Australia has a long history of protests. Our rights should be better protected

We also have a history of governments trying to suppress protest.

It’s time this changed

• Hugh de Kretser
• The Guardian

The deputy prime minister recently told school students they should be in school “learning about Australian history” instead of joining the global student strike for climate action on Friday.

Half of what he said was good advice. For if the students researched Australia’s protest history, they would learn that protest has been critical to so many social advances that we often now take for granted.

Protest helped to win the eight hour working day, to protect the Franklin and the Daintree and advance Aboriginal land rights.

Protest helped to…

• Australia has a…