Foreign Minister Penny Wong has been forced to leave the stage at a speech in Tasmania after being repeatedly disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters. Senator Wong was addressing an audience at the University of Tasmania about international relations and policy making, including the dangers in Gaza, when the moment unfolded – with dozens of protesters also gathered outside the venue.
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00:00Senator Wong was invited to the University of Tasmania to give something called the Plimsoll
00:06Address. It was a speech about international relations and policy and did touch on the
00:13dangers in the Middle East. Outside the venue, before she started speaking, there was a group
00:18of protesters that built up. It was organised by the Tasmanian Palestine Advocacy Network.
00:25They were carrying signs saying things like, we charge you with genocide. They were calling
00:31for a ceasefire. As Penny Wong started to speak, it was a 45-minute-long speech. She
00:38was repeatedly interrupted. The protesters were inside and calling out over her speech.
00:45Several times during the speech, she did sort of stop to acknowledge and say that she hears
00:50them, but she doesn't think that shouting is a particularly good idea. But eventually,
00:56the senator did bite back and leave the stage. Have a listen.
01:00This is very distressing. I don't actually believe, and I've never believed, that we
01:07gain anything by shouting each other down.
01:11What we need right now is leaders that have backbone, that are willing to do something that isn't just talk.
01:202024 is on track to be even worse.
01:25You've had chances, on a national and international level, to change what is happening in Lebanon, in Palestine.
01:35Thank you very much. I'm asking both of you, please, to leave the venue.
01:42That was the Pro-Vice-Chancellor there, helping Penny Wong off the stage. She did try to come
01:50back at the end and acknowledge the protesters again, but then her mic was cut off. This
01:55issue is obviously a particularly fraught one for the government. It faces pressure
02:00from the Coalition and pressure from the left on its stance on the war in Gaza. I'm
02:05sure it won't be the last protest that the government faces on these issues.