Arya News - Aboriginals were the target of a terror attack on an Australia Day rally, police said on Thursday.
Aboriginals were the target of a terror attack on an Australia Day rally, police said on Thursday.
More than 2,500 people had gathered at a rally in Perth, which was protesting against Britain’s “invasion” of Australia, when a man allegedly threw a bomb filled with screws and ball bearings into the crowd.
The device failed to detonate but had the potential to cause a “mass casualty event”, said Roger Cook, the Western Australia premier said. The suspect was charged with intent to harm the following day, Jan 27.
“It is an incident that shook all Western Australians, and all Australians, to the core,” Cook added. “I know this event has impacted people Australia-wide ... any attack on our First Nations people is an attack on all of us.”
The terror charge – the first ever laid in Western Australia – “alleges the attack on Aboriginal people and other peaceful protesters was motivated by hateful, racist ideology”.
The rally in Western Australia’s capital was one of dozens held across the country to protest against the Australia Day national holiday being held on a date that some indigenous people consider a day of mourning and the start of a genocide against the country’s original inhabitants.
The 31-year-old suspect allegedly hid a homemade bomb in a children’s sock before throwing it from the balcony of a shopping centre overlooking the rally in the city centre.
Col Blanch, the Western Australia police commissioner, said the fuse of the device was lit but it failed, adding: “We should all be thankful that we don’t have deceased or seriously injured people in Western Australia today.”
Fears over rising hate speech
Police will allege that the suspect acted alone but appeared to have been “self-radicalised” on internet sites promoting “pro-white male” ideology that the National Socialist Network and other far-Right groups have shared, Mr Blanch said.
The National Socialist Network, a neo-Nazi group, was named alongside the Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir as targets of Australia’s anti-hate laws, introduced following the terror attack on Sydney’s Bondi Beach in December, which targeted the Jewish community.
Their declaration as hate groups was part of the Labor government’s hate speech reforms, passed weeks after the Bondi attack. The changes, however, have prompted a backlash across the political spectrum amid concern that they were rushed, did not adequately address threats to the community, and could erode free speech.
Some opponents argued the laws should focus more on combating anti-Semitism , while others fought for a broader scope to include all types of racism and extremism.
The debate was so heated it even led the opposition coalition – traditionally a Liberal and National Party partnership – to split.
Crowds pay their respects to the victims of the Bondi Beach attacks. The Australian government has since toughened hate speech laws - Stephanie Simcox
Mr Blanch said he had witnessed a rise in racism in the community, warning that impressionable people were being radicalised online.
“I think we’d all be kidding ourselves if we don’t see what is happening online, and some of the hate speech towards Aboriginal people, and towards any vulnerable community in this country,” he warned on Thursday.
“It is not a time for hate, it is not a time for blame. It’s 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.”
Krissy Barrett, Australian Federal Police (AFP) chief, said the terror charges served as a warning to others “mobilising towards violence” that they could face life in prison.
“There are individuals and current and emerging groups across Australia, including in the west, which are eroding the country’s social fabric by advocating hatred, fear and humiliation, that is mobilising towards violence,” she said.
Addressing “Invasion Day” protesters, she added: “You have the right to peacefully protest in this country without facing threats of violence.
“The AFP, our security and law enforcement partners, will use all our powers, capabilities and resources to ensure hate and violence are not used as weapons to silence communities.”
Indigenous people consider Australia Day the start of a genocide against the country’s original inhabitants - Alamy
The suspect in the attempted Australia Day bombing was arrested within minutes of the explosive device being thrown into the Perth crowd.
But police stopped short of describing the attempted bombing as terrorism until Thursday, more than a week later – a decision that prompted outcry across Australia as critics contrasted the response to the Bondi shooting, which was labelled as terrorism within hours.
Opposition to Australia Day
Australia Day marks the day that British ship captain Arthur Philip first raised the Union flag in Sydney Cove in 1788.
But it has long been contested, and the “change the date” movement challenging “Invasion Day” has gained momentum in recent years, leading to protests and attacks on statues of colonial-era figures across Australia.
While the date remains an official holiday in every state and territory, some local councils have replaced celebrations with “Aboriginal truth-telling” ceremonies and some workplaces agreed to let employees choose a separate day off.
Recent polls show division over the appropriateness of the date is at a record high.
Polling shows 37 per cent of Australians support changing the date of the national day, according to a survey that Deakin University conducted last year. But those who support the Jan 26 holiday have become more steadfast in their views, with the proportion who “strongly disagreed” with changing the date increasing from 30 per cent in 2021 to 38 per cent last year.
Research published in January showed record support for Australia Day retaining its name and date, with 60.5 per cent of people backing the national day – an increase of 2 per cent on two years ago.
Men and people living outside of capital cities were the two groups more likely to support keeping Australia Day, while women and city-dwellers more often called for a change of date or renaming to “Invasion Day”, the data showed.
Labor and Greens voters were more likely to support changing the date, while supporters of the far-Right One Nation party were keen for Australia Day to remain on Jan 26.
One Nation has surged ahead in the polls since the Bondi terror attacks, as the government and main opposition parties fell out of favour with voters concerned about migration and the threat of Islamic extremism.
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