Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has blamed pro-Palestinian protesters for the closure of his electoral office in Sydney’s inner west, but the landlord says it was their decision to discontinue his lease.
Mr Albanese expressed sadness at the move, saying it came after “aggressive protesters have repeatedly blocked access to the electorate office in Marrickville for people seeking assistance” over the past two years.
The Member for Grayndler also claimed churchgoers attending the nearby church were harassed by protesters.
Mr Albanese’s electoral office had been in the space for nearly three decades. (AAP: Lukas Coch)
Speaking to ABC Radio Perth on Monday, Mr Albanese said people were “being abused, when they’re going to church on a Sunday and being accused of all sorts of things to do with the Middle East conflict”.
“It does nothing to advance the cause, no matter where people stand on that issue,” he said.
The office shared a car park with the church but the prime minister said the protests disrupted that arrangement.
A picket took place in front of his former local electorate office, pictured in 2024. (ABC News: Holly Tregenza)
“It became untenable for people to use their own car park at the church,” Mr Albanese said.
“People were being abused going to funerals and it just does my head in that people think that a cause is advanced by that sort of behaviour.”
Minister for Defence Richard Marles described the actions of recent protesters as “an absolute disgrace”.
“What it has done is prevented a whole lot of people in Grayndler being unable to access basic services from the office of their local member,” he said.
Yasmine Johnson from Students for Palestine organised several protests outside Mr Albanese’s office over the past two years.
She said she had not “seen any of that behaviour at all” that the prime minister had described.
“I don’t think Albanese has engaged seriously with protests and their anger and outrage about the mass killing of Palestinians,” Ms Johnson said.
“I think he could serve to talk to some of the people who are angry about this and to change some of the policy of the Australian government that has made people so angry.”
Yasmine Johnson said Mr Albanese’s move was another way of dismissing protesters.Â
She believes Mr Albanese leaving his Marrickville office is another way he was dismissing protesters legitimate claims.
“I think this is a refusal to engage with the serious demands of the protest movement for Palestine.”
Church says it’s ‘time for change’
Reverend Ross Ciano, the minister at the neighbouring St Clement’s Anglican Church, confirmed the decision to discontinue the prime minister’s lease was made by the Sydney diocese, which owns the property.
“Their lease was up and yeah, it was time for a change,” he said.
“We’re also growing as a church so we’ve also got other ideas as well.”
When asked about Mr Albanese’s claim the protesters “abused” churchgoers, the reverend said “the majority [of protests] has been fine but there’s been at times, it got a little bit intense”.
“We’ve had phone calls, at times, where people haven’t felt safe walking down this part of Marrickville Road.”
“Free Gaza” graffiti spray-painted on the prime minister’s Marrickville office in 2023. (ABC News: Heath McPherson )
He said only one funeral service had been affected “but it’s just been noise”.
“We also got people in our church who support the message [of the protesters],” he said.Â
“We are a multicultural congregation who have different views and that’s what we think is a healthy congregation.”
‘He’s never met with protesters’
Former ABC science broadcaster Bernie Hobbs from Sydney Knitting Nannas and Friends was protesting against the Woodside gas project outside the prime minister’s electorate office on Monday morning.
She said she was a Grayndler constituent who had been trying to deliver a letter to the prime minister for months, to no avail.
“I’ve never seen aggression here in the very many protests that I’ve attended out here,” she said.
“I don’t know how he’d be aware of them because he’s never met with protesters when anything’s been going on here.”
Protesters were at the site of the former office on Monday. (ABC News: Monish Nand)
The Grayndler electorate office was first opened in 1993 for the then-MP Jeannette McHugh.
Mr Albanese had been in the space since his first term in parliament in 1996.Â
The office was officially shut down last Friday and the prime minister said he would open a new office “in the heart of Grayndler once it is made fit for purpose”.
Meanwhile his constituents are expected to seek help from his office workers across several community locations, online and via telephone.