Thousands of schoolchildren across the country have walked out of class to demand federal government action on climate change.
The "Strike 4 Climate Action", inspired by 15-year-old
Swedish student Greta Thunberg, is involving children in capital cities and 20 regional centres such as Ballarat and Newcastle.
On Friday, more than a thousand primary and secondary students filled Sydney's Martin Place and students in Melbourne
marched through the streets, bringing traffic to a standstill.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, had urged students this week not to take part and told them to be "less activist".
But his warning appears to have gone unheeded with thousands congregating in the centres of
Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Sydney student Jean Hinchliffe, 14, took to the stage and told her fellow students the protest was "just the beginning".
"This is our first strike," she said. "Our first action. And it is just the beginning. And we'll keep doing it until something is done."
Lucie Atkin-Bolton, 11, who is the school captain of Forest Lodge public school, said she had been let down by politicians.
"My name is Lucie and I wish I didn't have to be here today," she said. "I'm the school captain at my primary school. We've been taught what is means to be a leader. You have to think about other people.
"When kids make a mess, adults tell us to clean it up and that's fair. But when our leaders make a mess, they're leaving it to us to clean up."
Any mention of
Scott Morrison brought boos from the crowd, as student after student criticised his comments.
"If Scott Morrison wants children to stop acting like a parliament, then maybe the parliament should stop acting like children," Manjot Kaur, 17, from Ravenswood school said.
The noise was deafening as students waved homemade signs, chanted and sang along to a rendition of Stand By Me. Hinchchliffe called Morrison's electorate office, and encouraged students to call the prime minister every day for the next week.
