Man who threatened to bash PM and treasurer avoids jail time
Posted Mon 7 Sep 2026 at 2:03pmMon 7 Sep 2026 at 2:03pmMon 7 Sep 2026 at 2:03pm
In short:
Gold Coast man Scott Evans, 57, has pleaded guilty to threatening to bash Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
Australian Federal Police charged Evans in July after finding evidence of the threats on his mobile phone during a search of his home.
What’s next?
Evans was sentenced to six months in prison but released on an 18-month good behaviour order.
A Gold Coast man who threatened to bash and paralyse Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has narrowly avoided jail time.
Officers from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) National Security Intelligence team launched an investigation into threatening voice messages left on the answering service of Mr Chalmers’s electorate office on June 23.
Those messages were traced to Scott Evans, 57, and his home at Coomera on the northern Gold Coast, which was searched by AFP officers on July 16.
During that search, evidence of the threats were found on Evans’s mobile phone and he was charged with threatening to cause harm to a public official, which carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison.
Evans today pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court.
Legal officer for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecution Tian Behenna told the court Evans left three “aggressive” messages in the space of six minutes on the night in question.
“Those messages included threats like, ‘Blood is going to be on your hands because I’ve had enough’,” Mr Behenna told the court.
“He said, ‘If I see Albanese you can pass it on, and yourself, I’m going to punch the f***ing shit out of you’.”
Mr Behenna submitted to the court that the only suitable punishment for Evans was a period of imprisonment.
“This offending needs to be denounced,” he said.
Representing Evans, Corey Cook told the court his client was receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and his regular psychologist appointment had been cancelled on June 23, the same night he called Mr Chalmers’s office.
“That led him to be on his own and having negative thoughts,” Mr Cook said.
“He’s out of routine and he’s made poor decisions.
“He’s extremely embarrassed and ashamed with his actions … it was an impulsive decision.“
During her sentencing remarks, Magistrate Pamela Dowse detailed more content of the messages Evans left on Mr Chalmers’s answering service.
“You said, ‘I hope I run into you and Albanese because you’re not going to be walking and I don’t care what happens from now’,” Ms Dowse told Evans.
“I think that can fairly well be described as aggressive and extremely threatening to our most senior politicians.“
Ms Dowse accepted Evans’s early guilty plea and that he was remorseful, embarrassed and ashamed of his actions.
She did not accept Mr Cook’s submission that the messages were left impulsively or that Evans did not intend to act on the threats.
“That’s not relevant to the threat … the people on the receiving end have got no idea what your intentions are,” she said.
“You say it was a moment of frustration but I’d argue you made three separate calls.”
Ms Dowse recorded a conviction against Evans and sentenced him to six months in prison but released him to serve an 18-month good behaviour order.