Protesters brand Tony Abbott event attendees ‘pedophiles’ in heated confrontation
Protesters have branded attendees at Tony Abbott’s book event “pedophiles”, sparking heated confrontations and police intervention outside Geelong library.
Attendees to an event where former prime minister Tony Abbott discussed his latest book have been labelled “pedophiles” by protesters upon entry.
A group of about 30 protesters positioned themselves in front of the Geelong library on Thursday evening to protest an event featuring the former prime minister in a discussion about his recently released book “Australia: A History”.
The group situated themselves facing the line of attendees to the event.
One protester who was carrying an Aboriginal flag filmed attendees and said to people heading in: “Enter here if you love pedophiles.”
Multiple attendees took issue with this, yelling back, with police having to ask the agitator to move back a number of times.
“F*** off,” one man said.
Some members of the protest group also asked the woman to stop, so they could hear the speakers.
Two amplifiers and a microphone were set up, with multiple people toting flags and signs.
Rally speakers outlined Mr Abbott’s controversial history with Geelong unions, Indigenous groups, queer communities and his relationship to the late Catholic cardinal George Pell as reasons for their protest.
“Racism, misogyny and support for paedos is hate speech not free speech,” one sign read.
“Abbott is a: racist, misogynist, defends pedos and he has really crappy friends,” read another sign that included images of Mr Abbott with US Vice President JD Vance, senator Pauline Hanson and late right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk.
A number of local government figures were in attendance including Rowan Story and Ron Nelson – the latter receiving a not-so-warm welcome from the crowd outside.
Mr Abbott chose not to directly refer to the protesters after they were mentioned by host and member of the right-wing think tank Institute of Public Affairs Margaret Chambers.
He instead explained how he had approached the early history of Anglo-Indigenous relations in the book.
“It was a story of partnership, as well as confrontation,” he said.
“The early settlers could not have done what they did in what to them was a strange country without the Aboriginal companions and guides they had.”
The protest was a long time in the making.
When the event was announced earlier this month, a number of local activist groups pledged to picket, citing his relationship to and his stance on First Nations issues.
The announcement drew ire from former Labor MLC Elaine Carbines and others, while it was defended by a number of local Liberal figures, including recently minted Victorian Liberal upper house leader Bev McArthur and senator Sarah Henderson.
Geelong Regional Libraries defended its decision to go ahead with the event.
In an email to staff following the “strong feedback”, chief executive Vanessa Schernickau said a priority of the organisation was to provide access to a range of perspectives “in these times of increasing polarity”.
“As public discourse becomes increasingly binary, we have a pivotal role in ensuring different voices can be heard, hopefully by those who are curious and have open minds,” she wrote in the email, seen by the Addy.
william.keech@news.com.au
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