A Sydney man who made death threats to Anthony Albanese after the Bondi Beach terrorist attack has avoided jail after pleading guilty and apologising for what he called his “unacceptable behaviour”.
Gregory William Tait, 44, of Greystanes in Sydney’s west, was sentenced at Parramatta Local Court to a two-year good behaviour bond after making two calls to the Prime Minister’s office on December 15.
The court heard Tait had been drinking and taking sleeping pills while coping with the death of his father. He said he had been outraged by the attack on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration, in which 15 people were killed and more than 40 injured.
Tait told the court he personally knew one of those killed, Rabbi Eli Schlanger. During one call, he told a staff member: “I will come to your office … I’ll kill him … I’ll kill you both.”
In a second call, he left a voicemail in which he said: “You have turned our country into a third world war zone … and the blood is on your hands labour (sic) and I hope the blood finds you, and I hope that you pay the ultimate price for immigration.”
He pleaded guilty to two charges of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.
Giving evidence, Tait said he was beginning to manage his psychiatric issues and apologised to Mr Albanese and his staff. “I felt powerless and frustrated and outraged and I didn’t know how to deal with it without my father,” he said.
Acting Judge Timothy Keady said threats of this kind could have devastating effects on victims, regardless of the intentions of the person making them.
He described the offences as an “offence against the body politic” and said politicians should be able to do their jobs without being subjected to “cowardly” behaviour that could have a “sinister” effect by subverting democracy.
“Politicians and those that work for them should be able to go into the public domain without that kind of fear,” Judge Keady said.
Under the order, Tait must not drink alcohol or take drugs and must participate in counselling.
After the hearing, he repeated his apology to Mr Albanese while wearing a pair of smart glasses, and urged Australians to protect democratic values.
“I’d like to encourage all Australians that we do live in a democracy, even if it doesn’t feel like it, we do live in one,” he said.
“We must maintain this and behaving like myself will certainly not maintain this democracy.”
