Protesters stormed his office in Marrickville in July armed with balloons filled with fish sauce and before splattering them across the interior of the building.
The Prime Minister announced on Sunday that he was closing the Grayndler Electorate Office as the lease had been discontinued by St Clement’s Anglican Church, who own the building.
The church terminated the lease due to the impact of the protest activities on church services.
Staff will be forced to work remotely until a new location can be found.
Speaking on Sunrise, Mr Albanese was asked by host Matt Shirvington whether or not by “abandoning your office, is it setting a dangerous precedent?”.
“What absolute nonsense, seriously,’’ Mr Albanese snapped back.
“This is an office that is actually shared with St Clement’s Church. The car park is a shared car park.
There were tense scenes on Sunrise this morning.
“The people attending, trying to attend church services have been disrupted as well as people haven’t been able to get the services that they need. And people being denied access to assistance on the NDIS or Centrelink or Medicare, that doesn’t advance any cause in the Middle East.
Anthony Albanese has hit back at claims he’s taken the “cowards” approach by shutting down his electorate office to protect staff after bags filled with putrid fish sauce were thrown at the building by pro-Palestinian protesters.
Protesters stormed his office in Marrickville in July armed with balloons filled with fish sauce and before splattering them across the interior of the building.
The Prime Minister announced on Sunday that he was closing the Grayndler Electorate Office as the lease had been discontinued by St Clement’s Anglican Church, who own the building.
The church terminated the lease due to the impact of the protest activities on church services.
Staff will be forced to work remotely until a new location can be found.
Speaking on Sunrise, Mr Albanese was asked by host Matt Shirvington whether or not by “abandoning your office, is it setting a dangerous precedent?”.
“What absolute nonsense, seriously,’’ Mr Albanese snapped back.
“This is an office that is actually shared with St Clement’s Church. The car park is a shared car park.
There were tense scenes on Sunrise this morning.
“The people attending, trying to attend church services have been disrupted as well as people haven’t been able to get the services that they need. And people being denied access to assistance on the NDIS or Centrelink or Medicare, that doesn’t advance any cause in the Middle East.
“All it does is disrupt people and alienate people from the cause that the protesters are purporting to support.”
The electoral office on Marrickville Road was first opened by former prime minister Gough Whitlam in 1993, as the office of Jeannette McHugh, who was the MP for Grayndler at the time.
Mr Albanese has been the local member since 1996.
The government has suggested that the shutdown occurred at the request of the Anglican Church, which owns the office building, insisting members of the public had been harassed while attending funerals.
Mr Albanese said the disruption to other tenants in the building was unacceptable.
“All there is is a disruption to them. And in addition to that, of course, the car park is a shared car park,’’ he said.
“It literally is a part of the church structure, which is why, not surprisingly – the Anglican Church have been very good landlords, if you like – have of course said, really, enough is enough. And the disruption that’s caused has, I think, given no credit to the people who’ve engaged in it.”
Mr Albanese’s Marrickville electoral office has closed down due to ongoing protests. Picture: Thomas Lisson
Mr Albanese said he had to protect his staff in the workplace after having bags of fish sauce thrown around their workplace.
“And my staff and their safety is also a real issue. When people have gone into the office, disrupted by – the latest trick, so called, is to put balloons full of materials that make it uninhabitable,’’ he said.
“Now, my staff, I have a duty of care. And the Anglican Church also has concern for the disruption that’s occurred to church services.
“So, we’ll continue to provide support for constituents, of course, whether by phone or by meetings in various council offices. We’ll have a new office established. And certainly, I think the people have voted very consistently by electing a majority, an absolute majority on the council when they had the opportunity to have their say and by also re-electing me as the local member with an absolute majority as well of primary votes.”
On Monday, Mr Albanese said the situation “basically became untenable for people.”
“There were people 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,’’ he said.
The office has been spray-painted with the words “Free Gaza” and “Free Palestine” in what NSW Police said at the time was an “act of malicious damage”.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the office closure was “very sad”.
“I think the kind of protests that we’ve seen outside of the prime minister’s electoral office over the last couple of years have been a complete disgrace,” he said.
“It does nothing to advance the arguments associated with any of these issues. It really, I think, ends up being much more about the protesters than the cause that they pretend to espouse.”
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