A man allegedly threw a bomb at a crowd participating in an Invasion Day rally in Perth on Monday.
Police allege the device included an explosive liquid, screws and ball bearings. It was concealed in a kid’s sock and designed to explode on impact.
So, a tool someone might use in an alleged act intended to harm and potentially kill?
And yet somehow, the suggestion of “terrorism” has barely been mentioned – until Wednesday, when WA Police finally confirmed they are investigating the alleged throwing of the bomb as a “potential terrorist act”.
This alleged act of violence, in which thankfully no one was phyically harmed, hasn’t caused widespread headlines or alarm across our key newspapers and publications. Nor did it immediately raise much alarm from law enforcement or even from the prime mininster, who described it as “shocking”.
As Gundungurra man and consultant Jakob James shared on social media, “if this happened at any other event, we’d call it terrorism.”
He urged followers to, “ask yourself why we hesitate when the crowd being threatened is a First Nations crowd.”
It took police a good two days after the incident to confirm a further investigation into a “potential terrorist act”, with the Counter Terror Team now saying that “further charges have not been ruled out” in relation to the 31-year-old alleged offender.
Police said on Wednesday that one of three elements is needed to be considered an “act of terrorism”:: political motivation, a religious motivation, or some type of ideology the offender is seeking to advance.
You’d think throwing a device police allege was designed to explode on impact at a particular crowd of people at a particular event on a particular day of the year, would immediately fall into at least one of those three categories.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Kate Kiss said that while motives are still being investigated, “there is no question that the targets of the attack were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their allies.”
“For many in our communities, this moment echoes a long history of threats to our safety and ongoing struggles to have our voices heard without fear of violence.
“This terrifying incident leads First Peoples to be fearful of being targeted for who they are, and fearful that standing up for their democratic right to protest may have deadly consequences,” she said.
The Commissioner is urging government and law enforcement agencies to treat the incident “with urgency and utmost seriousness” and notes that “when racial hatred goes unaddressed, it can escalate into horrific violence.”
“Had the device detonated the results could have been catastrophic, and potentially as deadly as the Bondi attack.”
Thankfully, no one was hurt in this incident. But the fear it’s stoked among First Nations people is horrific, as is the frustration in the immediate response.