{"id":937060,"date":"2026-10-22T15:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T15:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/937060\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T15:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T15:52:12","slug":"nunchucks-wielded-by-agitated-man-in-hannah-beazleys-office-may-have-been-drumsticks-court-told-australian-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/937060\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Nunchucks\u2019 wielded by agitated man in Hannah Beazley\u2019s office may have been drumsticks, court told | Australian politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man accused of making threats while armed with \u201cimprovised nunchucks\u201d<\/a> at a Western Australian MP\u2019s electorate office could have been holding a musical instrument, not a weapon, a court has been told.<\/p>\n

John Lawrence Smart appeared on Thursday in the WA magistrates court where his lawyer expressed concern for his mental health. He was not required to enter a plea.<\/p>\n

Smart was accused of making verbal threats at the office of state Labor MP Hannah Beazley in the inner-Perth suburb of Victoria Park on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

He was charged on Thursday with being armed in a way that may cause fear, making an unlawful threat and possessing cannabis. Police alleged Smart \u201cmade verbal threats while in possession of an improvised martial arts weapon (nunchucks)\u201d.<\/p>\n

During the court hearing, the highly agitated 56-year-old held his head in his hands and said he had been a musician for 20 years and he was holding claves.<\/p>\n

Police allege John Lawrence Smart was armed with improvised nunchucks but a Perth magistrate asked if they could have been drumsticks. Photograph: WA police<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople, they don\u2019t understand what I\u2019m going through,\u201d he said from the dock. Smart claimed people had \u201cdestroyed\u201d his head.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Smart entered Beazley\u2019s office physically agitated and screaming, and holding two pieces of wood tied together.<\/p>\n

He had a second similar implement attached to his belt, the police prosecutor said.<\/p>\n

Smart allegedly demanded to see the politician while raising one of the implements above his head in a threatening manner before leaving the premises.<\/p>\n

Smart\u2019s lawyer said he was known to carry percussion sticks in the community and play drums.<\/p>\n

The magistrate Heidi Watson suggested to the prosecutor that Smart might have been holding \u201cdrumsticks\u201d.<\/p>\n

The court heard Smart had previously been involuntarily admitted to hospital with schizophrenia and displayed delusional persecutory beliefs. He believed he had the \u201cdevil inside him\u201d.<\/p>\n

Watson ordered that Smart remained in custody for further medical assessment.<\/p>\n

Beazley earlier said two of her staff were present in the electorate office when Smart allegedly entered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was confronting,\u201d she said in a social media post. \u201cMy staff did an amazing job and did everything right.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one was injured in the alleged incident, which comes after federal member for Indi Helen Haines<\/a> was struck by a 4WD vehicle outside her electorate office in northern Victoria on Monday.<\/p>\n

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That incident sparked a nationwide debate about whether public officials were sufficiently protected from threats against their safety.<\/p>\n

The WA premier, Roger Cook, said state parliament had been shocked by both incidents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have got to start to turn the temperature down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cook said discussions were under way about potential upgrades to security measures to protect parliamentarians and their staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone deserves to feel safe at work, at home and in their communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not OK for people to take out their aggressions, their disagreements on staff in a politician\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cook said security measures could be improved at state parliament, but they must be balanced with the need to maintain public access.<\/p>\n

The Labor leader said he would support making an allowance available to MPs for security upgrades at their homes.<\/p>\n

Beazley is the Labor state minister for local government and the daughter of former federal Labor leader Kim Beazley.<\/p>\n

Smart was scheduled to return to the same court next Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man accused of making threats while armed with \u201cimprovised nunchucks\u201d at a Western Australian MP\u2019s electorate office…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":937061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-937060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=937060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/937061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}