West Australian man charged with threatening to kill Anthony Albanese, NSW Premier
Updated ,first published
A West Australian man has become the fifth person recently charged with threatening a high-profile politician after he was accused of threatening to kill the Prime Minister and New South Wales Premier.
WA Police alleged the 19-year-old used a social media platform to send messages threatening to kill Anthony Albanese and Chris Minns on Wednesday afternoon.
The teenager was arrested at his Meadow Springs house, about 70 kilometres south of Perth, just after midnight on Thursday by officers from the state security investigations group.
He has been charged with one count of threatening to kill, and will face Mandurah Magistrates Court next month.
WA Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia said the arrest was positive news.
“The arrest is a reflection of the really effective and proactive efforts of our state security investigations group, our counterterrorism police,” he said.
“Sadly, particularly in today’s world with such pervasive social media, threats [towards] politicians is something that is pretty prevalent.”
The NSW Premier’s office declined to comment on the charge.
The Prime Minister’s office also declined to comment.
The Perth man is the third person in Australia to be recently accused of threatening Albanese, with a Sydney man accused of making threatening phone calls to the Prime Minister’s office the day after the Bondi terrorist attack, and a Queensland man charged in October for allegedly threatening Albanese’s life on social media.
Member for Wentworth, Allegra Spender said she also received threats after condemning a neo-Nazi rally that took place outside New South Wales parliament in November.
Prominent neo-Nazi Joel Davis, 30, has since been arrested in response to the alleged online harassment.
“The message allegedly encouraged abusive and hateful messages to be directed towards a federal parliamentarian, following their condemnation of a National Socialist Network protest on 8 November, 2025,” the Australian Federal Police said.
And Federal Communications Minister Anika Wells allegedly received dozens of emails from a man threatening to kill her in December.
A 31-year-old old man has been charged with one count of using a carriage service to threaten to kill in relation to the complaint.
Hannah Murphy is a journalist with WAtoday.Connect via email.
Hamish Hastie is WAtoday's state political reporter and the winner of five WA Media Awards, including the 2023 Beck Prize for best political journalism.Connect via X or email.