A self-confessed far-right tradie has been arrested and charged with threatening to kidnap Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the wake of the Bondi massacre, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Nathan Ballesty, 27, allegedly used a carriage service at his Beacon Hill home, in Sydney‘s northern beaches, between 12.01am on Friday and 8.40pm on Sunday to threaten serious harm against the PM.
The Australian Federal Police’s newly formed National Security Investigations team immediately launched a probe and allegedly traced the threat back to Ballesty.
‘It will be alleged the man made an online post calling for the kidnapping of the federal parliamentarian,’ an AFP spokesman said, in a statement that did not reveal the most powerful politician in Australia was the subject of the threat.
The reality that it was Albanese who had allegedly been threatened was only made clear in court documents inspected by the Daily Mail late yesterday.
Ballesty’s home was raided between 6pm and 8.30pm on Sunday, with officers seizing a number of electronic devices for forensic examination.
During the search of his home, computers and mobile phone, police allege Ballesty failed to comply with the directions of the investigating officers.
He was taken to Manly Police Station and charged with using a carriage service to threaten serious harm and contravening an order to provide access to an electronic device.
Nathan Ballesty, 27, is accused of making a threat online calling for Anthony Albanese to be kidnapped
Police will allege the threat against the Prime Minister (pictured in Bondi) was made on December 19
At Manly Local Court on Monday, Magistrate Ian Guy granted Ballesty bail under strict conditions which ban him from contacting any members of Parliament or their offices.
He must abide by a nighttime curfew, is banned from accessing encrypted applications including Discord, must surrender his passport and cannot possess more than one phone.
He must also report to police three times a week, cannot consume drugs or alcohol unless prescribed, and must see a GP and accept any treatment reasonably recommended.
Ballesty’s posts on social media show he frequently expressed right-wing views, with his bio on X describing him as a ‘Catholic, Anti-Communist’ – with the political tenor of his posts ramping up in the wake of the deaths of 15 people at Bondi on December 14.
On December 19, he professed on social media platform X: ‘I am far right.’
It followed an earlier post 11 weeks ago when he insisted: ‘It’s okay to be far right.’
On December 14, under a link to Albanese’s immediate reaction to the Bondi attack, he posted: ‘Words cannot describe the contempt I have for this rat’ .
On December 21, the day of his arrest, he shared a Change.org petition calling for Albanese’s resignation in the wake of the alleged terror attack at Bondi Beach.
Anthony Albanese is pictured at a memorial for the Bondi Beach massacre victims on Sunday
Fifteen people died and dozens more were injured when a father and son allegedly opened fire at the iconic beach on December 14
‘In light of recent tragic events at Bondi Beach and pressing national concerns, it is time to address the leadership of our country,’ the petition reads.
‘The shocking mass shooting at Bondi Beach, which claimed numerous innocent lives, is yet another reminder of the urgent action required to safeguard our communities.
‘Equally concerning is the ongoing mass migration, a shift that surveys and polls consistently show is opposed by a significant portion of the Australian population.
‘Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took office with the promise of steering Australia toward a safer and more prosperous future for all.
‘However, many Australians now feel that promise has not been kept.’
In December last year, Ballesty shared a post about then-opposition leader Peter Dutton after the politician announced he would remove the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags from government press conferences if he was elected into power.
‘Australia has one flag. This flag,’ the post read.
In another post, he shared a graph indicating the biggest threat to Western civilisation was ‘white liberal women with arts degrees’.
Alleged Bondi terrorist Naveed Akram is pictured
The incident comes as Mr Albanese has faced scrutiny in the wake of the alleged mass shooting.
The Prime Minister was heckled and booed as he arrived at Bondi Beach for a memorial service attended by an estimated 15,000 people on Sunday.
The AFP created National Security Investigations teams in September to ‘target groups and individuals causing high levels of harm to Australia’s social cohesion, including the targeting of federal parliamentarians’.
Ballesty is next due to face Sydney Downing Centre Local Court on March 3.
