Pro-Palestinian protests and vandalism promoted by Greens senator’s staffers

A group co-led by a Greens staffer promoted demonstrations outside the offices of Labor figures including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, while another party adviser justified the vandalism of Melbourne MP Josh Burns’ office, at which fires were lit, saying he is an ‘‘Israeli occupation-supporting MP’’.

The offices of a number of Labor MPs, including Albanese, have been disrupted and vandalised in recent months amid protests since Hamas’ October 7 attacks in Israel. Labor has accused demonstrators of blocking citizens from accessing services and thwarting the operation of representative democracy.

In January, NSW Greens senator David Shoebridge hired Amal Naser, an organiser and spokesperson for the Palestine Action Group. The protest group leads weekly pro-Palestine rallies that are not located at MPs’ offices.

But the group has also promoted on its social media pages a demonstration outside the prime minister’s office, organised a speaking event outside Education Minister Jason Clare’s office, and promoted protests outside the venue of an Albanese speech and a Labor conference.

Some of those events took place at the same time as leaked screenshots of parliament’s intranet showed Naser working for Shoebridge in a part-time community organising role, which ended in May. At the same time as her employment, she was being quoted in the media as a spokeswoman for the protest group.

A spokesman for Shoebridge said it was unsurprising ‘‘a Palestinian woman in her own time is pushing to prevent the genocide of her people’’.

However, ‘‘while employed and since her time at David Shoebridge’s office, this has not included any events at electorate offices’’. It is not suggested Naser performed work for the activist group during taxpayer-funded work hours in her Greens role.

At a rally last month, Naser advocated for ‘‘armed resistance’’ to win Palestinian liberation. She also said rebel senator Fatima Payman was misguided to support Palestinian statehood because that step was part of the ‘‘failed’’ two-state solution.

Naser told The Sunday Age that her call for armed resistance was consistent with the ‘‘International Court of Justice [finding that] Palestinians may legally use force to resist Israel’s illegal occupation’’. Asked on Channel Nine on October 20 if she supported Hamas, Naser said: ‘‘No’’.

Another Shoebridge staffer, Larissa Payne, posted on Instagram about her love for ‘‘precious comrades’’ who breached security to get onto the roof of Parliament House, from which they draped banners accusing Australia of war crimes. Payne, who has worked for Extinction Rebellion, was asked by a follower how the group had evaded security. She responded: ‘‘a convo for signalz heh, so very good.’’ This appeared to be a reference to the encrypted messaging app Signal on which people can communicate secretly.

A spokesman for Shoebridge said his office was ‘‘in no way involved in the protest’’.

‘‘That Greens staff have contacts with activists is hardly news. In this case, however, there was no such contact beyond a single public comment on an Instagram post,’’ the spokesman said.

The same staff member also claimed the widely condemned attack on Labor MP Burns’ office was not violent.

‘‘Paint across the building and smashed windows of an Israeli occupation-supporting MP isn’t violent,’’ she said.

Shoebridge’s spokesman said Payne ‘‘was not aware of the fire when the post was made’’, and was under the impression that the damage related to broken windows and paint.

Greens leader Adam Bandt criticised the incident at the time, saying ‘‘damage like this [is] completely unacceptable’’.

Victoria Police charged two people on Thursday in relation to two incidents involving vandalism of MPs’ offices – one on Barkly Street, St Kilda, on June 19, and the other on St Kilda Road in Melbourne, on July 17. An 18-year-old woman and a 17-year-old boy were charged with burglary and two counts of criminal damage.

The 18-year-old Melbourne woman was bailed to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on October 11. The 17-year-old boy will face a children’s court at a later date.