00:00Like many of his constituents here in the inner Western Sydney electorate of Graindler,
00:06the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, is now looking for a rental of his own.
00:11He's citing two years of what he's described as aggressive protesters, as the main reason
00:17himself and his office have decided to pick up stumps.
00:21He'll be now moving location for the first time since he entered the seat back in 1996.
00:28The building on Marrickville's main road has been Graindler's electorate office for more
00:31than 30 years.
00:32The Prime Minister himself has occupied the location since 1996, but Anthony Albanese says
00:39the lease has now been discontinued.
00:41In a statement Mr Albanese says aggressive protesters have repeatedly blocked the public from accessing
00:47the office along with the neighbouring church which owns the building.
00:52Protesters have staged several demonstrations outside the office in recent years, predominantly
00:57related to the situation in Gaza amid an increase in the number of acts of vandalism against
01:03the offices of high profile politicians both in state and federal politics.
01:08The Prime Minister has not been present at this office since January of this year citing those
01:14increased security concerns.
01:16But it's the people of Graindler, his electorate themselves, who the Prime Minister has said will
01:22suffer the most from this decision.
01:24But that has also been echoed by his Deputy Prime Minister Richard Miles.
01:28That electorate office is used every day by those who work in that electorate office and
01:34more importantly the electors of Graindler use it to get basic services.
01:39And I think what we've seen from those who have been protesting over the last couple of years
01:44is an absolute disgrace, I mean the sorts of protests that we've seen there have not changed
01:50the life of one person in Gaza, but what it has done is prevented a whole lot of people
01:56in Graindler being able to receive basic advice and basic services from the office of their
02:01local member.
02:02Federal opposition leader Susan Lee has also weighed in on the issue, she's described the
02:06decision by the Prime Minister to move his office as a triumph of political intimidation.
02:12Now the Prime Minister says his office are currently working remotely with a new location to be
02:18decided somewhere here in the electorate of Graindler.
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