Threats Against MPs, Dignitaries Have Almost Doubled in 2 Years, AFP Warns

The Australian Federal Police says online anonymity has contributed to rising harassment.

Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivers his budget speech at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on March 25, 2025. Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images

In a sign of an increasingly fractured society, reports of threats to people in prominent roles have almost doubled in just two years, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) has told a Senate Estimates hearing.

The issue is of such concern that AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw highlighted it in his opening statement.

Calling it “sobering information” he needed to share, Kershaw revealed that in 2021/22 there were 555 reports of threats to federal parliamentarians, their electorate offices, dignitaries, and what he called “high office holders.”

In the following year, there were 709 such reports—an almost 28 percent increase.

By 2023/24, the number had risen to 1,009—up over 42 percent on 2022/23 and an 81.8 percent increase on 2021/22.

“This financial year, as of Feb. 28, 2025, there have been 712 reports. At this rate, the number of threats this financial year will surpass those [of last year],” the commissioner told senators.

Those numbers refer to the total number of threats and reports of harassment, nuisance, and offensive communications reported to the AFP and include both direct and indirect threats relating to, or reported by “protected interests.”

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw speaks to the media in Sydney, Australia, on June 08, 2021. Mark Evans/Getty Images

The AFP provides protection to defence establishments, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, diplomatic missions, parliamentary sites, and “designated official establishments,” as well as personal protection to the prime minister and other ministers, the governor-general, and foreign officials.

Wide Range of Targets

The politicians who have been targeted are from across the political spectrum, live throughout Australia, and are of different backgrounds.

“A lot of these threats are directed at male politicians and high office holders,” Kershaw said. “However, the nature of threats and comments directed at female parliamentarians and high office holders are particularly troubling.”

While any politician or office holder might be targeted because they have a public profile, because of the comments they have made in the media, or their policy positions,“ in some cases it appears male offenders are targeting women [just] because they are women, or women with an ethnic background,” he said.

“The AFP will not tolerate this criminality and will take swift action,” the commissioner assured parliamentarians but pointed out that Australia’s “febrile environment” mirrored that of many similar democracies.

Often, the victims of such behaviour opt not to lay charges but ask that the AFP talk to the alleged offender.

Because the AFP has a victim-centric approach, it will often be guided by their wishes and “deploy the blue uniform to knock on an offender’s door,” Kershaw said.

“This can be enough to stop the harassment. And usually when we knock on their door, they are shocked to see us. One, because they probably thought we could not identify them; and two, because they say they never meant to cause offence.”

He revealed that in the past 13 weeks, the AFP has charged six men, in five separate incidents, for allegedly threatening MPs and one man for allegedly threatening a political organisation. Their ages ranged from 29 years to 64 years.

Anonymity Emboldens Offenders

COVID-19 had contributed to a growing distrust in traditional institutions and created polarised community views, Kershaw suggested, and the ability to be anonymous on social media has “emboldened people to make comments and threats from a distance.”

There’s also increasing risk that the anger that’s presently expressed on the various platforms may boil over into the real world, he warned.

“In Australia, we are recording an increase in ‘issue-motivated extremism’ and offenders who are quickly willing to use violence to further their cause,” Kershaw said.

He advised politicians to study guides on keeping themselves, their staff, and offices safe, and to advise the AFP on planned official engagements.

The AFP has also developed election-specific security advice to address key campaign risks.

Such is the level of concern that a special multi-agency operation—AUSTRALIS25—has been established to enable a rapid response for triaging, assessing, and acting upon threats.

An Incident Coordination Centre will operate seven days a week.

“I know some of this information will be confronting to parliamentarians, staff and families,” Kershaw told the Senate Committee. “However, we need to provide the right education, not just for victims, but to deter those who think it is acceptable to threaten politicians or high office holders.

“This goes to the heart of protecting our democracy and ensuring the cowards behind the correspondence do not silence the voices who serve and contribute to Australia,” he said.