Anti-offshore wind farm protesters have heckled Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a visit to the NSW south coast.

“Go home” and “another lie” were among the loud jibes aimed at Albanese when he appeared in in Wollongong on Friday morning, to pay tribute to outgoing local member Stephen Jones and introduce Labor’s new candidate for the safe seat of Whitlam, Carol Berry.

“No offshore wind turbines, Albo. We don’t even care about it. We don’t want you here,” one man shouted.

The small but rowdy group of protestors included members of the Responsible Future group.

“Put the offshore turbines in front of your mansion on the water,” one yelled.

Albanese engaged with the group while answering a question about the effect of looming US steel tariffs on the nearby Port Kembla steelworks.

“Turbines are made of steel by the way, and we want them to built using Illawarra steel,” Albanese said.

To which the protestors responded: “Not Illawarra steel.”

The Illawarra is one of six areas across Australia prioritised for offshore wind farm development.

The local proposal is particularly contentious. In 2024, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that 14,000 people had made submissions to the federal government’s public consultation.

A Senate inquiry into the offshore wind industry was due to hand down its report on Thursday. Earlier this week it was granted an extension until March 13.

Later, one of the group, Alex O’Brien told Sky News the protesters had come to to Lake Illawarra to confront Albanese because Labor had declined to speak with them about offshore wind farms.

“We’ve got grave concerns from an economic and environmental aspect. We’re concerned about local jobs in fishing and tourism, and that’s why we’re here,” he said.

“We’ve also got an inquiry into offshore wind, which is continuing to be held up by a Labor-Greens controlled Senate. They’ve met five times and the committee can’t even lock in a date. We want accountability, we want transparency and that is our message.”

Labor has 25 seats in the 76-member Senate. The Coalition has 30 and the Greens 11, while crossbenchers make up the remainder.

“You do know, we (Labor) don’t control the Senate? … I don’t think people who are shouting are engaging in the discussion,” Albanese said.

After Albanese left, some of his supporters confronted the protesters, suggesting they should “get their pay checks from Gina Rhinehart”.

The protesters responded with: “What has Albo done for the Illawarra?” and “Vote for Clive Palmer”.

Also on Friday, Albanese was quizzed on a possible federal election date, refusing to give away any details.

“Keep your eye on the white car [heading for Government House] … [the election] has to be before May 17,” was all he would say.

Albanese is widely expected to wait at least until after next week’s Reserve Bank meeting – with markets predicting a long-awaited official interest rate cut – to choose his election date.