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  • 2 hours ago
A 31-year-old who allegedly threw a homemade bomb into a Perth Invasion Day rally on January 26, 2026, has now had his charge upgraded to engaging in a terrorist act.
Transcript
00:00Yesterday, the joint counter-terrorism team charged a 31-year-old male with engaging in a terrorist act.
00:07This was a terrorist attack on West Australians.
00:12As police commissioner, that saddens me.
00:14No doubt it saddens the rest of our country that a fellow citizen would seek to cause harm to others in our community.
00:22It took nine days for the investigation to establish to a level of being able to charge this person with the necessary charges.
00:32It's the first time we have charged someone with engaging in a terrorist act in Western Australia.
00:40This is a difficult moment for our community, but a really important one to come together and unify as a result of what has occurred.
00:49I firstly want to thank the Elders, the Noongar Elders that I have met with on numerous occasions now and will continue to meet with for their leadership, for their discussions and what they have asked me to do.
01:04But conversely, what they are going to do as leaders in our community, because it is not a time for hate.
01:10It is not a time for blame.
01:12It is a time for all leaders in our community to work together to make sure that we have no one, no one in our country that seeks to do this level of harm to others.
01:24There is one person responsible.
01:27A person will have their day in court.
01:29But that's who we should blame.
01:30I also have a request for the community of Western Australia, and more broadly, Australia.
01:40Whilst WA Police, other law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies had no intelligence, no intelligence, that this attack was being prepared.
01:51There are others, not just in this case, but other cases, where there is knowledge held by individuals in our community.
01:59Friends, loved ones, associates, professionals, that something is not going right in this person's life.
02:08To be someone filled with hate and racism is unacceptable.
02:14If you know about it, say something.
02:17There are programs across this country that can help those individuals not get to where they got to on January the 26th.
02:27We should never see this in our country.
02:29And we love our state here in Western Australia.
02:33But more importantly, we should all be listening, in this case, to the Noongar Elders,
02:38and be guided by their leadership that they have shown immediately after this attack.
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