Protesters brand Tony Abbott event attendees 'pedophiles' in confrontation
Protesters have branded attendees at Tony Abbott's Geelong book event "pedophiles", sparking heated confrontations and police intervention outside the 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 set up shop 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, carrying an Aboriginal flag, filmed and said to people heading in “enter here if you love pedophiles”.
Multiple people entering took issue with this, yelling back, with police having to ask her 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 pre made signs.
Rally speakers outlined Abbott’s controversial history with Geelong unions, Indiginous 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,” another, which included images of Abbott with American Vice President JD Vance, senator Pauline Hanson and late right wing 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 the Institute of Public Affairs Margaret Chambers, opting rather to explain how he had approached the early history of Anglo-Indigenous relations in the book.
“It was a story of partnership as well as confrontation,” Mr Abbott 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 first 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, and was defended by a number of local Liberal figures including recently minted Victorian upper house leader Bev McArthur and senator Sarah Henderson.
Geelong Regional Libraries defended their 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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Originally published as Protesters brand Tony Abbott event attendees 'pedophiles' in confrontation
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