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Anti-wind farm campaigners have heckled Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as he held a media conference on the NSW South Coast.
Demonstrators accused Albanese of lying while they protested their opposition to planned offshore wind farms as he spoke in Lake Illawarra.
Their interruption started when the prime minister was asked about the impact of US tariffs on Australian exports.
“My message is clear, which is we have got your back. We support blue-collar jobs,” Albanese said.
A heckler called out “another lie” as others booed him when the prime minister continued speaking.
Albanese, whose visit to the region included a visit to the BlueScope Steelworks plant in nearby Port Kembla, gave a comeback to the hecklers.
“There will always be people who think that politics is yelling and shouting, rather than reasoned argument,” Albanese said.
“[Wind] turbines are made of steel, by the way.”
After three months of community consultation in 2023, the federal government declared the Illawarra an offshore wind zone last June.
But some residents remain unhappy about potential environmental impacts of offshore wind farms.
Just minutes earlier, the prime minister introduced the Labor candidate for the federal seat of Whitlam in the Illawarra, Carol Berry.
She is contesting the seat after Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones announced he would retire from politics.
“We have brought in someone who has worked for decades and is embedded in this local community,” Albanese said.