A Victorian man has been charged for allegedly making death threats and antisemitic comments to a federal member of parliament.
The 41-year-old was charged on Tuesday afternoon after the Australian federal police conducted a search of his home in the Melbourne suburb of Officer, the AFP said in a statement.
The man had allegedly contacted the MP using social media multiple times between 7 January and 19 February this year, making death threats and antisemitic comments.
He was charged with using a carriage service to menace, and threatening to cause serious harm to a commonwealth public official, the latter charge carrying a maximum penalty of seven years’ jail.
The man was granted bail and is scheduled to appear at Dandenong magistrates’ court on 19 June.
Special Operation Avalite was established in December last year in the wake of an arson attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea.
The operation’s remit was to investigate threats, violence and hatred towards the Australian Jewish community and parliamentarians.
Its purview included specifically leveraging counter-terrorism powers to work with state and territory police, but was not intended to replicate state and territory investigations.
“We will not stand by and let antisemitism run rife through the Australian community,” AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt said in a statement on Tuesday.
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“Anyone engaging in this type of deplorable behaviour can expect a knock on the door and a swift date with the courts.
“No one, be they an elected representative or member of the public, should have to endure vile, villainous threats based on their race, religion or ethnicity.”
