Back when I was spending far too long studying an Arts degree at Adelaide Uni, then-Education Minister Amanda Vanstone paid the campus a visit to speak at a graduation ceremony.

This was just a tad controversial, since Vanstone had endeared herself to the student fraternity by cutting various tertiary grants, introducing the “draconian” (according to Green Left Weekly) youth allowance and abolishing compulsory student unionism. Those aggrieved by this and, y’know, just pissed off with “the Man” in general, took to the streets (well, the cobbled avenue outside Bonython Hall) to let Amanda know what they thought of her work. And her personality.

I didn’t actually attend this rally, but I’m certain I agreed with the broad sentiment from my traditional vantage point propping up the UniBar. These days, though, I’d sooner have a beer (or a Limoncello) with Vanstone any day than with an angry young arts student, even though both have a propensity to interrupt you rather dogmatically in conversation.

I may have changed (or sold out, as my 1996-era self might have loftily suggested) but the general protest culture at Australian universities hasn’t.

Tony Abbott poked his noggin into the proverbial lion’s den last night, delivering the Sir John Downer Oration at Adelaide’s Braggs Lecture Theatre. One young socialist on social media was “outraged” at the security precautions that would effectively fence the PM off from his detractors (an Abbott-proof fence, they called it), then went on to validate the precautionary measures by inviting fellow students to “rally to boot him from the campus”. In case there was any doubt about her future voting intentions, she concluded with an elegant: “F**k Tony Abbott!”

Now, I enjoy sweary behaviour as much as the next former Arts student, so I mean no inherent disapproval when I point out that this kind of language was fairly symptomatic of the protest itself. Thing is, though, this is the kind of aggressive-bordering-on-violent behaviour that many of these VERY SAME PROTESTORS deemed misogyny when it was directed at Abbott’s predecessor Julia Gillard.

We seem to have a short memory and very little self-awareness when it comes to consistency in political disagreement. Abbott, apparently, is fair game because he’s a man, he’s very right wing and he’s … well, he’s TONY FREAKIN’ ABBOTT, isn’t he! “His Malevolence”, as one social media invitation to the protest cleverly coined him.

The Uni itself walked a fine line between trumpeting its pride at snaring someone as high-profile as the sitting PM to give a guest lecture and demonstrating its benevolent tolerance of students exercising their democratic rights (particularly against a Tory PM with a propensity to cut the education sector).

And it is their right to voice their disapproval with Abbott’s policy prescriptions, whether they be passionately ideological or shallowly populist. They had a heap of ‘em too; uni fee deregulation and education cuts were pretty much gimmes, but the crowd was also aggrieved about the Government’s asylum seeker policies, its lukewarm support for Palestine and lack of support for gay marriage. So, basically a wholesale repudiation of the Abbott administration.

Now, obviously, the PM wasn’t about to overhaul his entire political philosophy on all these issues just on the unfailingly polite say-so of a gaggle of student lefties (particularly since he arrived and left via a back door, so probably hardly noticed they were there). But helpfully, they had no end of catchy chants to help twist his arm (metaphorically speaking, though I’m sure they’d have done so literally had they been given the chance).

There was “Long live the Intifada”, in support of Palestine, which sat awkwardly alongside my personal fave, about the education budget:
“Tony Abbott, f**k you,
We deserve a future too.”

These poor uni students, can’t someone do something to provide a future for them?! For God’s sake, why won’t someone think of the upper middle class young adults?!

There was an unwitting throwback to the halcyon days of the Whitlam era with the plaintive:
“Education should be free,
Not just for the bourgeoisie!”

Can’t fault the rhyme or metre, though given most of these students will probably be corporate lawyers in a few years time, I’d probably suggest a short addendum:
“Education should be free,
Not just for the bourgeoisie;
Our parents pay our uni fee,
And we can’t see the irony!”

I’ve got no issue with any of this, mind you. It’s the prerogative of uni students to behave in ways that will make them blush in years to come (at least, I really hope they will!). I particularly enjoyed the young lady I tried to interview who seemed unable to articulate anything that wasn’t in chant form, and perplexed that I required a more individualised response.

“Can’t you hear the chants?!” she shrieked, when asked her message to the PM.

Harder to brush off as the youthful exuberance of the privileged, though, was the intimidation and heckling of anyone who arrived to actually listen to Abbott’s speech. They might have been an impartial observer who was just interested to hear what the PM had to say, but if they were dressed up and over 30, they were verbal cannon fodder.

Then, of course, when some bright spark realized that Abbott had outwitted the baying mob by arriving via a door other than the one they’d essentially closed off, all hell broke loose and they swarmed the barricades like a cast of extras from The Walking Dead. The police, probably ill-advisedly, moved in on horseback, which hardly mollified the crowd, particularly after one woman apparently got her foot trodden on. (For those concerned, fear not; like the Black Knight, turned out t’was just a flesh wound!)

This prompted a fresh chant, and a rather more sinister one: “Get those animals off those horses!”

Talking of animals, a few students I spoke to around this point were decidedly sheepish, wanting to emphasise that the behaviour on display does not represent the majority of the Adelaide Uni student body. (Indeed, I tried to hit up one young chap, prominently positioned, for an “angry student” grab, only to be told he was just there to catch a glimpse of the PM; I suspect he was covering the wrong door!)

The thing is, though, such protests DO represent the Adelaide student body. They always have.

Well before Amanda Vanstone aroused the ire of the uni fraternity by daring to try and hand out graduation certificates, we’ve always done a good line in angry mobs. Indeed, state Greens MLC Tammy Franks got her start in student protests, famously eliciting the immortal advice from then PM Paul Keating to “Get a job”. Fortunately, Tammy stuck to her crusading guns and ended up getting a pretty influential one. But that’s rare; half the kids venting their spleen at Abbott will probably end up voting for one of his Liberal successors while shaking their heads as their own offspring disdainfully chant their disapproval.

Which is entirely their prerogative. If you want to take issue with Abbott, that’s fine by me; after all, no-one can claim he’s setting the world on fire with his prime-ministership (though he’s clearly inflaming the passions of a few discontents).

Indeed, we haven’t really had a hint of good governance in this country for a decade; Hawke/Keating had flourishes and Howard had moments, but we’ve been well and truly coasting since his last term and the national conversation has degenerated to a point where the kind of slogans chanted last night are practically middle-brow.

So by all means, let Abbott know you think your higher education should be further subsidised by taxpayers who’ve never set foot in a university, and who’d never think to charge a police blockade just to scream an expletive at a democratically elected politician. That’s your right. Just don’t expect it to change anything.

Tom Richardson is InDaily’s political commentator and Channel Nine’s state political reporter.