Australian Federal Police commissioner Krissy Barrett has told a Senate estimates hearing that investigators are charging almost one person a week for targeting federal politicians or senior office holders, SBS News reports.
Speaking after the attack on independent MP Helen Haines, who lost both legs when she was struck by a vehicle outside her Wangaratta office, Barrett said the alleged attacker had not been known to federal police. She described a global trend of lone actors driven by a mix of personal grievance, mental health problems and ideology.
The AFP received 785 reports with hostile content about federal MPs in the first half of the year, though not all met a criminal threshold. Barrett said all 55 boys aged 12 to 17 in counter-terrorism youth cases from 2020 to 2025 had been at least partly radicalised online, and blamed technology for a constant stream of hate.
Source: SBS News
