Protesters trash Cory Bernardi’s Adelaide office
THE “full force of the law” should be brought to bear on protesters who trashed Senator Cory Bernardi’s office and targeted his children’s school, he says. | See the pictures
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THE “full force of the law” should be brought to bear on protesters who trashed Senator Cory Bernardi’s office and targeted his children’s school, he says.
The university students and high-school pupils, who were protesting against his opposition to the Safe Schools anti-bullying program and ongoing debate about same-sex marriage, engaged in abuse, vandalism and threats.
Both Flinders and Adelaide universities released statements condemning the action.
Branding the protesters “a bunch of cowards”, Senator Bernardi labelled the fracas a form of intolerance and intimidation that only “strengthened his resolve”.
He said: “They also headed down to my children’s school and sought to target it as well. They had to lock gates and take other preventive measures.
“If peaceful protests turn into violent and damaging protests the people responsible for that need to be held to account.
“I’m happy for the full force of the law to be brought upon those who’ve done property damage and threatened my staff.”
Police reported one man for graffiti damage to a road sign and are reviewing CCTV evidence from the scene.
There were young people and people on their first day at work at his Kent Town office, he said.
About 20 students — from Adelaide and Flinders universities, UniSA and high schools — occupied the Grenfell St office at noon and scrawled abusive messages on the outside walls and veranda.
They also overturned tables and chairs, wrote messages in chalk on the carpet and chanted slogans such as “racist, sexist, anti-queer, Bernardi is not welcome here”.
Lefty totalitarians have trashed my office and threatened my staff because their agenda has been exposed. What a bunch of cowards.
— Cory Bernardi (@corybernardi) 18 March 2016
The fools take selfies breaking the law. Dumb and violent - a dangerous combination. https://t.co/v7TWrenu90
— Cory Bernardi (@corybernardi) 18 March 2016
Senator Bernardi’s wife, Sinead, and staffers retreated into other rooms.
Once police arrived, the students went outside, knocking over a fence on their way and leaving paper and rubbish strewn around the office. One sign read: “Eat rainbow, bigot.”
Senator Bernardi tweeted: “What a bunch of cowards. Lefty totalitarians have trashed my office and threatened my staff because their agenda has been exposed.”
Tom Gilchrist, Adelaide University’s Student Representative Council president and several other SRC members from the socialist group Student Voice were among the protesters.
They included SRC ethno-cultural officer Angelo Tavlaridis, who was last year banned from campaigning on campus after allegedly calling one female student a “c ...” and another a “bitch”.
One of Senator Bernardi’s employees, Adelaide University Union board member Robert Katsambis, then passed censure motions against Mr Tavlaridis’ behaviour and Mr Gilchrist’s failure to condemn it.
Mr Gilchrist defended the protesters’ actions on Friday, saying the damage was “completely superficial, paper and chalk — things that can be cleaned off easily”.
“This is nothing compared to the damage being done to LGBTI people,” he said of the Federal Government’s decision to “gut” the Safe Schools program, announced on Friday shortly after the protest.
“That is the really disgusting thing.”
During the office protest, the students claimed they were heading to the school because it was where Senator Bernardi was educated. Mr Gilchrist later said they had not caused any disturbance at the school.
“We put up the banner and walked away,” he said.
Senator Bernardi was a vocal critic of Safe Schools, a program to prevent bullying on gender and sexuality grounds.
He said the program was intimidating, indoctrinating, and bullying children by picking on heterosexual children.
Pressure from backbenchers forced Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to announce a review of the program. Tensions over the issue heated this week to the point where Queensland MP George Christensen tried to link the program to paedophilia and started a petition calling for a full inquiry.
On Friday, the Government released the review and announced a compromise, radically altering the way the program works but saying it would remain in place.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham said review author Professor Bill Lowden, an education expert, found some content was “not necessarily appropriate for all children”.
The Government will demand that the program move to a Government website to control the content and ensure they only link to government services and only disseminate information to high schools. They will fund the program until the end of its contract.
Senator Birmingham said teachers would judge how to use the resources.
“(That will) ensure ... as many students as possible are respected in terms of the choice of their sexuality,” he said, adding he had briefed colleagues and there was “broad support”.
Senator Bernardi cautiously welcomed the move saying it validated backbenchers’ fears.
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