Taxpayers on the hook as pro-Palestine vandals run up $200,000 damages bill

Official figures from the Department of Finance show the highest cost of damage to an MP’s office was $89,309.55 to Labor Jewish MP, Josh Burns, in the seat of Macnamara in Melbourne.

People pass the electoral office of federal Labor Party MP Josh Burns in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda after, police said, at least five people smashed windows and painted slogans on the walls last June. Picture: AFP

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Taxpayers have had to pay at least $120,000 to clean up and repair damage to 10 federal Labor MPs’ offices after pro-Palestinian protests and vandalism between the Hamas terror attacks on October 7 last year and June this year.

Estimates of the overall costs, including lost rent and service charges for MPs’ electorate offices that were blockaded by pro-Palestinian protesters, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s electorate office in Sydney, go well beyond $200,000 for the nine months.

Official figures from the Department of Finance, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, show the highest cost of damage to any of the offices was $89,309.55 to Labor Jewish MP, Josh Burns, in the Melbourne seat of Macnamara.

The Finance Department figures for 10 MPs include six ministers: the Prime Minister; NDIS Minister Bill Shorten; Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus; Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen; then immigration minister Andrew Giles, and Assistant Health Minister Ged Kearney.

But the estimates do not include Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, whose electorate office was attacked three times and smeared with red paint.

Nor does the estimate of costs include the lost rent and service charges to MPs who were forced to vacate their office while repairs were made or because of fears for the safety of MPs’ staff.

The Australian revealed earlier this year that Mr Albanese had been forced to vacate his electorate office in Marrickville, in Sydney’s inner west, for six months as pro-Palestinian protesters blockaded his office.

The average rent and utilities for an MP’s electorate office add up to about $27,000 a quarter, with a six-monthly bill of at least $54,000 plus about another $5000 to $6000 in maintenance and cleaning.

James Stevens, the Coalition spokesman on waste, told Weekend The Australian: “It is appalling that Australian taxpayers are forking out hundreds of thousands of dollars to clean up the damage caused by these vile and bigoted stunts.

“We value freedom of speech and the right to peacefully protest in our democracy. The destruction of property with abhorrent slogans and symbols of hate are the antithesis of that,” he said.

“The actions of these extremist criminals should be categorically condemned by all political leaders.”

Labor is facing a challenge from the Greens in Macnamara and from the new Muslim party in Mr Bowen’s western Sydney seat of McMahon.

Last week, special envoy for social cohesion Peter Khalil had his electorate office in Melbourne vandalised by protesters who poured an “unknown” liquid through a hole they drilled into a door.

Mr Khalil, who was born to Egyptian parents and represents the seat of Wills, said after the incident that people were “manipulating” the Middle East war for a domestic audience.

“Does anyone really think that pouring noxious substances through a door that threatens staff and makes them unsafe is going to stop the bloodshed in the Middle East?” he asked on ABC radio.

Mr Khalil slammed the vandals, saying it’s “just unacceptable, it’s unacceptable legally, but I think it’s morally repugnant as well to put people in harm’s way”.

He said: “They drilled a hole into the back door and poured a noxious substance using propellant and extinguishers into the office. So when my staff arrived on Monday morning to open it, they couldn’t breathe, it was really unbreathable, it was quite a horrific smell.

“They had to evacuate immediately and call the police, and the fireys arrived, the hazmat teams arrived to try and contain whatever that biohazard was.”