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The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has closed his inner-Sydney electorate office after almost 30 years, saying his hand had been forced by repeated protests outside the office.
Albanese’s office in Marrickville, in his electorate of Grayndler, has long been a target of demonstrations, particularly over the war in Gaza, including a months-long sit-in outside the office in 2024.
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“Sadly, over the past two years, aggressive protesters have repeatedly blocked access to the electorate office for people seeking assistance,” Albanese said in a statement announcing the decision on Sunday.
“This has also significantly affected churchgoers attending the neighbouring St Clements Church, including disruption to funerals and other church services.”
The site, which closed on Friday, was owned by a neighbouring Anglican church, which Albanese claimed ended the lease because of the ongoing protests.
“There were people being abused going to funerals,” he told ABC Radio on Monday.
“It basically became untenable for people … it just does my head in that people think that a cause is advanced by that sort of behaviour,” he said.
Ross Ciano, the senior minister at the neighbouring church, told the ABC the decision to discontinue the 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.”
Ciano said of Albanese’s comment about protesters abusing churchgoers that “the majority [of protests] has been fine but there’s been 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.”
Ciano also 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.
“We are a multicultural congregation who have different views and that’s what we think is a healthy congregation.”
‘Where he goes, we follow’
Families for Palestine, a New South Wales advocacy group, denied protesters had blocked locals from accessing the office and said in a statement it was aware of only one funeral during its months-long picket of the office.
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“On that day, only a small handful of people remained at the picket [and] out of respect for the grieving family and community we sat in silence,” the group wrote on Instagram.
“We were a group of mothers, many with newborns and young children. Our actions were always safe, yet our demands were clear: that ‘Australia’ end its complicity in genocide.”
The group added: “Just so Albo is clear, where he goes, we follow!”
A new site will be chosen for the office, which allows constituents to seek help from his staff on a range of matters.
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, described the protests as “political intimidation”, issuing a statement accusing demonstrators of stopping the public from accessing their elected representative.
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said the closure was “very sad”.
“I think the kind of protests we’ve seen outside the prime minister’s electoral office over the last couple of years have been a complete disgrace,” he told ABC Radio.
Marles accused the Greens of stoking the pro-Palestinian protests, saying the minor party “has a lot to answer for”.
But the Greens leader, Larissa Waters, defended her party’s actions.
She said she was proud that Australians had taken to the streets, including those outside the prime minister’s office, to protest against the war in Gaza.
“It’s a bit rich of the prime minister to reduce that chorus of sentiment down to what it means for him in his own electorate office,” she told reporters in Canberra.
