NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard interrupted by heckler

The NSW Health Minister was due to announce a major project — then the whole speech went off the rails.

The NSW Health Minister was shouted down by a heckler while trying to promote a new project in Newcastle on Friday.

Brad Hazzard was speaking about a new $780 million hospital fund when a man interrupted him with a tirade and shouts of “shame!”

“I think I had only been a minister for a short period of time, when …”, Mr Hazzard began, before the heckler threw him off. Trying to speak over the shouting, Mr Hazzard had to restart his sentence several times and eventually paused and chuckled.

“Alright, back to work”, the Health Minister said after the shouting stopped.

A vocal local heckled Health Minister Brad Hazzard during his press conference on Friday, yelling “shame” from his car. Picture NCA Newswire / Peter Lorimer.

The Premier's security guard was seen speaking with the man, before he drove away. Picture NCA Newswire / Peter Lorimer.

The event was live streamed on Premier Gladys Berejiklian Facebook page, but the video was later made unavailable — a decision that had nothing to do with the heckler, the Premier’s media team said.

The heckling came after the Berejiklian government won a battle to freeze wages for public servants. A Thursday decision by the Industrial Relations Commission decided to award public sector workers a 0.3 per cent pay rise, far below the regular annual rise of 2.5 per cent.

The ruling came after the Government’s June attempt to get the pay increase freeze through parliament was blocked by the opposition, forcing the IRC to step in.