Albanese, Allan greeted by angry protests at Ballarat Bush Summit

EMOTIONS ran high at this morning’s Herald Sun Bush Summit at the Ballarat Civic Hall, as state and federal leaders were greeted by protesters outside the venue and rowdy hecklers inside.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the summit’s keynote speaker, suffered regular interruptions during a conversation with Herald Sun editor Sam Weir after his speech, but the loudest and most vociferous interjections came during Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan’s post-speech chat with the paper’s chief of staff Tom Minear.

About a dozen people in the audience stood and turned their backs on Ms Allan as she took the stage, and one woman wearing a shirt with ‘Vic Farmers’ on it stood on her seat and held up a noose around her neck before being told to sit down by security staff.

Police, who maintained a heavy presence outside the venue, lined both sides of the hall for Ms Allan’s appearance.

And it was outside that the Premier met the strongest resistance as protesters blocked her vehicle from leaving the event, forcing Ms Allan to go back inside.

Outside, CFA volunteers protesting the new Emergency Services Volunteer Fund, farmers demonstrating against renewable energy transmission towers, climate activists and others crowded Mair and Doveton streets.

 

 

CFA trucks and tractors did repeated slow laps around the block to drive their point home; Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie actually arrived on a tractor and was seen holding a sign that said ‘Stop Labor’s Towers’.

The summit was the fifth of six events in this year’s National Bush Summit series. The national tour started in Broome, Western Australia, on 20 August and travelled to Mount Gambier (SA), Toowoomba (QLD) and Wagga Wagga (NSW) before landing here.

The final summit is scheduled for Darwin on Monday 1 September.

By the time it ends, the series will have travelled almost 11,900 kilometres across six states and territories, brought together more than 2000 regional people, and featured five state Premiers and five state Opposition leaders.

Senators and MPs and more than 20 CEOs of major companies also will have participated.

Mr Albanese used his speech to announce that an extra $1 billion in low-interest loans will be made available for farmers trying to cope with drought and floods through the Regional Investment Corporation loan scheme.

 

 

But he was drowned out by people in the audience when he said during his chat with Mr Weir: “We do need energy, and the cheapest form of new energy is renewables.

“Climate change, the science told us that climate change was real…and we are seeing what the science told us would happen.”

Other speakers at the summit included Opposition Leader Sussan Ley – who called for zero-interest loans for farmers – and panels featuring Nationals leader David Littleproud, Victorian Opposition Leader Brad Battin, Victorian Farmers’ Federation president Brett Hosking, and National Farmers’ Federation president David Jochinke.