Leaders condemn 'ugly' political attack on MP's office

A "politically motivated" attack on a federal Labor MP's office has been slammed by leaders amid calls for aggressions over the Israel-Gaza conflict to be dialled down.

The St Kilda electorate office of Macnamara MP Josh Burns was targeted about 3.20am on Wednesday by six people who came armed with kerosene, hammers and red paint.

They smashed windows and graffitied the walls inside and outside with slogans that read, 'Zionism is fascism'.

The group then poured kerosene outside the office and at the door of the residential apartment upstairs before setting both areas alight.

"There's red paint on the front of my office. There's a lot of glass that needs to be repaired and there's quite extensive damage," Mr Burns told reporters.

"It was clearly politically motivated by having graffiti on the outside of the office and this was really ugly behaviour."

Local and federal police are investigating the circumstances and have cordoned off the footpath outside the office.

Mr Burns has been targeted in the past by vandals defacing his election posters.

He labelled the latest attack on his office a "dangerous escalation of people trying to bring a conflict on the other side of the world to our streets".

Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1200 people and taking more than 200 hostages.

In response, Israel launched air strikes and a ground invasion of Gaza that, according to the local health ministry, has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, injured more than 80,000 and displaced more than 1.7 million.

Mr Burns said he was nervous about further escalation back home leading to people getting hurt.

"No amount of aggression and violence here in Australia is going to change what's happening in the Middle East. I'm desperate for there to be a ceasefire," he said.

"All we're seeing at the moment is an escalation of violence here in Australia and it's going to end up in disaster."

The attack on Mr Burns' office was a distressing escalation that needed to be dialled back down, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

"This has got to be seen as an attack on someone who's a Jewish MP, someone who is running an office that looks after people's interests," he told ABC Radio Melbourne.

"How people think that they advance their cause through activities like this is beyond me. It does nothing. It undermines the cause that people purport to represent."

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan condemned the attack, which she said put the safety of residents at risk.

"We can have a difference of opinion on local and global current affairs but that should never bring violence and destruction of this sort to the streets of Melbourne and Victoria," she said.

Opposition Leader John Pesutto said the "despicable" violence was unacceptable and called on the state government to exercise its power to secure public safety.

Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich said the vandalism was an "assault on our democracy and our sense of safety".

Victorian Greens leader Ellen Sandell condemned the violence and property damage but said the movement calling for the end to the war in Gaza was largely peaceful.

The "despicable and dangerous attack" on Mr Burns' office needed more than condemnation, former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg said as he called on political leaders to protect the community and Australia's social cohesion.