Australian opposition leader’s home targeted in alleged bomb plot

Australia’s opposition leader Peter Dutton has confirmed that his family home was the target of an alleged bomb plot, but insisted the incident would not hinder his campaign to replace Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the 3 May federal election.

Speaking to reporters in Perth on Friday, Dutton praised the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for ensuring his family’s safety.

“I’m incredibly grateful to the AFP that my family are kept safe. I’ve never felt unsafe one day in this job. It hasn’t stopped me from doing anything, and it won’t on this campaign,” he said.

The alleged plot, which reportedly involved explosives and a drone, was directed at Dutton’s home on the outskirts of Brisbane, where he lives with his wife and three children, according to unnamed sources cited by The Australian newspaper.

A 16-year-old has been charged with planning a terrorist act and ordered to stand trial in the Queensland Supreme Court on Thursday. The teen, who cannot be named due to his age, was arrested in August of last year and could face a life sentence if convicted.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had reached out to Dutton following the revelations and disclosed that he too had been subjected to a “pretty serious incident,” though he declined to provide further details.

“It is a fact that the number of threats made to parliamentarians has increased in recent times,” Albanese said in Darwin. “There’s no place whatsoever in politics for any of this.”

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in 2023, Albanese’s Sydney office has been among several that have been vandalised by pro-Palestinian activists.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw told a Senate committee last month that officers responded to 1,009 threats against politicians during the 2023–2024 financial year. That number is already set to be surpassed in the current year, with 712 threats recorded by March.

Dutton, who served as minister for immigration and border protection from 2014, noted he had been under high-level security protection ever since.

“I cancelled the visas of a lot of bikies and rapists and organised crime figures and I wouldn’t change that,” he said.

Liberal Party campaign spokesperson James Paterson said Dutton and his family now “require around-the-clock personal police protection.” Despite the threats, Dutton affirmed he remains undeterred in his campaign efforts.