Albanese met by angry jeers from regional protesters at News Corp event

3 weeks ago 10

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has taken on hecklers over the merits of green energy at a fiery regional forum where Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan was also shouted down by farmers.

The pair spoke at the News Corp Bush Summit event in Ballarat, Victoria’s third-largest city, on Friday in front of a crowd of landowners, one of whom had a noose around her neck and others who wore hats displaying opposition to a contentious proposal for a transmission line through Victoria’s central highlands.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Herald Sun Bush summit.

As he prepares for a crunch decision on Labor’s 2035 emissions target, Albanese was booed as he argued for climate change mitigation, though he admitted politicians had not done enough to explain the need to build renewables in regional areas.

“I’ll continue to engage, but I won’t bullshit people,” Albanese said as angry audience members shouted abuse, pointing out that the net zero by 2050 climate target was first enacted by the Morrison government.

“The science was real and we’re seeing what the science told us would happen … I understand some people have a different view, but what I won’t ever do is, out of convenience, just say what’s convenient and what people want to hear.”

“The cheapest form of energy is renewables … At the moment, we have drought, we have flooding, we have impact in South Australia, we have impact in Western Australia.”

Earlier in his answer, Albanese conceded governments had “not done well enough” to articulate renewable energy plans to regional Australians.

At one point, Herald Sun editor Sam Weir stepped in to say: “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll have to stop if you keep interjecting”.

This is most hostile reception the prime minister has confronted since he was re-elected in May.

Albanese defended his government’s energy plan, but admitted that consultation on green projects was insufficient.

The shouting and heckling became more intense when Allan spoke after the prime minister at the event sponsored by Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting and hosted by Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. Albanese said in a cabinet meeting late last year that News Corp was openly working with the Coalition to defeat his government. Rinehart has been a major Coalition donor.

As Allan spoke, a woman in the crowd wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with “Vic Farmers” repeatedly stood up and pulled on a noose she had around her neck. In May, Allan announced a one-year pause on a tax hike for farmers following mass protests and lobbying.

A protester with a noose at the Bush Summit.

Allan was repeatedly forced to pause as her speech was drowned out by a yelling crowd. She also acknowledged room for improvement in consulting landowners on green energy, though she said “loud voices” dominated the debate.

Building renewables projects was the modern equivalent of building road and train lines, “securing the future of all our communities and towns”.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley spoke after the Labor politicians. In her speech, she quickly acknowledged the transmission line issue and was not heckled. Labor’s Infrastructure Minister Catherine King, who represents the seat of Ballarat, had a slight swing against her at the 2025 election but still holds the seat by an 11 per cent margin.

Albanese announced a $1 billion boost to a regional loan fund for climate resilience and agricultural productivity at the event.

Victorian Nationals senators Bridget McKenzie and Anne Webster arrived at the Bush Summit on tractors, demanding the government listen to regional anger.

“Victorians are seeing their private property rights trashed, their ability to produce food, property prices devalued in intergenerational farming enterprises, communities ripped apart, and environmental degradation,” Ms McKenzie said, according to The Weekly Times.

“That’s what we are talking about here, and [regional Victorians] will not be silenced.”

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