First Nations leaders have welcomed WA Police’s announcement they are investigating Monday’s alleged Invasion Day rally attack as “a potential terrorist attack”, but still want to see stronger action from the federal government.
Noongar woman Hannah McGlade told ABC News Breakfast it appeared police had “heard our concerns”.
“A lot of people have been adding concern that it hasn’t been looked at properly as a hate crime or even possibly as a terror crime,” she said.
“And it seems police have heard our concerns and are working with the Australian Federal Police now to investigate this more fully.”
Hannah McGlade says her community is feeling “absolute horror that so many people could have been injured and killed”. (ABC Kimberley: Dunja Karagic )
WA Police allege a 31-year-old man threw a homemade bomb containing screws and ball bearings surrounded by an explosive liquid into the crowd of about 2,500 people in Perth on Monday.
He is charged with intent to do harm in such a way as to endanger life, health or safety, and with making or possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances.
The man’s alleged motivation has yet to be confirmed, but the Joint Counter Terror Team has confirmed the event was now being investigated as a “potential terrorist act”. WA police have described it as a “potential mass casualty event”.
Commissioner Col Blanch previously said that a terror offence required police to be able to establish specific motivations and that they were “investigating whether or not those motivations existed to prove terrorism charges”.
Commisioner Blanch and the director of the agency’s Aboriginal Affairs Division, Mechelle Turvey, met with Noongar Elders and leaders yesterday.
Dr McGlade, an associate professor of law at Curtin University, said First Nations people felt “absolute horror that so many people could have been injured and killed at an event like this, a peaceful gathering”.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss called the police announcement “a positive development” but wished it had come sooner.
“It shows that the WA police are working collectively with the First Nations leaders and hearing their concerns,” she said.
Ms Kiss urged the government to implement the Australian Human Right Commission’s National Anti-Racism Framework, released in 2024, to address the wider issue of racism towards First Nations peoples.
“The government called for us to prepare that for them. They haven’t adopted it yet and there is no focused conversation around implementation,” she said.
Ms Kiss also called for the forthcoming Bondi Royal Commission to have an expanded remit to “deal with racism much more broadly”.
She said that as far back as 1991 a national inquiry by the then-Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission found racist violence was an “endemic problem” for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and made 64 recommendations.
“The tools are already there. If the government puts some focus into addressing and responding to those recommendations, we might see a change,” Ms Kiss said.
Lidia Thorpe wants the federal government to implement the National Anti-Racism Framework. (ABC News: Patrick Stone)
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe said the announcement was “about time” and it was “good that they’ve taken this a little more seriously than their first thoughts”.
She said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s response to the alleged attacks so far had given First Nations communities “no comfort”.
“He needs to come out of his office today and tell the community that’s been affected that he is taking [this] seriously and not only is it going to be investigated as a terrorist attack, but he’s actually going to be taking steps as prime minister to implement the recommendations of the anti-racism framework, which they haven’t taken seriously at all,” Senator Thorpe said.
‘Scared for our children’: Stronger response urged on alleged rally attack
On Tuesday, the prime minister described the alleged attack as “shocking” and said he looked forward to the alleged offender “being prosecuted to the full force of the law.”
He said he could not say more because the matter was before the courts.
On Wednesday, Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy released a statement saying, “the targeting of a peaceful rally led by First Nations people is sickening. There is no place for hate, intimidation or racism of any form in Australia”.
‘Our Children Matter’
Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts has asked Australians to consider how Indigenous people feel. (ABC News: Lottie Twyford)
Human rights lawyer Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts posted on social media calling for Australians to show solidarity with First Nations people.
“As Indigenous people, we go to the end of every line to protect the fundamental rights and safety of others,” the Bundjalung Widubul-Wiabul woman said.
“I am begging you to care about my people. Our children matter, our elders matter, our lives matter. Imagine if it were your people, your land, your child, your elders.”
Anne Aly says the country’s social cohesion is “fragile”. (ABC News: Nick Haggarty)
Minister for Multicultural Affairs and counter-terrorism expert Anne Aly told ABC’s RN Breakfast her immediate response to the alleged attack was both “relief” and “horror”.
“It could have been a mass casualty attack. So there’s huge relief that nobody was hurt, but also horror at the fact that this could occur in Perth and in Australia, generally.”
She said it was up to the authorities to determine if the alleged attack was an act of terrorism.
“I can already see people are making their determinations of whether it is or isn’t a terrorist incident.
“It is being investigated as a potential terrorist incident, and I think it’s best we leave that up to our security agencies to determine.”
But Ms Aly said she was “very concerned’ about the country’s social cohesion, with the alleged attack coming the same day a man was charged with publicly inciting hatred — by allegedly using language ‘unequivocally aligned with Neo-Nazi ideology’ — at a March for Australia rally.
“The fact is historically, and particularly in the current context, our social cohesion is fragile, and it’s something we all need to work on.”
Federal deputy Liberal leader Ted O’Brien told ABC News Breakfast he would also wait to see what the police investigation reveals.
“It’s not for me to pre-empt an investigation. However, there is no excuse for violence.”
Asked whether diverse cultural and religious communities were likely to feel reluctant to gather in public, he said he was “concerned the social compact is fraying”.
“I think Australia is more divided today than we have been in a long, long time. That concerns me,” Mr O’Brien said.
“You need strong leadership. That’s the only thing that can unite a nation. I believe we have been lacking strong political leadership in the prime minister.”