Hundreds of students strike for climate change in Sydney, Marrickville, Bankstown and Manly

HUNDREDS of children wagged school on Friday to protest about climate change outside the offices of federal MPs across Sydney as experts warned they had been “manipulated” for political gain.

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HUNDREDS of children wagged school on Friday to protest about climate change outside the offices of federal MPs across Sydney as experts warned they had been “manipulated” for political gain.

“I’m so concerned about what’s going to happen to humankind,” Nepean Creative Performing Arts High School student Estella Brasier, 14, said.

“What’s going to happen to the whole world if no one does anything?”

Protesters arrive at the rally outside Tony Abbott’s office carrying placards asking for Adani to be stopped and for a greater focus on batteries.

Schoolboys take a break for lunch outside Tony Abbott’s office in Manly.

Pamphlets litter the office floor after the protest while the picture is put back on the wall. Picture: Adella Beaini

Estella and friends Keisha Davis, 15, and Coco Norris, 13, had taken the three-hour train trip to Cronulla with the support of their parents to protest outside the electorate office of Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

“It’s been my dream to start a family but I feel like I would be burdening them if they have to live in a society where they walk outside in winter and get sunburnt,” Keisha (pictured left) said.

“We want climate action and we don’t want to wait 12 years.

“My dad sent me the information for this.

“He’s a big fan of renewables and doing what he can do reduce his plastic use — they are in full support  of us and they are extremely proud.”

Tony Abbott was seen having coffee at Hemingway’s a few hundred metres away from the protests outside his Manly electorate office.

The children themselves were doing damage at Mr Albanese’s office, where they stormed into the reception area and plastered it with Adani stickers, dropped a framed picture and threw pamphlets on the floor.

Standing on chairs in the reception area they shouted: “No more oil, keep our carbon in the soil”.

“If you let us vote, none of this would happen” yelled a boy with an Elmo backpack. “We just want to kill ScoMo.”

“We have kazoos and are not afraid to use them,” shouted another, before heading off with mates for some pizza and slurpees.

Rachel Evans, from Social Alliance’s Green Left Weekly, said the protest was all about “shifting the political elite”, and demanding no new coal or gas, 100 per cent renewables by 2030 and that the Adani coal mine in Queensland be scrapped.

Australian Catholic University Education expert Kevin Donnelly said: “The policy driving this action is a radical deep green policy with 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030.

“It is manipulating children in a political strategy. It has got nothing to do with education.”

He said the activists’ web page was highly emotive — warning of dead polar bears and the end of the world — and had been “orchestrated by political apparatchiks” to manipulate children.

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said: “I understand these students are passionate about the environment, but strike action is not appropriate during school hours.”

“Students need to be at school on school days — their education must come first. This is the best way to ensure they become an informed citizen. I would hope parents share that view.”

School students gather outside Tony Abbott’s office in Manly.

One boy wears an earring with the words “stop Adani.”.

The trio was part of a national protest by students as young as 10 that in Sydney also targeted the offices of former prime minister Tony Abbott in Manly, and Labor’s Anthony Albanese in Marrickville and Jason Clare in Bankstown.

Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan condemned the protests and said rather than being proud, parents “should be rightfully concerned” their children were being influenced by professional activists.

“They (the activists) should not be using students to further their aim,” Mr Tehan said. “This will be the second day off school for many of these students, so where does it stop?

“What will the activists protest against next and how many days do they want students to take?”

School students protest outside of Abbott’s office in Manly.

School students protest outside of Abbott’s office in Manly.

School students protest outside of Abbott’s office in Manly.

More than 400 students converged outside Mr Abbott’s office in Manly, including Pittwater High School student Skye Stone, 15, who defiantly shouted: “We are climate warriors.”

“Basically that means we’re fighting here to help the climate and stop the Adani coal mine,” she said.

Sitting calmly in Hemingway’s coffee shop a few hundred metres away, Mr Abbott said he had told children who spoke to him that he respected their “idealism and passion” but they should not be skipping class.

“I think they shouldn’t do it, I think that when you’re at school you’re there to learn, you’re not there to be an activist,” he said.

“I think school teachers who encourage activism in their kids, certainly activism in school hours, are actually doing their kids damage.”.

The strike is part of a nationwide protest to demand more action on climate change from politicians. Picture: Adella Beaini

More than 100 students, teachers and parents descended outside the office of Labor's Anthony Albanese. Picture: Adella Beaini

Several students arrive for the climate change strike

The children themselves were doing damage at Mr Albanese’s office, where they stormed into the reception area and plastered it with Adani stickers, dropped a framed picture and threw pamphlets on the floor.

Standing on chairs in the reception area they shouted: “No more oil, keep our carbon in the soil”.

“If you let us vote, none of this would happen” yelled a boy with an Elmo backpack. “We just want to kill ScoMo.”

“We have kazoos and are not afraid to use them,” shouted another, before heading off with mates for some pizza and slurpees.

Rachel Evans, from Social Alliance’s Green Left Weekly, said the protest was all about “shifting the political elite”, and demanding no new coal or gas, 100 per cent renewables by 2030 and that the Adani coal mine in Queensland be scrapped.

Australian Catholic University Education expert Kevin Donnelly said: “The policy driving this action is a radical deep green policy with 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030.

“It is manipulating children in a political strategy. It has got nothing to do with education.”

He said the activists’ web page was highly emotive — warning of dead polar bears and the end of the world — and had been “orchestrated by political apparatchiks” to manipulate children.

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said: “I understand these students are passionate about the environment, but strike action is not appropriate during school hours.”

“Students need to be at school on school days — their education must come first. This is the best way to ensure they become an informed citizen. I would hope parents share that view.”

Originally published as Hundreds of students strike for climate change in Sydney, Marrickville, Bankstown and Manly