Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his team were confronted by two men associated with the rightwing “Freedom” movement at their Melbourne hotel overnight, with one of the men claiming responsibility for walking straight through the lobby door. Albanese stated that he will not be deterred from interacting with the public despite a growing number of protesters managing to discover the locations of political leaders and evade security at election events.

In a video shared on social media, the two men intercepted Albanese as he was walking through the hotel in Melbourne’s CBD on Tuesday afternoon. Both men were stopped by security and Albanese’s staff before they could reach the prime minister, but managed to get relatively close.

The videos were attributed on Telegram to “Melbourne Freedom Rally”, a large right-wing group that led protests against Covid restrictions during the pandemic. Daniel Jones of self-defence company Tactical Force Combatives claimed on Facebook to have taken part in the stunt. Jones has a history of associations with the far right, including acting as a bodyguard to activist and content creator Avi Yemini.

One of the men asked the prime minister about Australians who were “unable to afford housing”, and the other man asked Albanese about “the rise in immigration”. In both instances, security quickly shut down the men before they could further engage with the prime minister. Neither man involved in the incident was carrying weapons and there was no suggestion Albanese was at risk of physical harm.

The incident is the latest in a long line of protests and confrontations in the election campaign. Albanese and Coalition leader Peter Dutton have been continually interrupted by pro-environment protesters at press conferences and public events.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/16/albanese-says-nothing-will-stop-public-appearances-after-being-confronted-by-members-of-right-wing-movement-ntwnfb