Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question and acknowledge, as a proud Western Australian, her very personal interest in this.

The terrorist attack that was described by the Prime Minister at the start of question time in Perth was horrific. A 31-year-old man allegedly threw a homemade improvised explosive device—this is a bomb fitted with screws and ball bearings—into a crowd of people rallying in support of First Nations Australians. It is fortunate that this bomb did not detonate, but, be in no doubt, it will be alleged in court that the intention was absolutely that the bomb would detonate. This could have been catastrophic if you think about the number of Australians who were there in a tight space. Had this gone the way it will be alleged it was intended to, we would have been looking at something quite catastrophic.

The alleged offender was immediately arrested by Western Australia police, and an investigation commenced. Within 40 minutes of that arrest, the Joint Counter Terrorism Team had been engaged. That involves Western Australia police, the Australian Federal Police and ASIO. Later, they announced that they were investigating this act as a potential terrorist attack. Since that time, I've been receiving regular updates on the alleged offence, and yesterday I received a detailed personal briefing with the Western Australia police minister, Reece Whitby, who had travelled here with the WA police commissioner and with the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, Krissy Barrett.

As a result of the investigations they've conducted, they have now charged a 31-year-old man with engaging in a terrorist attack, and, as has been referred to, this is the first time an individual has been charged with engaging in a terrorist attack in Western Australia. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. It is alleged—now, there is always a gap between the action and often a period where people are saying, 'Can you call it terrorism yet?' and a period of delay. That's because terrorism is not defined simply by the action but also by the motivation. And we need to give police time to do their work, to be able to get the strongest case together with respect to motivation.

The motivation that will be alleged is a national, racially motivated, ideological cause. White supremacist ideology has no place in modern Australia and no place in our country. When someone is made to feel unwelcome and made to feel like they don't belong, the message from Australia and from this parliament has to be that we stand with you. While there wasn't specific intelligence on this occasion, at a time when the national threat alert level is at probable, there are times when people have information and are not sure whether it might be helpful. The request from the agencies is to please report it. The National Security Hotline is 1800123400 for people to use for any information they think might constitute a risk to public safety.

See this speech in context