Students strike for climate change (ABC News)
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Rallies began in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra and Hobart outside state parliament buildings and town halls.
Students have also marched at rallies across regional Australia, with large crowds protesting at Geelong, Byron Bay, Coffs Harbour, Cairns and Townsville.
Many used humour to get their point across, with posters referencing internet memes and suggesting fail grades for the nation's political efforts on climate change policy.
Others were more serious — one poster urged politicians to "panic" about addressing climate change and another warned "there is no Planet B".
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| Melbourne protest organisers said about 20,000 people attended the rally outside Parliament House. (ABC News: Stephanie Anderson) |
Milou Albrecht and Harriet O'Shea Carre, both 14, travelled from Castlemaine in central Victoria to march in Melbourne.
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| Harriet O'Shea Carre and Milou Albrecht travelled with 400 of their fellow students to make the Melbourne march. (ABC News) |
"Together our collective voice is very strong and powerful," Harriet said.
What do the students want?
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"Specifically for Tassie, we want to look at stopping how much forestry she's got going on," she said.
Frida Elliott, 15, said she did not care whether her school supported her presence at the Hobart rally.
"We're told we shouldn't be missing class time by our teachers … but there's nothing they can do about it and they've taken a step back and realised the power we have here," she said.
Rallies were also held in Darwin, Brisbane and Perth.
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| Hundreds of students defied school warnings to attend a rally at Peregian Beach on the Sunshine Coast. (ABC News: Megan Kinninment) |
Meanwhile, New Zealand rallies have seen strong turnouts, with a student march blocking streets in Wellington this morning.
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| Thousands of protesters gathered in Perth's CBD to join the nationwide movement. (ABC News: Evan Morgan Grahame) |
The protests were inspired by 16-year-old Swedish student Greta Thunberg, who pledged to protest outside the Parliament in Stockholm until the country caught up on its commitments under the Paris Agreement.
Greta urged students to ignore calls from some politicians to stay in school.
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| Students in Byron Bay ditched school to join the global movement. (ABC News: Sam Turnbull) |
"So they should keep on fighting and they must be prepared to go on for a very, very long time.
"I don't think decision-makers will get the message for a very long time."
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| In Melbourne, students staged their protest outside Parliament House. (ABC News: Bez Zewdie) |
"Students leaving school during school hours to protest is not something that we should encourage," Mr Tehan said.
— Adam Curlis (@TAFEeducation) March 14, 2019"Especially when they are being encouraged to do so by green political activists."
Similar protests in November prompted Prime Minister Scott Morrison to warn against the idea of students leaving school to participate in protests.
"We don't support our schools being turned into parliaments. What we want is more learning in schools and less activism in schools," Mr Morrison said at the time.
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| Students are calling for a switch to renewable energy. (ABC News: Gabriella Marchant) |
NSW Opposition Leader Michael Daley encouraged students to exercise their "democratic right" to protest.
Independent MP Julia Banks said she was proud to support students for "using their voice".
"This is their time," she said on Twitter.
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| Signs got creative in Hobart. (ABC News: Monte Bovill) |
Her view is shared by students around the globe, including the 15-year-old student organiser for the Sydney school strike, Jean Hinchcliffe.
"I believe that I have learnt much more from these strikes and the organising process than I have learnt in any lesson during school," she told the ABC.
"The amount of experience you gain from it and learning to mobilise and participate in democracy I think is far more worthwhile than any history lesson."
At the November protests, students filled arcades and city squares, defying calls by the Prime Minister to stay in school, to call for an end to political inertia on climate policy.
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| Students gathered on the steps of South Australia's Parliament House. (ABC News: Gabriella Marchant) |
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| Ruby Clark, 12, was among thousands of protesters gathered at Garema Place in Canberra. (ABC News: Niki Burnside) |
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| Thousands of students gathered in Hobart. (ABC News: Monte Bovill) |
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