A NINE-YEAR-OLD schoolgirl is facing suspension after she refused to stand for Australia’s national anthem.

Harper Nielsen, a student at Kenmore South State School in Brisbane, decided to protest against “Advance Australia Fair,” saying it was not inclusive of indigenous Australians.

The school handed the Grade 4 student a lunchtime detention for “blatant disrespect.” She was then told that she could not leave the office until she had signed a written apology and that she could be suspended.

The issue has sparked a bitter debate on radio and television.

Shock jock Alan Jones and commentator Mark Latham were furious about the Brisbane student’s decision and said Harper was “defying the school.”

Harper told The Courier-Mail that the line in the national anthem, “for we are young and free,” disregarded aboriginals who had lived in Australia for tens of thousands of years and only saw Australia as a country post-colonization.

Jones was incensed by this and said that “colonization brought the kind of tremendous wealth that all Australians now enjoy.”

“The school only exists because of colonization, what sort of fools are these?” Latham added.

Despite the commentary, Harper has received a lot of support online.

“I do applaud her for considering the words of the national anthem, a lot of people just rattle it off and don’t consider the meaning and I also applaud her strength of character to stand up for what she believes in,” Today show host Georgie Gardner said.

Meanwhile, her co-host Karl Stefanovic leveled blame at the parents. “Her parents are obviously supporting her and I think that’s the big problem here, her parents are supporting her in a way that I don’t think is appropriate,” Stefanovic said.

(SD-Agencies)

“The schools have rules, I’m exacerbated by this this morning so if you don’t like that as a parent, if you don’t like that your child will have to stand for the anthem then go somewhere else. Schools have rules and they have to be abided by.”