Thousands of children marched across Australia on Friday to protest against the government's failure to act on climate change, prompting one minister to rebuke them, saying they were offering to "fail."
Children, parents and teachers gathered in the central Sydney business district at lunchtime, chanting slogans calling for the departure of Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and other cities saw similar protests after students in the capital Canberra staged a protest this week.
"This is just the beginning," one protest leader told the uniformed crowd. This is our first strike and our first move together ... we will continue to lead more campaigns until something happens. "
Australia is one of the world's biggest emitters because of its reliance on coal-fired power plants. Earlier this year, the conservative government reduced its commitments to the Paris Climate Convention.
Energy policy has caused deep divisions within the conservative coalition and climate change skeptics were a key force behind the ouster of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in August.
Morrison criticized the protests, saying he wanted education to be priority rather than political activity in schools, and Resources Minister Matt Kanavan said the move was exposing children to failure.
"Getting out of school and protesting ... you will not learn anything from it," Kanavan said in a radio interview. "The best thing you can learn from participating in the protest is how to join the unemployment benefit queue because that will be your life in the future."