2016 Australian school bomb threats

Friday 29 January 2016

Four schools in Victoria and several schools in New South Wales received bomb threat calls on 29 January 2016.[12] Threats were made against schools in Mona Vale, Woolooware, Richmond, Ulladulla, Lake Illawarra, and Penrith between 10:50am and 11:10am. Several schools were swept by police who declared the calls to be hoaxes, allowing students to return to class by 2:30pm.[12]

Monday 1 February 2016

Nine schools in New South Wales received bomb threat calls on 1 February 2016.[1] The calls were reported to police as having been delivered by a computerised voice. The calls composed of violent threats such as shootings and bombings. Most of these schools evacuated students, however some chose to place students in lockdown instead.[10] Following investigations of school grounds for any suspicious or threatening objects, NSW Police spokespersons told media that the threats were unlikely to be related to terrorism and they unlikely to be substantive.[1]

Tuesday 2 February 2016

On 2 February 2016, 17 Victorian schools received calls, which were similar to the threats to New South Wales schools. Again, it was reported that the threats were delivered over the phone by a computerised voice.[1] The substance of the threats was also similar, but it was reported that threats of chemical attacks were also delivered to these schools.[1]

A further five schools in the Australian Capital Territory also received similar threats throughout Tuesday. Police promptly searched those schools involved, before releasing a statement that nothing of suspicion had been found to indicate that the threats were substantial.[1]

A total of 10 schools in Queensland also received threats on Tuesday, before being evacuated:[10]

• Surfers Paradise State School (South East Region);
• Oxenford State School (South East Region);
• Caningeraba State School (South East Region);
• Macgregor State High School (Metropolitan Region);
• The Gap State High School (Metropolitan Region);
• Bounty Boulevard State School (North Coast Region);
• Buddina State School (North Coast Region);
• Glenmore State High School (Central Queensland Region);
• Townsville State High School (North Queensland Region); and
• Woree State School (Far North Queensland Region).

Wednesday, 3 February 2016

A further three schools in Victoria and seven schools in Queensland received threatening calls on Wednesday and were evacuated.[10] The content and nature of the calls were identical to those made to schools on earlier days.

5–11 February 2016

A range of schools around Australia received continued phone threats at staggered times and on varying dates. The calls seemingly stopped on 11 February 2016.

A total of 44 separate incidents took place in the course of the delivery of the threats at a range of schools, in the first week of the threats being made.[1] These included nine schools in New South Wales, 20 schools in Victoria, 10 schools in Queensland, and five schools in the Australian Capital Territory. In total, 591 bomb threats were made to Australian schools over the first week and following weeks.[3]

Kadar was arrested in the town of Ashkelon, in Israel, in March of 2017. This was following an international investigation led in Australia by the Victoria Police e-crime squad.[3] He was charged with making over 2,000 threats to various locations in various countries around the world and was found guilty in June.[11] He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by an Israeli judge.[11]

Kadar's central argument through his case was that many of the calls were made while he was a minor. Evidence was also provided to the Court which demonstrated that Kadar had a brain tumour that caused autism, as well as other mental problems, and so he should not be held criminally liable or legally competent.[11] Despite this evidence the judge declared that Kadar had a high IQ and a high understanding of his wrongdoing.[11]

Kadar was found guilty of several offences including extortion, disseminating hoaxes in order to spread panic, money laundering, and computer hacking.[16] The District Court Judge, Zvi Gurfinkel noted:

"One can imagine... the major inconvenience and fright caused when it was necessary to evacuate students from schools, following the hoax calls that there were bombs there..."

Prior to his sentencing, Kadar was issued a criminal complaint notice in the US State of Florida, seeking his arrest. The complaint described Kadar's offences as 'Making Threatening Interstate Communications' and 'Making Interstate Threats Related to Explosives'.[17] Despite the United States seeking the extradition of Kadar following his arrest in Israel, Israeli authorities chose to prosecute Kadar in Israel instead.[16]

During the same period when Kadar made threats to Australian schools, he also carried out a number of other attacks on a variety of institutions in other countries. He called an threatened institutions in countries including the United States of America, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Norway and Denmark.[18] Kadar targeted schools, community centres, and primarily Jewish or Jewish-related organisations and places of worship. This resulted in a criminal complaint being issued for Kadar in the United States District Court of Florida for the offences of 'Making Threatening Interstate Communications' and 'Making Interstate Threats Related to Explosives'.[17]

In early 2017, following the period throughout which the threats were made against Australian schools, a number of bomb threats were made to Jewish community centres in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Norway and Denmark by Kadar.[16] Like the threats made against Australian schools, these threats were delivered via computerised messaged, and resulted in widespread panic and evacuations.[11]

Following these school bomb threats, literature has been published by Karlene Tipler which outlines the ideal response for schools in a similar situation. This includes the six-stage model proposed by Tipler. The six stages are, 1) alerts; 2) safety behaviours; 3) response actions; 4) student release / family reunification’ 5) temporary school closure; 6) business as usual.[19] The stages are designed to minimize harm and seek to “enhance school safety efforts”.[19]

A study by Carol Mutch has also revealed that schools in Australia, particularly those which were targeted by the initial bomb threats, will be better suited to deal with such crises in the future. This is because of “culminative learning”,[20] or the ability of schools to benefit and learn from repeated events, by developing alternative methods for responding, and learning lessons from mistakes made.

• 2005 Brisbane bomb hoax
• Lindt Cafe Siege of 2014