Woman arrested, charged with trespass at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s electorate office

A woman has been arrested and charged with trespass after allegedly failing to leave Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s electorate office despite being asked by employees.

Police were called to his Marrickville office, which has been subjected to months-long pro-Palestine protests, to “disperse a crowd” around lunchtime on Thursday.

NSW Police have confirmed two people were issued with a move-on direction, and a 33-year-old woman was arrested.

It’s alleged the woman, who has previously shared her involvement in the protest at Mr Albanese’s office extensively on social media, “failed to leave the office after being asked by an employee within the building”.

She was charged with trespass on prohibited Commonwealth land, and granted conditional bail to appear before Newtown Court in September.

In a video shared to Instagram, the woman - who described herself as a local constituent - claimed she had been ejected from Mr Albanese’s office after attempting to ask about why her family in Gaza had their visa applications to come to Australia declined.

Filming her conversation with the police officer who arrested her, she asked him to explain how she could be trespassing when she was trying to exercise her right as a constituent to ask for government help.

“That’s a constituent’s office, and I should be able to go in there, and I have a legal right to be heard,” she told the officer.

“We’ve paid for a government service, which is the Department of Foreign Affairs, to apply for a visa which has been declined. You then go to your local member if it’s been declined so they can assist you.”

In the video, she is told by the officer that she was asked to leave the office by electorate staff, Australian Federal Police and NSW Police.

“But he doesn’t want to assist me for no reason,” she says in response before she is asked for her phone.

A government spokesperson said it would not comment on individual cases, but that “electorate offices are there to assist the community”.

“It’s vital they are open and safe for the community and staff,” they said.

The arrest came just days after Mr Albanese pleaded with Australians — including those protesting outside his and fellow Labor MP’s electorate offices — to “turn down” the temperature of political debate.

He warned it was only a matter of time before protests could escalate, saying some had already “crossed the line” and needed to be called out “unequivocally”.

There have been mounting concerns about MP’s safety in the wake of October 7, and the assassination attempt of Donald Trump in the United States on the weekend further heightened fears.

The Nightly revealed earlier this week the Australian Federal Police and the Home Affairs department were in the midst of a review into security protections for senior politicians.

Internal Home Affairs documents detailed the review was ordered amid MP safety concerns following the bitter Voice to Parliament referendum and Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and subsequent conflict on Gaza.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw told Senate estimates in May there had been a 160 per cent increase in the number of threats against MPs in the financial year to that point compared to four years prior.