Pro-Palestine protestors including Lidia Thorpe cause chaos at Labor conference ahead of PM’s arrival

Pro-Palestinian protesters have interrupted a Labor state conference in Melbourne amid heightened tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas.

Members of the Victorian Labor Party and union representatives will gather at Moonee Valley Racecourse on Saturday for the two-day event.

A group of pro-Palestinian protesters breached security, entered the course and could be heard chanting outside the main hall where speeches were held.

A party official told the conference that the protesters had been moved and that the area was “safe and secure.”

A group of pro-Palestinian protesters breached security, entered the course and could be heard chanting outside the main hall where speeches were held.

A crowd of more than a hundred pro-Palestinian activists gathered outside the event

A crowd of more than a hundred pro-Palestinian activists gathered outside the event.

A man who tried to walk into the conference was swarmed by activists before police intervened and led him out of the area.

Senator Lidia Thorpe was among those who gave speeches as the group sang ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ and suggested several Labor leaders had ‘blood on their hands’.

Domestic tensions remain high over the Israeli invasion and bombing of Gaza following the October 7 terror attack by Hamas.

Several motions related to the conflict will be discussed on Saturday afternoon, including a motion calling for an ‘end to military cooperation with Israel’.

At last year’s meeting, Victorian Labor members passed a motion calling on the Albanian government to recognize Palestinian statehood within this parliamentary term.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister Jacinta Allan will address the conference later on Saturday.

Days after the federal budget was approved, the Prime Minister is expected to praise his government’s $32 billion housing investment.

“We are doing all this despite the opposition we have faced from the Liberals and the Greens,” Mr Albanese will tell party stalwarts.

“The Liberals have a pathological problem with affordable housing, always have.

‘And although the Greens… talk a lot about housing, the only thing they want to build is their profile.’

A party official told the conference that the protesters had been moved and that the area was “safe and secure.”

People attending the ALP conference are pushed and shoved as they walk through a pro-Palestine rally outside the Mooney Valley Racecourse

The Prime Minister will accuse Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of failing to present a positive vision for the nation in his budget response.

“The Liberal Party is afraid of the present, but terrified of the future,” he will say.

“They’re stuck in the past and are determined to drag the rest of Australia there to keep them company.”

It is the first state party conference since Ms Allan succeeded Daniel Andrews as premier.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister Jacinta Allan will address the conference later on Saturday

Victorian Labor’s dominant socialist-left faction is expected to lead a controversial motion to strip rank-and-file members of the right to vote for a new state leader.

In September, Right-wing MP Ben Carroll threatened to challenge Ms Allan for the leadership following Mr Andrews’ resignation.

It would have forced a vote among party members, who currently get an equal vote in determining the leader when more than one MP stands, but the situation was avoided when a deal was struck to appoint Mr Carroll as Deputy Prime Minister.

Another motion, titled ‘Keeping public land in public hands’, could focus on the government’s plan to demolish and rebuild Melbourne’s 44 towers by 2051, in what is being billed as the country’s largest urban renewal project Australia.

While the redevelopment plan would increase the number of residents in the neighborhoods from 10,000 to 30,000, the places reserved for social housing will only increase to 11,000.