Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was the alleged target of a private school student’s terror plot which reportedly involved the use of a drone.
The 16-year-old boy was arrested and charged last August after a joint counter-terrorism investigation by federal and Queensland police.
Sources claim the teen was allegedly planning to attack the Coalition leader at his property north of Brisbane, The n reported.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was a student at one of Brisbane’s most prestigious private boys’ schools prior to his arrest.
It’s alleged the boy, who has been in custody since his arrest planned the attack from May 21 to July 15 last year.
Police also alleged he researched ‘bomb-making instructions, purchased explosives ingredients, tested thermal chemical reactions, tested homemade explosives’ contrary to section 101.6 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code.
The teen was charged with a Commonwealth offence of committing acts done ‘in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act’.
He was committed to stand trial on the single charge on Thursday.
The teen faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment if he is convicted.
No details were given during the hearing, nor in court documents, as to who was the target of the alleged plot.
It’s understood Mr Dutton is aware that he was the target of the alleged plot.
A prosecutor submitted witness statements as part of the brief of evidence in the case.
The teen’s lawyer Michael Cridland conceded this client had a case to answer and consented to him being committed to stand trial before a jury at a later date.
‘Your lawyer has said there is enough evidence in the paperwork that has been provided to me to justify you going on trial in a higher court, the Supreme Court,’ magistrate Megan Power told the boy.
When he was asked if he wanted to enter a plea, the teen, appearing by video link from a detention centre, replied that ‘No, I do not wish to enter any plea.’
His parents attended the hearing.
Mr Dutton wasn’t in court on Thursday as he’s campaigning for the May 3 election.
A media application to report on the boy’s first court appearance last year was refused by Ms Power.
Mr Cridland reportedly opposed the application on the grounds that the teen had mental health issues.
The lawyer said the boy would be ‘particularly vulnerable’ if any information was made available to the media, The n reported.
‘The risk of prejudice … far outweighs any public interest there is in the media covering these proceedings,’ Mr Cridland told the court.
Ms Power refused the media’s application at the time, citing a risk of prejudice to the boy because having an extra person in court could make him uncomfortable, and said the Children’s Court was ‘generally a closed jurisdiction’.
‘There are good reasons for that, Mr Cridland has pointed that out, those reasons from a youth justice principle particularly in respect of criminal matters,’ she said.
‘In this matter, which involves a 16-year-old young person, who I am told and without challenge accept that suffers particular vulnerability … there is a risk of prejudice to him.’
But the media was allowed to cover the hearing on Thursday.