Albo has not had a good year and it can now be revealed that he has not even been able to visit his own electoral office, even if he had wanted to.
Not only has the Prime Minister had to deal with the loss of the Voice referendum and the economic impacts of rising interest rates and high inflation, he has also handed over his office in Sydney’s inner west to a pro-Palestinian protest camp.
Mr Albanese has been locked out of his Marrickville home for years by a handful of peaceful protesters. This has left the office serving his constituents virtually inoperative.
Posters condemning the Labour government’s actions adorn the walls and protesters are sitting on folding chairs, making it impossible for anyone to visit their local MP’s office.
How can this happen? Especially when it concerns the country’s own leader.
There are broad laws designed and frequently used to disperse protesters who disturb the peace and invade property.
For some reason, however, the prime minister does not want to cause trouble and forcibly evict the pro-Palestinian camp. Perhaps he is worried that the scenes will provoke a negative reaction from the left wing of the Labour Party.
Since January, the country’s leader has been unable to visit the country. Fences have even been erected to protect parts of the office space.
Staff have been told the office cannot operate as it should due to security reasons.
Bewildered constituents, accustomed to being able to access the resources of their local MP, arrive only to discover they need to call a number to obtain any type of service they could previously receive at the office.
The occupation of the Prime Minister’s office
Premier Anthony Albanese’s constituency office in Marrickville, in Sydney’s inner west, has been handed over to a camp of pro-Palestinian activists.
Protesters from Palestine Lives Matter have prevented Albanese from using his own office and his constituents from visiting and accessing his services.
However, when Daily Mail Australia contacted the Prime Minister to try to understand how he could have allowed this to happen, the violation of Australia’s democratic processes was justified with the phrase: “Citizens in a democracy have the right to peacefully protest.”
While that may be true, what happens when those protests shut down a taxpayer-funded office that has the sole purpose of serving the community the representative represents?
In this regard, the government spokesman had words but no examples or evidence of actions.
“The Prime Minister has been clear that activity at electoral offices involving damage to property and abuse of voters, MPs and staff is completely unacceptable,” they said.
The Daily Mail Australia visited the electoral office, which is now on the verge of being rendered unusable. Protesters have set up shop there to stay, putting up signs at the site describing Albo as a “criminal hypocrite” and accusing the Prime Minister of using taxpayers’ money “to fund a genocide” by arming Israel.
One voter says Albo talks too much and doesn’t act: “He may say that abusing voters is unacceptable, but he accepts that protesters deny access to a deputy’s office. How is that not abusing the right to protest about an issue?”
The Prime Minister’s spokeswoman even admitted in her statement that the protests blocking the entrance to Albo’s office “have caused disruption to vulnerable Australians seeking help.”
However, he tried to justify it by pointing out that “election officials are still helping the people of Grayndler,” even if that assistance must be remote.
Mr Albanese’s office has been decorated with several posters calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East.
Some of the signs found on the front of the property.
Local residents are excluded
Albo is “choosing weakness” in the hope that traditional voters won’t notice or care that the government is allowing this to happen, writes political editor Peter Van Onselen.
The opposition suspects the prime minister does not want to provoke a backlash among his pro-Palestine supporters, which could send Labour votes to the Greens.
So Albo is “choosing weakness” in the hope that traditional voters will not notice or care that the government is allowing this to happen.
One Labor MP, who did not want to be named, told the Daily Mail Australia: “It’s madness that we’re allowing this anarchy to happen.”
“This has nothing to do with the indigenous tent camp (in front of the old Parliament). They are not blocking access to the building and they are not on the property.”
When asked directly whether the Prime Minister was also defending his right to decorate his office with posters and banners while defending the protesters and their democratic right, we received no answer.
The prime minister’s spokeswoman also ignored a question about why laws were not being used to disperse protesters after so many months of unrest.
