Unionists clad in hazmat suits and wielding mock Geiger counters have gatecrashed Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s press conference in a marginal seat.

The pantomiming protesters cried “Major hot zone” and “Move the children away” as they pretended to measure the site for a nuclear power plant.

“Stay back everybody,” they warned, for the benefit of news cameras and the travelling press pack

“We’re just checking for radiation.”

The stunt at Sanctuary Point on the NSW South Coast forced the cancellation of Dutton’s media conference, and the Coalition leader was whisked away.

The chaos intensified when a group of local kids showed up and Shoalhaven councillor Selena Clancy encouraged the youngsters to shout over the nuclear farce.

“You’re scaring the children!” Clancy yelled, while a club official called the lead protester an “absolute muppet”.

Dutton has been noticeably quiet about his party’s nuclear policy and journalists have repeatedly asked why he has avoided visiting his seven nuclear sites during the campaign.

He slammed the nuclear “stunt”, which he wrongly blamed on Greens and Teal supporters. The protest was in fact led by South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris.

Dutton’s cancelled press event had been scheduled to make a modest funding announcement for a local junior rugby league team.

“In relation to the kids who I think were disappointed to have their event disrupted, it would have been nice to spend more time with them,” said Dutton.

“Unfortunately, the football coaches that we spoke to were really annoyed, actually, and upset at the protests.

“It made no difference to me in terms of protest activity, but it disrupted an event where we wanted to talk about helping kids play junior rugby.”

Dutton had been chatting with locals when the disruption occurred.

The local Liberal candidate for Gilmore, Andrew Constance, is making his second attempt to win the electorate won by Labor’s Fiona Phillips with just 373 votes in 2022.

One supportive attendee, Michael King, said Constance had his vote while hinting at his disappointment with Labor’s climate policy.

“We cannot make any difference in our global environment, so why would you shoot yourself in the foot?” he told reporters.

Some elements of the electorate are vocally against Labor’s renewable energy push, specifically offshore wind farm developments off the picturesque coast.

Liberal Party media advisers were unable to clear off the protesters, and the local police in attendance were powerless to move them on from a public space, so the press conference was cancelled and the media pack bundled back onto Dutton’s campaign bus.

Peter Dutton’s electorate office in Brisbane covered in red paint. Photo: AAP

It comes after Dutton’s electorate office in Brisbane was vandalised with red paint and posters criticising his stance on the war in Gaza and closeness to US President Donald Trump.

An 18-year-old woman has been charged with one count of wilful damage and is due to face Brisbane Magistrates Court on May 20.

Dutton said the attack on his office was “outrageous”.

He took the opportunity to accuse Greens supporters of “shouting” at polling booths and union members of intimidating “older ladies”.

“I want to make sure that we have disagreements and we can have disagreements. That’s fine. But we need to do it better,” he said.

“I don’t want to see a situation where we’ve got people who are being intimidated.”

-with AAP