Who are the far-right agitators who confronted the PM in a hotel lobby?

While Jones’ most high-profile work has been for Yemini, accompanying him to numerous protests and video stunts, he also worked for far-right Freedom Party candidate Aidan McLindon, who has been suspended as the mayor of Whittlesea.

In a video posted last October by his self-defence outfit, Jones said he didn’t support Nazism, but argued against the outlawing of the Nazi salute in Victoria, warning of Australia turning into a nanny state.

In December, he posted a photo of himself having “a bit of fun with a rocket launcher”.

“Victoria Police are useless, in fact, one could argue we will need to learn to defend ourselves against their thuggery,” his self-defence outfit posted last month, flagging it would be training “a small trusted group” in defence in the coming days.

Far-right group Melbourne Freedom Rally – which has also claimed responsibility for the video of the confrontation with Albanese – led massive protests against COVID lockdowns, including erecting a wooden gallows outside Victoria’s parliament, which drew known conspiracy theorists.

Neither of the men threatened anyone directly in the video.

Both the government and opposition had previously indicated safety measures would be increased following embarrassing security breaches for both parties on the first day of the election campaign.

Jones and the Melbourne Freedom Rally have been contacted for comment.