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A 31-year-old man, previously accused of manufacturing or possessing explosives with harmful intent, now faces an additional charge of participating in a terrorist act, as declared by the Joint Counter Terrorism Team today.
“This constituted an attack on the people of Western Australia,” stated WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch.
He emphasized that this marks the inaugural instance of such a charge being filed in Western Australia.
The allegations stem from an incident where authorities claim a homemade explosive device was thrown into a group of 2500 demonstrators in Perth’s city center on Australia Day.
Fortunately, the crowd was safely evacuated, and the device failed to detonate.
“We will allege it was a nationalist and racially motivated attack and we will allege he was targeting members of the Aboriginal community, First Nations people, in that protest,” AFP Commissioner Kristy Barrett said.
Blanch said the alleged homemade explosive “should’ve gone off”.
“It had a fuse that was [allegedly] lit, whether it fell out or it failed,” Blanch alleged.
“Whatever was looking over the people in that rally that day, stopped it from going off, and we should all be thankful we don’t have deceased or seriously injured people in Western Australia today.”
If found guilty of the terrorism charge, the man could face life imprisonment.
“That is the most serious terrorist charge that is available to the Joint Counter Terrorism Team,” Barrett said.
“It is an extremely serious charge.”
Blanch urged the wider community to be alert to the dangers of online radicalisation and inform police of concerning behaviours.
“Particularly our young people, our more vulnerable people who spend most of their time on the internet where they can find this hate quite easily, you’re going to go down that rabbit hole and this is the outcome,” Blanch said.
“My call out to our community [is] if you know someone that is saying these things, whether it’s against Aboriginal people or anyone else, and they are accelerating in their hateful views, call authorities,” he said.
“We will take action. We’re not going to wait.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese threw his support behind First Nations people during question time.
“This was alleged terrorism driven by racism and hatred,” he said.
“Hate that should’ve been banished to the dark reaches of history but still lives in the dark corners of the internet.”
He labelled the incident “an offence against our Australian values”.
“I know First Nations people across Australia are grappling with that, the combination of disbelief, anger and real fear and I’ve met with a number of leaders in the last 24 hours about this.
“We see you, we stand with you, we will do everything required to keep you and your loved ones safe.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.
“This alleged event has provoked anxiety, shock, and concern in our Indigenous communities as it has across our nation,” she said.
“We can never accept a situation where we turn to violence to settle our political difference.”
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