The Muslim community's strained relationship with the federal government reached a boiling point today as protesters heckled Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Lakemba Mosque in south-west Sydney.

Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, whose electorate covers Lakemba, attended ahead of Eid al-Fitr celebrations tonight, which mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

They were sitting during a speech to the congregation when protesters came forward and booed the pair, yelling "shame", "disgrace", "genocide supporters" and "get them out of here".

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The speaker and other members of the community tried to calm the protesters, but they continued to shout.

Albanese and Burke remained seated as the speech continued.

But after about 15 minutes, their security detail appeared to signal that they should leave.

NSW Police were called to the mosque over a disturbance about 8am and ordered a 33-year-old man to move on. He was escorted out without any further incident.

The man, Sheikh Mukhlis, said he was thrown off the stairs barefoot after heckling Albanese and Burke.

"The question we need to ask ourselves is why are they there in our sacred places, in our sacred times, put up in front, smiling for photos," he said in a social media video.

"The irony is, if you listen to what the sheikh was actually saying in his khutbah, about our happiness being incomplete because there isn't peace in Gaza and there's a war in Lebanon."

The Muslim community has been divided on whether the federal government should be invited to events due to their ongoing strained relationship.

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There have been increased tensions due to criticisms of the government's response to the Israeli war in Gaza, the increase in Islamophobic attacks in Australia and the NSW Police's response to Muslim men who were praying during a protest in Sydney.

Lakemba Mosque itself has received several hateful and threatening letters this year, which it said have left the community fearful.

Today was the first time the Lebanese Muslim Association invited Albanese to the Lakemba Mosque since October 7, 2023.

Lebanese Muslim Association secretary and spokesman Hajj Gamel Kheir said choosing to re-engage with the government is a way to give their concerns a voice.

"Walking away from engagement has not advanced our community, nor has it changed outcomes overseas," he said in a statement after the incident this morning.

"We do not open our doors for appearances.

"We do so because real conversations require access, and because our community deserves to be heard directly, not spoken about from a distance."

In a social media post after the commotion, Albanese said it was an honour to attend the Lakemba Mosque.

"Eid Mubarak. An honour to join thousands for Eid al-Fitr at Lakemba Mosque this morning," he said.

Albanese also visited the Lakemba Ramadan Night Markets with his wife Jodie and Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Bilal El-Hayek earlier this month.

9news.com.au has contacted Albanese and Burke for comment. 

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A man is on the run after another man in his 70s was randomly stabbed in a Melbourne park this morning.

The 71-year-old man was walking near Crighton Reserve in Port Melbourne about 5.20am when he approached by an unknown man and stabbed three times.

The Port Melbourne man fled to a nearby cafe on Bay Street where he raised the alarm.

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"He wasn't too bad, you know, he could still talk…I was pleased about that. But he was bleeding, he lost a lot of blood," witness Mohammad Hassoun said.

"They done it for nothing, they didn't even try to take nothing from him, just stab and go."

He was rushed to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Despite a thorough search of the area, police have been unable to locate the offender.

He is described as Caucasian, aged between 30 and 40 years old, around 182cm tall, possibly with brown hair, wearing all black clothing.

"It is shocking to us and it's concerning considering the age of the victim and the location it's happened," Detective Senior Constable Georgia Herbert said.

"It was early in the morning, a lot of people are out walking their dogs at that time."

Anyone with information is urged to contact police.

It is the second random stabbing in just over 24 hours in Melbourne, after a teenager was charged over an alleged stabbing in Clayton yesterday.

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Firefighters were left waiting as a large Ponsonby fire burned after equipment failure.

It comes with an old style lodge, three chalets and two safari tents.

“This is costing me my family, not just my baby.”

She wants party members to consider a special general meeting on the High Court findings.

It follows price rises at the bowser, as well as for flying international, as the Middle East crisis intensifies.

The number of Perth drivers hit by seatbelt fines from artificial intelligence-based cameras has soared, with tens of millions of dollars in penalties handed out for 40,000 fines in the past five months.

