“More Learning, Less Activism”: Scott Morrison Criticises Students Over Climate Change Strike

Old man Scott Morrison has been slammed as “out of touch” after criticising school students who are planning to skip class in order to protest government inaction on climate change.

Hundreds of kids are expected to participate in school strikes on Friday, with protests co-coordinated by the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) planned outside state parliament buildings in capital cities across the country. But the Prime Minister would apparently rather the next generation of voters keep their heads in their books, telling Parliament on Monday that he wanted to see “more learning in schools and less activism”.

“We don’t support the idea of kids not going to school to participate in things that can be dealt with outside of school,” said Morrison. “Each day I send my kids to school and I know other members’ kids also go to school but we do not support our schools being turned into parliaments.”

His comments came after Greens MP Adam Bandt praised the “brave and courageous kids” for “joining young people around the world who are angry about the failure of governments to secure their future”.

Bandt subsequently told the Australian Associated Press that Morrison was “unbelievably out of touch with young people, not only in Australia but around the world”.

“These students want a leader to protect their future, but they got a hectoring, ungenerous and condescending rebuke from someone even worse than Tony Abbott,” he said.

AYCC spokesperson Laura Sykes accused Morrison of exhibiting “irrational outrage” over the strike.

“It was shocking to see our prime minister condemning students as young as eight, who are sacrificing a day of schooling to stand up for a safe climate future,” she said. “When young people try to have a voice in politics, Scott Morrison is shutting them down, yet he’s happy to listen to the coal lobby and big corporations who continue to profit from making climate change worse.”