Two men have been charged over threatening messages to two federal MPs, one in relation to messages to Lidia Thorpe, and another in relation to a message about Allegra Spender.
A third man has been charged for allegedly harassing an “Australian high-office holder”. Guardian Australia has been told the charge relates to the prime minister, Anthony Albanese.
Joel Davis, a 30-year-old from the Sydney suburb of Bondi, was arrested by the Australian federal police on Thursday after he was accused of sending a “menacing message” about Spender. The AFP said the message allegedly encouraged people to direct “abusive and hateful messages” at the politician after she condemned a protest by neo-Nazi group National Socialist Network earlier this month.
Stefan Eracleous, 32, was charged on Friday with using a carriage service to harass Thorpe after his electronic devices were seized. He is also accused of defacing an Indigenous flag outside her office.
The third man, a 29-year-old from Tamworth, was charged on Friday with seven offences that included four counts of using a carriage service to harass an “Australian high office holder”.
Davis refused bail
On Friday, Davis appeared on camera from custody before the New South Wales bail division before Magistrate Daniel Covington. He was refused bail and will remain in custody due to risks he could commit a “serious offence”.
He allegedly wrote messages that encouraged abusive and hateful messages to be directed towards Spender, the MP for Wentworth, after she condemned a neo-Nazi rally held outside the NSW parliament earlier this month.
The police-authorised rally was attended by about 60 black-clad men who held up a sign that said “Abolish the Jewish lobby” and chanted a Hitler Youth slogan.
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Covington said due to suggestions of the “ideology” that Davis follows, it would be “difficult for me on balance to think he wouldn’t continue to commit a serious offence if bail was granted today”.
He noted Davis did not have a violent history and only an unrelated offence in NSW in 2014.
The Legal Aid lawyer Liam McKibbin had argued that Davis should be granted bail because his partner was nine months pregnant with their son and had been due on Thursday.
He also argued Davis was unlikely to face the maximum penalty for the one charge he was facing of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence, and which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
“[The] allegation does not include a physical threat of violence, notwithstanding the alleged disturbing conduct,” McKibbin told the court.
Covington later noted the message included threats to Spender that included sexual violence.
The prosecutor Kristen Wakefield said Davis should not get bail. She told the court that Davis was already on bail for an alleged offence committed in South Australia and there was a risk he would not appear for future court dates if he was bailed again.
She said the “victim expressed concern for the safety of her family and herself”.
Wakefield said that “there was a comment directed at a wider audience which elevated the seriousness of this offence” and alleged that he was “encouraging a wider audience to engage in the violence against the victim”.
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Wakefield then said: “Telegram itself has an extremely wide audience … It would be very difficult to ensure that further offending through Telegram or at some other similar social media platform didn’t occur.”
McKibbin had offered bail conditions that included Davis not going within 100 metres of the Wentworth electorate office, and only carrying one mobile phone which he would allow to be checked.
The court heard Davis had been employed in retail in Sydney until last week. He moved to Sydney three months ago to be with his pregnant partner.
Davis was due to appear before court again in December.
Eracleous to face court next week
The three men were charged under the AFP’s national security investigation team, which was set up to “target groups and individuals causing high levels of harm to Australia’s social cohesion, including the targeting of federal parliamentarians”.
Eracleous, who is based in Melbourne, will face court next Thursday.
Thorpe’s office had reported to the AFP after a man allegedly sent multiple harassing emails before escalating to an abusive phone call, which included hateful and menacing rhetoric.
Meanwhile, the Tamworth man will face a number of charges when he appears in court in January, including four counts of using a carriage service to harass, one count of unauthorised possession of a prohibited firearm, one count of not safely keeping a firearm and one count of possessing ammunition without a licence or permit.
On Saturday, the AFP searched a Tamworth home, where they seized a rifle and ammunition.