Hundreds of motorists who argue their fines are unfair are preparing to take their cases to court but there are no apologies from the state's top cop.

When Olivia Wood's eight-year-old daughter's seatbelt shuffle was snapped on the Kwinana Highway in Salter Point it almost cost the Perth nurse her licence.

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"I always make sure my kids have their seat belts in at the beginning of the trip and throughout the whole trip," she told 9News.

But Wood was hit with eight demerits and a $550 fine.

"You can actually see from the image that her seat belt is plugged in, she may have momentarily adjusted her knee," Wood said.

She's one of a growing many who plan to fight the infringement in court. 

"I think what would be much better … would be that if she was taken into the police station, given some education," Wood said.

Police Commissioner Col Blanch maintained a hard-line stance on road safety. 

"We also want people to make sure at the start of a trip that adults in the car are wearing their seat belts, kids are wearing their seat belts, and they continue to do so," he said.

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"But that doesn't neglect your duties from looking at the windscreen being safe as well. 

"People can do both things at the same time. "

Transport expert Ross Taylor is preparing to face court after his granddaughter shifted her sash, landing his daughter in hot water.

"As a single mum with three neurodivergent children, to have her car is really fundamental to getting the children to medical appointments, to school," he told 9News.

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An email account he created to help others in the same situation has received about 200 responses.

"Absolutely 100 per cent of the people that have made contact with me, in every occasion they acted honestly and reasonably at the beginning of the journey to make sure their passengers were correctly buckled in," he said,

In one instance, a front-seat passenger with a shoulder injury snapped wearing the sash off to the side, leaving the driver with eight demerit points and a $550 fine.

A new mother with mastitis who moved the strap off her sore chest was caught twice by AI cameras and slapped with $1100 in fines.

The Road Safety Commission review into WA AI camera legislation and penalties is expected to report next year. 

In the meantime, lawyers are preparing to challenge a spate of seatbelt fines in court.

"We've been approached by a group currently containing in excess of some 80 potential clients who are aggrieved by their infringements and are wanting to explore their legal options," Parella legal barrister and solicitor Tom Dellar told 9News.

Some drivers have already been successful in having fines overturned but others have been forced to pay after their penalties were upheld. 

"The cameras only capture a single moment in time, and if the driver honestly believed that their passenger was properly belted up, and it was reasonable for the driver to believe that, then they may have a defence," Dellar said.

But the commissioner remained firm. 

"One in five deaths on WA roads is seatbelt related; 2026 started with our highest number of road deaths in years," Blanch said.

"Wear it properly. It's designed a certain way by very smart people, much smarter than me."

The fine saga is growing by the day as more drivers find they're copping penalties for how their passengers wear seat belts.

The Road Safety Commission is looking at what can be changed, but ultimately it is a decision for the government, and that could be cold comfort for drivers. 

"These safety cameras are about changing behaviour," a government spokesperson said in a statement. 

"Drivers were issued an eight-month warning period. 

"The law is clear and responsibility remains with the driver to ensure passengers wear their seatbelt correctly."

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‘Your behaviour was cowardly … it was utter gratuitous violence.’

Footage of the chilling moment a woman was stabbed at random inside a Melbourne shopping centre, allegedly by a teenager on bail, has emerged.

Police allege a childcare worker was on her way to work when she was stabbed by a 16-year-old boy at the M-City Shopping Centre in Clayton just before 8am yesterday.

CCTV footage shows the 25-year-old Mount Waverley woman walking through the centre, when a male appears from behind a wall and follows her onto an escalator.

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Standing behind her, the male allegedly pulls a knife from his pocket and stabs the woman in the back.

He then ran down the escalator and allegedly fled the scene.

The woman turned around, appearing to look confused, before running up the escalator.

She remains in a serious but stable condition at The Alfred hospital.

The 16-year-old boy was arrested a short time later at a medical centre in Clayton.

He has been charged with intentionally causing injury, recklessly causing injury, assault with a weapon, possessing a controlled weapon, theft and committing an indictable offence whilst on bail.

He has been remanded to appear at a children's court at a later date.

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