Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been evacuated from The Lodge during a security incident.
The incident at Mr Albanese’s residence in Canberra sparked a significant police operation, and led to the prime minister being taken to another location for several hours.
Federal police have responded to an alleged security threat at The Lodge, the prime minister’s official Canberra residence. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)
The Australian Federal Police confirmed that at 6pm it responded to an “alleged security incident”.
“A thorough search of a protection establishment was undertaken and nothing suspicious was located,” the AFP said in a statement.
“There is no current threat to the community or public safety.”
Anthony Albanese was taken to another location following a security incident at The Lodge. (ABC News: Lexie Jeuniewic)
The AFP is responsible for protecting federal parliamentarians and certain Commonwealth buildings, including The Lodge and Parliament House.
A spokesperson for the prime minister said: “We trust the AFP to do their jobs and thank them for their work.”
The AFP said it would release more details at a later time.
The Lodge is the official residence of the Australian prime minister in Canberra and is where Mr Albanese and Jodie Haydon were married in November.
Increased threats to MPs
Politicians across the political spectrum have been dealing with threats, with threatening letters sent to independent senators Lidia Thorpe and Fatima Payman.
Man charged over death threats, antisemitic abuse of MP
In mid 2024, the AFP reported that threats to federal politicians’ safety had doubled in the preceding two-year period.
Earlier in February a Melbourne man was charged with making alleged death threats and antisemitic comments towards a federal MP.
Police alleged the 33-year-old from Reservoir used social media and email to contact a federal MP based in New South Wales several times between January 16 and 18, making death threats and antisemitic comments.
At that time Mr Albanese said that security arrangements for federal politicians were constantly monitored.
“We do live in circumstances where the number of threats that have been made towards elected representatives has increased substantially,” he said.
“We also need to look at why some of this is happening.”