Albanese Slams Shooting of Australian Journalist at LA Protest

(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has strongly condemned the shooting of an Australian journalist with a rubber bullet during protests in Los Angeles, describing footage of the incident as “horrific.”

Albanese said his government had made representations to the Trump administration over the incident. A video released online showed Nine News reporter Lauren Tomasi being hit with a rubber bullet that appeared to be fired by a police officer while covering the Los Angeles protests on Sunday.

The prime minister said he had spoken to Tomasi, who he said was “going ok.” 

“That footage was horrific,” Albanese said after an address to the National Press Club in Canberra on Tuesday. “We have already raised these issues with the US administration. We don’t find it acceptable that it occurred and we think the role of the media is particularly important.”

When asked if he thought that Tomasi had been deliberately targeted for being a member of the media, Albanese said she was “clearly identified” as a journalist. “There’s no ambiguity,” he added. 

In a post on social media site X, Nine News said LA police were undertaking a “formal investigation” into the incident.

Albanese is due to travel to a Group of Seven meeting in Canada in a few days’ time, when he may hold his first face-to-face conversation with President Donald Trump. It comes amid ongoing demonstrations in Los Angeles, which began after raids in the city by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

While Trump and Albanese appear to have got relations off to a good start in their initial phone conversations, negotiations over tariff exemptions for Australian steel and aluminum are expected to test those personal ties.

The center-left prime minister has indicated that he is not intending to give much ground on issues which the Trump administration has specifically highlighted, including Australian crackdowns on US social media giants’ influence in the country and restrictions on American meat imports.

Albanese was re-elected to a second term in a landslide victory on May 3, about six months after Trump was elected to the White House for a second term.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.