Anthony Albanese has called for Australians to be more civil to each other in the wake of the Bondi massacre after a tradie was charged with plotting to the kidnap the Prime Minister and a British national was deported for displaying Nazi symbols.
“We need to be able to have civil political discourse in this country. We need to be able to disagree as well as agree respectfully,” he told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.
“There is no place for the rise in violence that’s occurred. They’ve been a number of charges laid over recent times including the one that you refer to and the fact that security has had to be increased is of concern.”
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Mr Albanese issued his call after a 27-year-old self-described “far right” tradie from Sydney’s northern beaches, Nathan Ballesty, was arrested and charged with threatening to kidnap the PM a week after 15 innocent people were killed at Bondi Beach on the first day of the Hanukkah Jewish holiday.
The Australian Federal Police’s new National Security Investigations traced a Sunday threat back to a social media agitator from Beacon Hill, and released a statement on Monday without naming Mr Albanese.
“It will be alleged the man made an online post calling for the kidnapping of the federal parliamentarian,” it said.
He appeared in Manly Local Court on Monday and was granted bail by magistrate Ian Guy on the condition he refrain from contacting members of Parliament or their offices.
Mr Ballesty describes himself on X as a “Catholic, Anti-Communist” and in a social media post last year said: “Democracy has failed and it’s time for revolution.”
The latest development occurred a month after ASIO director-general Mike Burgess warned in a Lowy Institute speech that Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza had “raised the temperature of the security environment, made acts of violence more likely, and continue to undermine social cohesion”.
“The director-general of ASIO has made this very clear publicly: that we need to lower the temperature of political debate,” Mr Albanese said.
Mr Albanese also gave a very direct answer when asked if he had been in contact with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since the December 14 terrorist attack at Bondi, which was the worst massacre of Jews since the October 2023 slaughter of Israelis by Hamas militants.
The Federal Government is now stepping up its deportations with Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirming a 43-year-old British national was being deported for displaying Nazi symbols.
His visa was cancelled after the Australian Federal Police seized swastika-bearing swords from his Queensland home. He was also charged with four breaches of the criminal code, including using social media to promote neo-Nazi ideology and violence against the Jewish community.
“If you come to Australia on a visa, you are here as a guest. Almost everyone on a visa is a good guest and a welcome guest in our country,” Mr Burke told ABC News Breakfast.
“But if someone comes here for the purposes of hate, they can leave. And that’s what we’re doing. There will also be legislation to increase my powers to make cancellations of exactly this nature.”
The Federal Government is setting up a National Hate Crimes and Incidents Database after the Bondi massacre, which saw Sajid Akram, 50, shot dead by police. His 24-year-old son Naveed Akram is facing 59 charges, including 15 of murder, 40 of attempted murder and committing a terrorist act.
