The Prime Minister was speaking at the Maitland Hospital in the marginal Labor-held seat of Paterson in NSW on Thursday afternoon when two women started yelling at him.
By MAX AITCHISON, POLITICAL REPORTER, AUSTRALIA
Published: 04:27 BST, 3 April 2025 | Updated: 06:14 BST, 3 April 2025
Two screaming women left Anthony Albanese momentarily speechless after gate-crashing his press conference.
The Prime Minister was speaking at the Maitland Hospital in the marginal Labor-held seat of Paterson in NSW on Thursday afternoon when two women started yelling at him.
Mr Albanese had just said 'we support the coal industry' when the voices of two women stunned him into silence.
One woman, out of shot, could be heard shouting: 'Mr Albanese, why has your government approved 33 new fossil fuel projects six times since you've come to power?'
The cameras then panned round and captured a woman being dragged away as she tearfully shouted at the PM and pointed her finger.
'Mr Albanese, why have you approved 33 new coal and gas companies,' she screamed.
'This is my future on the line! I want to stay close to raise my children.'
The cameras then panned round and captured a woman being dragged away as she tearfully shouted at the PM and pointed her finger (pictured)
Mr Albanese had just said 'we support the coal industry' when the voices of two women stunned him into silence
The ABC News feed cut away as the woman was dragged away.
It's understood the women, who were wearing press lanyards, had posed as journalists to get close to the Prime Minister.
Mr Albanese later said the woman's actions were 'entirely inappropriate'.
'I think that people screaming in a hospital ward says more about them than advancing their cause,' the PM told ABC radio in Newcastle.
It marks yet another instance where environmental protesters have sought to disrupt the election campaign.
In recent weeks, they have already targeted a speech by Treasurer Jim Chalmers, one by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and they forced Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor to abandon a press conference after peppering him with questions.
Many of the protesters have been affiliated with the environmentalist group, Rising Tide.