who is an Associate Professor at the School of Psychology at the University of Queensland, told ABC radio his daughter had shown “incredible bravery”.

“One of the things she was really hoping to do with this is to raise awareness and get people thinking about institutionalised racism and how that looks and how that might feel to people who these kinds of things affect,” he said.

Originally published as Pauline Hanson labels Australian anthem schoolgirl ‘a brat’