Australian senators protest against Marcos' speech at Parliament
Several Australian senators on Thursday, Feb. 29, protested against President Marcos' historic speech before the Australian Parliament, with one raising a call to "stop human rights abuses" in the Philippines.
While opposition leader Peter Dutton commended Marcos' actions in the South China Sea, Janet Rice—a member of Australia's fourth top political party Australia Greens—called out the Marcos administration.
In a post on X, Rice said corruption in the Philippines is supposedly getting worse under the Marcos administration and there remains hundreds of political prisoners.

She also said the anti-terror law is being used as legal cover for extrajudicial killings.
"Yet the Australian Government invited him to address the Parliament today. Shame," Rice said.
Aside from Rice, three more senators from Australia Greens protested against Marcos' presence in the Parliament.
Senators Jordon Steele-John, Barbara Pocock and David Shoebridge refused to listen to Marcos' delivery of speech and joined several Filipinos outside the Parliament holding protest rallies.
"While President Marcos Jr gave a speech to the parliament today, I was proud to protest in solidarity with the Australian-Filipino community outside parliament. Stop the human rights abuses!" Steele-John said in a post on X.
Protestors from Australian-Filipino community in Thursday gathered in front of the Parliament House when Marcos addressed the Australian parliament.
Some of the protestors came from as far as Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney to participate in the rally.
"We are protesting Bongbong Marcos’ address to the Australian Parliament to counter the glorification of a person and family who are synonymous with plunder and gross human rights violations," a part of their statement read.
Shoebridge claimed that the Australian parliament "is once more being used to launder the political reputation of those involved in serious human rights abuses."
"The deep, cruel legacy of the Marcos regimes—senior and junior—have crushed community, peasant, women's, trade union and human rights activists in the Philippines," he added.