Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pleaded with activists to stop targeting the offices of members of parliament, after an overnight attack in Melbourne.
Police are investigating after the office of Labor MP Josh Burns in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda was targeted.
Police said at least five people smashed windows and painted slogans on the walls of the MP’s office just before 3:30am.
The phrase “Zionism is Fascism” was painted.
Three fire crews attended the scene after fires were lit in telecommunication pits at the front of the building.
In a press conference on Wednesday morning, Mr Burns said the “reckless and dangerous vandalism” was clearly politically motivated.
“This was really ugly behaviour and it was dangerous,” he said.
“It’s been a pretty distressing morning — this sort of vandalism, this sort of political aggression has no place in Australia.”
It is the latest in a string of acts of vandalism targeting the offices of state and federal MPs in the wake of the conflict in Gaza.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said those responsible for the attack should be held accountable.
“This is an escalation of the attacks that we’ve seen. We’ve been talking about this. We’ve got to dial this down,” he said.
“The people who were responsible for this attack should face the full force of the law.
“For some people, they feel very strongly about issues in the Middle East. But it’s no reason to target MPs half a world away in Australia, and in particular the targeting of a Jewish MP is very distressing.”
Mr Burns said the attack by “really dangerous idiots” was the culmination of eight months of his hardworking staff being abused and screamed at over a conflict they had no involvement in.
“It’s a reflection of the sort of conduct of political debate right now,” he said.
“This isn’t respectful … this is a dangerous escalation of people trying to bring a conflict on the other side of the world to our streets, and it needs to end.”
Mr Burns said the attack on his office had only caused distress to his staff, team and community.
“It didn’t bring about peace in the Middle East — if it did, I would have vandalised my own office,” he said.
Federal Labor MP Katy Gallagher said the attacks on the offices of MPs must stop.
“I think the temperature needs to come down a bit or someone will get hurt,” she said.
“These kind of attacks on politicians’ offices that we’re seeing across the country is not the way we do politics in Australia.”
The attack was also condemned by Melbourne-based MPs from the Coalition and the Greens.
Warning sounded on ‘increasingly violent’ strand of activism in Australia
Josh Roose, a political sociologist at Deakin University, said it was unclear who the vandals were, but the attacks constituted political violence and extremism.
“What we’re seeing is a new form of extremism emerge that we’re not familiar with in this country,” Dr Roose said.
“An attack on an electorate office is an attack on a democratic structure.
“The moment it crosses that line … it shows a significant shift in our politics.”
Chair of the Anti Defamation Commission, Dvir Abramovich, said the attack was concerning.
“Another day, another sickening and evil act of antisemitic vandalism, this time targeting a federal member of Parliament because he is Jewish and a supporter of Israel,” he said.
“This is an assault on our democracy and our sense of safety, and most Victorians would be rattled and shocked to the core by these tactics of intimidation.”
Close to 200 incidents linked to Gaza conflict
Victoria Police has been monitoring local incidents believed to have been incited by the conflict in Gaza.
Earlier this month, police said there had been 197 such incidents since October 2023.
Police have classified the incidents as being linked to religious affiliations or political beliefs.
Of the reported incidents linked to religious affiliation, 88 related to antisemitic attacks and 16 involved Islamophobia.
Of the politically motivated incidents, police said 87 were linked to opposition to “Israel’s Gaza policy” and six incidents were “against Pro-Palestine views”.
Police have arrested 60 people over the incidents, which involved criminal damage, bill posting and offensive behaviour.
There were 18 incidents that involved direct physical violence.
A spokesperson said Victoria Police took reports of racial or religiously motivated crimes “extremely seriously”.
“There is no place in our community for hate crimes of any kind,” they said.
“Victoria Police will never condone anyone who attacks another person with differing views to their own.”
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