Sydney man charged over death threats made against Prime Minister

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A Sydney man has been charged over an alleged threat to kill the Prime Minister before this year's federal election.

Transcript

00:00The home of Alexander Philip David Keating was searched by Federal Police on Monday and a number of his devices were seized.

00:10It's alleged the Kingswood man was linked to a social media account where threats were posted against a parliamentarian.

00:1736-year-old Mr Keating has been charged with one count of threatening to cause harm to a Commonwealth public official,

00:23which carries a maximum penalty of nine years in jail.

00:27Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today confirmed he was the MP concerned.

00:32I don't comment on national security issues and on those issues whether it involves someone else or whether it involves me directly.

00:40What I do is have confidence in our national security agencies to do their job and they do it very well.

00:47Mr Keating's case was mentioned here in the John Madison Tower this morning and it was adjourned until late August.

00:53According to court documents, the threat was allegedly a threat to murder, made between late February and early March this year.

01:00The AFP's acting commander, Mark Barron, said they take all reports about the safety of politicians seriously.

01:06He said the AFP supports freedom of speech and political expression but will never tolerate criminal behaviour, including threats and harassment.

01:16The AFP supports freedom of speech and political expression but will never threaten any policy.

01:19If the AFP supports freedom of speech and philosophy and political expression, the AFP supports freedom.

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