A man has been charged after allegedly threatening staff and wielding nunchucks at the electoral office of the Western Australian local government minister, Hannah Beazley. The arrest on Thursday came after federal independent MP Helen Haines was hospitalised with severe injuries after an alleged attack outside her electorate office in Wangaratta in Victoria earlier in the week. Electoral staff at Beazley’s Victoria Park office in Perth called police after a man caused a disturbance on Wednesday afternoon.
Police said they received reports the man was making verbal threats while in possession of an “improvised martial arts weapon” described as “nunchucks”. They arrested the 56-year-old man nearby and took him into custody. On Thursday he was charged with being armed in a way that may cause fear, making unlawful threats and cannabis possession.
Nobody was injured in the incident. The man was refused bail to appear at Perth magistrates court on Thursday. Beazley was not in the office at the time but told reporters on Wednesday evening her staff were “rattled” by the “confronting situation”.
He did want access to me, I believe, but we don’t know his motivations at all,” the minister said. Beazley said there had been two staff members in the office at the time. The man allegedly attempted to lean through the security screen but her staff were a safe distance away, she said.
That was very rattling for them. They called the police.” The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said Hannah Beazley was a friend “because I’m a good friend of her dad”, the former Labor defence minister Kim Beazley. We can have our discussions and debates and settle those issues at the ballot box.” The governor general, Sam Mostyn, speaking generally on Thursday, discussed the gendered dynamics of threats and abuse directed at women in high-profile positions.
In fact, I was just saddened this morning to see some of the comments on my own Instagram page, in capitals with expletives, once again questioning the very nature of what it is that I do. Haines’s predecessor as the federal member for Indi, Cathy McGowan, said on the sidelines of the event the community was grappling with “mixed emotions”. McGowan had spent time with Haines’s staff and she told Guardian Australia they were “all crying together because of the emotion that’s been building up”.
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