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The following statement was released by School Strike 4 Climate on February 20 in response to statements made by the federal and NSW education ministers and deputy prime minister Michael McCormack, as well as a front page article in the Daily Telegraph, attacking students for exercising their right to strike from school to demand urgent climate action.

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School students striking for climate action won’t be bullied by conservative media and politicians telling us not to strike from school on .

School striker Doha Khan from South Australia said: “We won’t let anyone bully us into staying silent on the greatest threat to our generation: climate change.

“People’s homes and livelihoods are being destroyed by climate change. The Great Barrier Reef is half dead and yet, we’re expected to sit idle as our politicians fail to take adequate action. This is crazy.”

NSW school striker Ambrose Hayes commented: "As if a group of adults could make thousands of teenagers do something they didn't want to do.

“We have not been brainwashed by anyone. We are part of a growing, global movement comprising hundreds of thousands of young people who have the praise of millions of people around the world.”

Western Australian school striker Aden Kenworthy added: “The majority of Australians want action on climate change, yet we are not seeing this action from our politicians.

“As school students we can’t vote, which is why we are striking instead. If our politicians were doing their jobs, we wouldn’t have to do this. We don’t take this lightly.”

NSW school striker Daisy Jeffrey said: “We have considered our actions deeply. We have the permission and support of our families and communities to strike on March 15.

“This is our generation taking a powerful stand for our futures.”

Victorian school striker Leo Crnogocervic noted: “We would rather politicians and newspapers like the Daily Telegraph don’t launch coordinated attacks on school students calling for climate action and instead focus on working with us to stop dangerous climate change.”

 Victorian school striker Anthony James concluded: “March 15 is going to be amazing. We will join with hundreds of thousands of school students all around the world to #ClimateStrike for our future.

“We invite everyone to join us. Climate change is a huge issue and it’s going to take all of us working together to solve it.”