{"id":498786,"date":"2026-02-23T12:02:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T12:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/498786\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T12:02:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T12:02:20","slug":"navy-chiefs-speech-disrupted-bomb-squad-called-after-rocks-thrown-through-glass-door-at-canberra-hotel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/498786\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy chief’s speech disrupted, bomb squad called after rocks thrown through glass door at Canberra hotel"},"content":{"rendered":"

ACT police are searching for two men who threw rocks and a suspicious item into a building hosting a major defence industry conference before fleeing on bicycles.<\/p>\n

Officers were called to the Hyatt Hotel Canberra about 9am when a speech by the Navy chief was disrupted by rocks smashing through a nearby glass door.<\/p>\n

Vice-Admiral Mark Hammond was addressing a defence industry conference when there were shouts that someone was shooting, witnesses said.<\/p>\n

That prompted attendees of the Australian Defence Magazine Congress’s annual gathering to hide or run out of the room.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Police searched the Hyatt Hotel Canberra after rocks were thrown, smashing a glass door and causing panic. (ABC News: Darren Reichard)<\/p>\n

‘Not an explosive device’<\/p>\n

ACT Policing’s Detective Inspector Dave Craft said he “can’t comment on what was said or wasn’t said in the room” but added it was understandable there was alarm at the sound of smashing glass.<\/p>\n

He said two rocks and a suspicious item were thrown at a nearby room, causing minor property damage.<\/p>\n

The conference, including the Navy chief’s speech, later resumed.<\/p>\n

Detective Inspector Craft said police were looking for two males captured on the hotel’s security cameras.<\/p>\n

“The item was seized by the AFP bomb response team and it was determined the item was not an explosive device,” Detective Inspector Craft said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Police are looking for two men after an incident at a defence industry conference at Canberra’s Hyatt Hotel. (Supplied: Hyatt)<\/p>\n

Detective Inspector Craft said police were searching the hotel when they found unattended baggage in a conference room about midday.<\/p>\n

“As a precaution, police cordoned off that room and moved participants to an external area,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It was out of an abundance of caution.”<\/p>\n

Officers and bomb squad dogs eventually gave the backpacks the all-clear.<\/p>\n

Detective Inspector Craft said a police presence remained at the venue, with ASIO and counter terrorism teams assisting police.<\/p>\n

The Hyatt Hotel remains open, with guests coming and going as usual.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ACT police are searching for two men who threw rocks and a suspicious item into a building hosting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[2666,64,63,250995,2667,250994,3403,75,250992,4895,250993,105115,128,49706],"class_list":["post-498786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-act","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-defence-magazine-congress","tag-canberra","tag-chief-of-navy","tag-defence","tag-environment","tag-hyatt","tag-incident","tag-mark-hammond","tag-rocks","tag-science","tag-shooter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}