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

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

Victorian Labor Party members and union delegates are gathering at the Moonee Valley Racecourse on Saturday for the two-day event.

A group of pro-Palestine protesters breached security, entered the course and could be heard chanting outside the main room where speeches were being given.

A party official told the conference the protesters had been moved on and the area was ‘safe and secure’.

Outside the event, a crowd of more than 100 pro-Palestine activists rallied.

A man trying to walk into the conference was swarmed by activists, before police intervened and walked him out of the area.

Senator Lidia Thorpe was among those to give speeches as the group chanted ‘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 Israel’s invasion and bombing of Gaza following the October 7 terror attack by Hamas.

Several motions related to the conflict are scheduled for debate on Saturday afternoon, including one calling for an ‘end to military co-operation with Israel’.

At last year’s meeting, Victorian Labor members passed a motion for the Albanese government to recognise Palestinian statehood within this term of parliament.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Premier Jacinta Allan are scheduled to address the conference later on Saturday.

Days after the federal budget was handed down, the prime minister is expected to tout his government’s $32 billion housing investment.

‘We are doing all this in spite of the opposition we’ve faced from the Liberals and the Greens,’ Mr Albanese will tell the party faithful.

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

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

The prime minister will accuse Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of failing to present a positive vision for the nation in his budget reply speech.

‘The Liberal Party are scared of the present but terrified of the future,’ he will say.

‘They are stuck in the past and set on dragging the rest of Australia back there to keep them company.’

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

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

In September, senior right faction MP Ben Carroll threatened to challenge Ms Allan for the leadership after Mr Andrews’ resignation.

It would have forced a vote among party members, who currently get an equal say in deciding the leader when more than one MP nominates, but the situation was avoided when a deal was struck for Mr Carroll to become deputy premier.

Another motion, titled ‘keeping public land in public hands’, could focus on the government’s plan to knock down and rebuild Melbourne’s 44 towers by 2051 in what has been billed as Australia’s biggest urban renewal project.

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