Two groups of protesters are staging action at Parliament House in Canberra, with one group currently sitting atop the building and another glued to pillars in the foyer.
At least four pro-Palestine activists from the group Renegade Activists have scaled the marble pillars out the front of the building, unfurling three banners over the side of it in front of the Australian coat of arms.
The banners accuse Australia of complicity in “war crimes” and “genocide”.
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A protester read out a statement, criticising the Labor government’s support for Israel.
“We declare to the Australian government, we will continue to unmask and resist the US imperial, hegemonic and capitalist interests you devote yourself to,” they said.
“Australia continues to enable and commit war crimes as lackeys to our powerful friends.”
Police are currently at the scene.
The protesters are also chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, which is written on one of the banners.
The phrase has been condemned by both Labor and the Coalition and many others, who ague the slogan is fundamentally anti-Semitic as it advocates a one-state solution in which Israel would not exist.
However, it has also been used by pro-Palestinian protesters and Labor senator Fatima Payman — who controversially used the phrase to defy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese — to call for justice and freedom in the occupied territories while still supporting a two-state solution.
The West Australian was suspended from the Labor caucus after she crossed the floor to support a Greens motion on Palestinian statehood and vowed to do so again in the same circumstances.
She has described feeling isolated from her fellow party members, raising questions over her future political career.
Jacob (surname withheld), a representative from the activist group, praised Payman.
“She’s doing what she has been employed to do and that is represent the best interests and the aspirations of her constituents,” he told AAP.
“What the Labor Party is actually telling us is that they would prefer people to bulls*** about how they feel, than to speak the truth.
“And I think that uncovers the Labor Party more than anything else.”
Opposition home affairs spokesperson James Paterson called for an investigation into how the protesters were able to defy security measures to climb onto the roof at parliament.
“This is serious breach of the parliament’s security, the building was modified at great expense to prevent incursions like this,” he wrote on social media site X.
Climate activists glued inside
Twelve activists from climate group Rising Tide also glued themselves to pillars inside the foyer of Parliament House on Thursday morning, holding a banner reading: “Albo: Stick with climate action, not new coal & gas”.
“Albo needs to adhere to his pre-election promise to take real climate action,” Rising Tide spokesperson Naomi Hodgson said.
“Labor needs to stop approving new coal and gas projects and start funding an urgent and just transition for fossil fuel workers and communities.”
The group’s action comes after more than 150 gas wells, part of a planned expansion of Senex Energy’s Atlas project, were approved last week.
The project’s third stage allows the development of up to 151 coal seam gas wells on the Western Downs, northwest of Brisbane.