Why haven't police labelled Perth's Invasion Day rally incident terrorism? Here's what we know

By WA state political reporter Keane Bourke, ABC News Photo: ABC News / Keane Bourke News that a bomb - apparently concealed in a kid's sock and allegedly designed to explode upon impact - was thrown into the crowd at Perth's Invasion Day rally has raised a great deal of concern and plenty of questions. But there's one question seemingly being asked more than any other - why haven't police labelled the incident terrorism? A man allegedly throwing a device packed with ball bearings and screws as well as an explosive liquid into a densely packed crowd seems to have all the hallmarks of a terror attack. The national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Katie Kiss, re-shared a post on social media saying those "questions are warranted". "If this happened at any other event, we'd call it terrorism," the post said. Its author, Gundungurra man and consultant, Jakob James, urged people to "call it what it is". "And ask yourself why we hesitate when the crowd being threatened is a First Nations crowd." An account named 'Horrible Mean Bad Woman' shared a similar sentiment to her 438,000 Instagram followers. "I can't help but suspect that has something to do with the fact that this act of attempted violence was targeting First Nations people and their allies who were protesting Australia Day," she said. Photo: ABC News / Andrew O'Connor How are police treating this? Western Australia's Police Commissioner Col Blanch explained the police approach, saying at the current stage of the investigation, police were treating it as a "hostile act". "To be an act of terrorism it requires one of three things, either political motivation, a religious motivation, or some type of ideology and advancing that cause," he told media yesterday morning. "So at this stage it's a hostile act, and we are investigating whether or not those motivations existed to prove terrorism charges." Commissioner Blanch said that work was ongoing, with assistance being provided by the Australian Federal Police and the nation's domestic intelligence agency, ASIO. Another factor, he said, was whether police need the extra powers that declaring a terrorist incident grants officers. Photo: ABC News / Keane Bourke "That was not needed in this case," the commissioner said. "We were comfortable that we had the person in custody and there was no ongoing threat to the community." For comparison, an incident in 2024 - in which police shot dead a 16-year-old boy armed with a knife in Perth's southern suburbs - was described as having the 'hallmarks' of terrorism, but not declared a terrorist incident. What are experts saying? Director of the Curtin Extremism Research Network, Ben Rich, said any incident where a person is alleged to have acted alone can also complicate authorities' investigations. "Sometimes it can just be a case where you have that one individual who wants to just sow fear for whatever reason, but they might not have a particular ideological motivation behind it," he said. Photo: ABC News / Cason Ho Identifying those ideological motivations is critical to separating terrorism from other events just designed to cause fear. "It's not just … trying to do damage to the society, but it's that you're trying to do damage to the society to ultimately create room for another interpretation, politically, of society," Dr Rich said. Tracing those motivations, if any, is also more difficult for authorities now than ever before. "The problem is we're dealing with an environment now where people often radicalise without necessarily interfacing with other people directly," he said. The rally's organiser Fabian Yarran believed the incident needed to be "fully investigated" and if found to be "an act of terrorism and a hate crime against First Nations people and protesters", should be "appropriately charged as such". Photo: ABC News / Cason Ho Yarran also claims "the police, government and media response in the 24 hours following the incident has been inadequate, consisting solely of investigations and charges for less serious, non-terror and non-hate offences". He called for the recently announced national Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion to be "immediately expanded to include all forms of racism and far-right extremism". What are political leaders saying? The Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, said all Australians should be able to gather without fearing for their safety. "What happened in Perth, as described by WA Police, could have been a mass casualty event," she said in a statement. "The targeting of a peaceful rally led by First Nations people is sickening. Photo: ABC News / Matt Roberts "There is no place for hate, intimidation or racism of any form in Australia." Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asked about the incident while speaking in Darwin on Tuesday afternoon. "This person has been charged as a result of the allegation that...

Why haven't police labelled Perth's Invasion Day rally incident terrorism? Here's what we know

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Why haven't police labelled Perth's Invasion Day rally incident terrorism? Here's what we know

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