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- Summer of terrorism?
Hello! It’s nice to be back in your inboxes after Zee Feed’s extended summer break – although I wish it was under happier circumstances.
We’re now almost a full week on from the attempted bombing of the Perth Invasion Day rally, which police are now investigating as a “potential terrorist act”. I have some thoughts on that, but first some basic context:
The 31-year-old man has been charged with one count of unlawful act or omission with intent to harm, and one count of making or possession of explosives under suspicious circumstances.
He was not previously known to police.
The legal definition of an act of terrorism requires three conditions to be met:
it intends to advance a political, religious or ideological cause;
It causes death or serious harm, or endangers a person's life, or causes serious damage to property, or causes a serious risk to the health or safety of the public, or seriously interferes with critical infrastructure; and
is done with the intention to intimidate a section of the public (including a section of the public), or to influence by intimidation any government.
The terrorism question
The criticism of police and the media’s reluctance to call the attempted bombing “terrorism” began almost immediately. It is a textbook example of the harm caused by due diligence in journalism, best explained by Amy McQuire. In the immediate reporting of a violent crime or major incident, journalists will stick to repeating the "authoritative accounts” provided by police (usually under the direction of editors). It assumes the police account will be reliable or truthful, when in reality there is lots of evidence that initial police accounts are unreliable at best and deliberately misleading at worst, especially when it comes to incidents involving Indigenous people.
I saw a lot of people pointing to the coverage of the Bondi terrorist attack for comparison and how quick the media was to call that what it was. While I don’t think that all comparisons to the Bondi attack are helpful, it shows how the media will follow police language.
NSW Police declared Bondi shooting an act of terrorism on the night of the attack, at around 9:30pm, which gave the media the green light to start calling the shooting terrorism almost immediately.
By contrast, it took almost three days for WA Police* to say that they were investigating the incident as a potential terrorist attack. The attack occurred on January 26 at 12:15pm AWST, and the statement was issued on January 28 at 9pm, allowing for two days of reporting with no ‘authority’ to call it terrorism.
*Technically, the Western Australia Joint Counter Terrorism Team made this statement. The team includes WA Police, ASIO, and the AFP.
WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch confirmed at a press conference that the man’s home was searched on the afternoon of January 26. To justify any labels or charges of terrorism there needs to be an ideological motivation for the attack. If police do find evidence that the man was driven by an ideology then there could be additional terrorist charges, even though no one was hurt (this is a good summary of the terrorism offences).
But there may not be a clear ideological reason for the attack. While there is a valid conversation to be had about what constitutes an ‘ideology’ when it comes to the definition of terrorism (I wrote about whether misogyny is an ideology a few years ago), we need police and intelligence agencies to be very strict about how they use the label.
Hateful beliefs are not necessarily political ideologies. But that brings up another issue…
Why is this not being called a hate crime?
What seems much clearer is that the Perth attack could meet the benchmark for a hate crime. WA Police defines hate crime as “criminal acts motivated by prejudice based on a person or group's race, religion, sexual or gender identity, disability, nationality or politics”. I did some digging into the specifics of how that could actually be applied.
WA Police created a dedicated Hate Crimes Unit in July 2025 “in response to growing community concern about hate-related offences”. But it seems the Hate Crimes Unit focuses on harassment, incitement, and the policing of Nazi symbols, with a particular focus on antisemitism (it was created in response to concerns from the Jewish community).
When it comes to physical crimes like assault, judges can consider “aggravating factors” and give the perpetrator a harsher sentence — targeting a person or group based on race is one of those factors. But this only applies to specific offences. Based on my brief research, it’s not clear whether aggravating factors can be considered with the two charges given to this man. If you are a Perth-based lawyer or legal expert and you know the answer to this, please email me!
There is one detail that has got lost among all the questions about terrorism, that I can’t stop thinking about: one of the Invasion Day rally organisers, Fabian Yarran, said the event had received serious threats in the lead up to January 26 which were shared with police but not adequately addressed.
If authorities won’t take threats against Indigenous people seriously when warned in advance, and have limited avenue to reflect the racial nature of attacks after the fact — if First Nations people are told it’s just “good luck” that they were not killed or seriously injured — then where does that leave us? Exactly where we’ve always been.
Smart stuff on the Internet 💭
All the stuff I found on the web that made me think, smile, or have an ‘aha!’ moment. Spend your Sunday reading them – you'll be better off for it:
Colonisation & Cartier: The Story Behind Margot Robbie’s $8M Wuthering Heights Necklace on Pedestrian.TV
"So when Margot, a white Australian actor, steps out in one of the few surviving Mughal jewels whose importance lies as much in its inscription and documentation as in its sparkle, it sits inside a pattern: Cartier controls how these pieces come into view and whose bodies are allowed to host them. South Asian people mostly get to see their historical objects when they’re on loan to someone else.”
Why Australia’s “Grammy-rush” is good news for local listening on The Point
“The lesson for musicians – and potentially creatives in all fields – seems clear: export or perish. The days of building a local following for several years before making your first international foray are over. If you want your next-door neighbour to discover your creative work then, contrary as it may seem, you may first need to get “liked” or “followed” by lots of people in more populous parts of the world who happen to speak your neighbour’s language.”
Chronically Offline Is The New Status Symbol (But You Still Have To Post About It...) on Centennial World youtube
The internet is no longer fun! A good deep dive into the “analog bag” and other trends romanticising offline life and hobbies, which appear to be driven by the increasingly “unhuman” nature of online spaces – the new ‘luxury’ is not having to post, while being chained to your Instagram account is no longer cool. Lots of food for thought…