A Launceston man has been charged after an email allegedly threatening serious violence was sent to the office of a federal politician.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) charged the 54-year-old Ravenswood man on Thursday.
Police allege the email was sent on September 14 and contained “explicit references to serious violence” directed at the politician.
The MP has not been publicly identified.
Officers from an AFP National Security Investigations (NSI) team searched the man’s home on Thursday with help from Tasmania Police, seizing several electronic devices.
The AFP said the devices would undergo further forensic examination.
The man has been charged with one count of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.
The offence carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.
He was granted police bail and is due to appear in the Launceston Magistrates Court on December 16.
AFP commissioner Krissy Barrett announced the NSI teams in October last year “to target groups and individuals causing high levels of harm to Australia’s social cohesion”.
The teams are based in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra and work with state and territory police.
When she took up the role, Barrett said threats against federal parliamentarians had doubled over the previous three years.
