Man arrested after entering WA MP’s electorate office with ‘nunchucks’
A man has been arrested for making threats and swinging nunchucks outside the electorate office of state MP Hannah Beazley this afternoon, just days after West Australian politicians voiced their concerns about their safety following the attack on Helen Haines.
Police said they received reports about the man with the alleged weapon around 1.15pm this afternoon, after he entered Beazley’s Victoria Park office.
Police attended quickly and found the man nearby in Bentley, arresting him.
A 56-year-old Bentley man has since been charged with being armed in a way that may cause fear, making a threat, and possessing cannabis.
Hannah Beazley, who is WA’s Minister for Local Government and represents the electorate of Victoria Park, said in a statement she was aware of what had unfolded.
“This afternoon, staff within my electorate office were faced with a confronting situation when a member of the public entered the office armed with a weapon,” she said.
“I have spoken to my staff, who are understandably shaken and upset by what took place. Fortunately, no one was injured during the incident.
“Right now, my focus is on the welfare of those staff members.”
The incident comes just days after federal member for Indi Helen Haines was attacked outside her office in Wangaratta on Monday, after a man allegedly repeatedly hit her with a white Toyota four-wheel-drive.
“I thank the police officers who responded quickly and soon had a person in custody. Their response to this incident and the support they have provided my staff is greatly appreciated.
“At this time, I do not know the motivation behind what occurred today, and as the matter is now subject of a police investigation I won’t comment further.”
Earlier on Wednesday, One Nation WA leader Rod Caddies claimed a man threatened to kill him while he was driving home from parliament on Tuesday night.
Caddies revealed he was about a minute away from Parliament House in the Perth CBD and stopped at traffic lights when a man pulled up next to him and gestured him to wind his window down.
Caddies did and said the man started yelling profanities at him and threatened to kill him.
“I just said to him, ‘mate, there’s no need to get angry’ and he just kept yelling quite an amount of abuse, and said he was going to bash me and he was going to do different things, and then he said he’d follow me home,” he said.
“He said I don’t care about the police, I’ll follow you home and kill you.”
When Caddies said he was going to alert police, the man said he didn’t care.
Caddies took a photo of the driver’s number plate and alerted the dignitary protection unit which is investigating the incident.
Caddies said he didn’t feel unsafe and wouldn’t consider removing his One Nation decals from his vehicle.
A WA Police spokeswoman confirmed police were investigating the incident.
“WA Police has established capabilities to assess and respond to threats against elected representatives, and those arrangements remain in place,” she said.
“We will continue to assess emerging information and respond as required.”
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