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Attendees at a heated anti-Hanson rally in Melbourne clashed with security and reporters, sparking claims of hypocrisy from free-speech supporters and renewed debate over immigration, youth crime and Victoria’s mounting state debt.

Vince Galasso was told to “f..k off back to your own country” at a rally which called for an end to racism. Picture: Josh Spasaro.

Vince Galasso believes being told to “f..k off back to where you came from” at the anti-Pauline Hanson rally outside the State Library in Melbourne on 13 August exposes the hypocrisy of Victoria’s hard-left political community.

The Melbourne Airport worker attended to support the free-speech advocacy of Hanson, who is building political momentum with her One Nation political party ahead of the state election on November 28.

This is largely due to Victoria approaching a quarter of a trillion dollars in debt under its current Labor Government, and continual violent youth crime.

Galasso also expressed his support for independent commentator Avi Yemeni, who was surrounded by security detail at the heated demonstration which was organised by the National Union of Students.

Attendees chanted “Hanson is not welcome here”, “Pauline Hanson is a racist”, “Pauline Hanson go to hell, take Gina (Rinehardt) there as well” and “No Nazis never again”.

Italian immigrant Galasso has a visible “Italia” tattoo on his arm, and he said he was verbally targeted by the young student protesters.

“The language makes my blood boil. And what makes it worse – I just got told to ‘f..k off and go back to where you came from’,” he told The Epoch Times/Spectator Australia.

“They saw my Italia tattoo and said ‘why don’t you f..k off and go back to where you came from?’”

‘Someone could get killed’, warns security expert

Yemeni, his security detail and cameramen also had ‘F..k off Nazis’ chanted at them when they approached rally-goers for comments.

Students climbed the bronze statue of Jeanne d’Arc and waved red communist flags at the anti-Pauline Hanson rally in Melbourne on 13 August. Picture: Josh Spasaro.

Security specialist Daniel Jones was part of that detail.

He is also a Krav Maga instructor, as well as the chief instructor of Tactical Force Combatives.

Jones helped retrieve a stolen microphone which a rallygoer took from News 24 reporter, Georgie Dickerson, before she chased down the aggressor with the help of Yemeni’s security team.

That vision was shared by Dickerson’s colleague and presenter, Sharri Markson, with Jones immediately assessing if the aggressor was armed, before any potential threat was neutralised.

“Given the rally and environment, we just decided it wasn’t worth wasting time clinging onto the offender, so we let them go,” he said.

“From a security and self-defence point of view, I always consider that someone is armed first.”

Rally attendees scream ‘f..k off Nazis’ at independent reporter, Avi Yemeni, and his cameramen. Picture: Josh Spasaro.

Jones said the fact adults were encouraging minors to chant that Hanson was a Nazi could lead to violence against Australian conservative politicians.

“The big issue is the mentality of the far left and their indoctrination of kids,” he said.

“Everyone (who they oppose) is a Nazi. ‘Nazis are bad, Nazis have no space on our streets, Nazis should be killed’.

“And it’s not a big step to then go from a rally and say ‘that one is a Nazi – it’s OK to kill them’.”

Is discipline for unruly kids a thing of the past?

If One Nation were to win office at the next federal election in 2028, Hanson has promised to reduce net immigration numbers from over 1.2 million in the past three years to a hard cap of 130,000 visas per year.

She believes this will reduce crime and bring hope to Australian taxpayers who cannot compete in a volatile housing market where interest rates have soared under the federal Albanese Government in recent years.

In July, Hanson was also ruled to lose an appeal against Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi when she told her to ‘piss off back to Pakistan’ on social media platform X in September 2022.

This was in response to Faruqi’s post saying she “cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised people” on the day Queen Elizabeth II died.

With this issue a point of recent contention among those on both the left and right of the political spectrum, Galasso said he expected some heated rhetoric at the rally against Hanson and One Nation on 13 August.

Onlookers cheer on a Communist supporter after climbing a news stand and waving his red flag. Picture: Josh Spasaro.

But he underestimated how angry the protesters would be.

“No morals and no respect. They’re uneducated,” he said.

Online commentator Zoltan Banyai also attended the anti-Hanson rally in support for the Queensland Senator’s political party on the rise.

He said Victoria’s current bail laws encouraged youth in the state to chant and demonstrate with hatred.

The bodybuilder added the fact that three of the four minors who set upon grocery shop owner Van Viet Truong in Sunshine in Melbourne’s western suburbs this month – and received bail – highlighted a broken state.

Truong, 60 – who acted as a Good Samaritan to try and stop an alleged shoplifting and assault in his Vietnamese community – later died in hospital.

“The issue and the problem is kids today get away with murder – the machete and knife attacks,” Banyai said.

“Look at that situation with the Vietnamese guy and then those kids get bail.

“It’s just not good enough.”

Rallygoer: ‘Hanson surrounds herself with millionaires’

Sam (last name withheld) attended the rally and marched alongside the students.

She said Hanson spends too much time around rich and influential people, such as Gina Rinehart, who is the executive chair of Hancock Prospecting – an Australian-owned mining and agricultural business.

“I don’t have any respect for Pauline, who’s surrounded herself with millionaires,” she said.

Sam did not acknowledge One Nation was building popularity across Victoria because the party’s State President, Warren Pickering, has promised to bring down soaring daily debt.

“What are you going to spend it on later? You’re only going to spend it on her (Hanson) anyway,” she said.

“Her and her rich mates. I absolutely believe that, and I’m sure there’ll be investigations where they’ll find that’s the truth.

“When you talk about taxpayer money, that is the left-winger’s taxpayer money as well. They’re paying half or more compared to what the millionaires and billionaires are paying.”

Rinehart’s personal income tax is not public, as individual tax returns are private in Australia.

However, public statements from her company, Hancock Prospecting, and corporate data indicate that she and her private group pay hundreds of millions to over a billion dollars in combined federal and state taxes annually.

This makes her one of Australia’s largest individual tax contributors.

In April, it was reported that Hanson was gifted a $1 million plane by Rinehart.

Rinehart and Hancock Prospecting also donate an estimated $10 million annually to Australian sports, totalling over $100 million since the 2012 London Olympics.

The National Union of Students was contacted for comment.

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Featured image: Banners at rally — students from across Victoria unveil their banners at the anti-Pauline Hanson rally at the State Library in Melbourne on 13 August 2026. Picture: Josh Spasaro.