A van filled with gas bottles has exploded after being driven into the offices of an Australian Christian group.
All staff at the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) are safe. The driver is in hospital.
The ACL has consistently defended traditional marriage in Australia, and has campaigned against a state-funded LGBT education programme.
Threats
Lyle Shelton, ACL’s Managing Director, spoke outside the office in Canberra as he surveyed the damage.
“This is a scene of absolute devastation. I never thought in coming to work for a public advocacy organisation like ACL that we would be subject to this sort of thing. This is not the Australia that I grew up in.”
While saying he could not know for certain the motivation of the attack, he did note it came after “multiple death threats and threats of violence that my staff have endured over the course of this year”.
And he also said that having his organisation labelled as a “hate group” in the Australian Parliament “doesn’t help”.
Police report
Police were quick to say that the incident was not “politically, religiously or ideologically motivated” after having a “very short” conversation with the driver of the van.
He reportedly walked 4km to a hospital and was admitted with serious burns.
Shelton said he was praying for the driver, but challenged the police’s account.
Too many consequences
“I’m not convinced you can come to that conclusion so quickly. There are just too many coincidences”.
Questioning suggestions it was a random attack, he said, “why here? Why at the ACL office with multiple gas cylinders loaded up in your van? It just doesn’t make sense to me.
“It’s a coincidence of gigantic proportions for this to be plausible and concluded so unequivocally, so quickly, to me just seems strange.”
Sympathy
Marriage is defined as being between one man and one woman in Australia, but there has been a long debate on the issue in the country.
Alex Greenwich, an Independent MP and pro-same-sex marriage campaigner, expressed his sympathy for ACL over the “shocking and saddening incident”.
Michael Keenan, a Government Minister, sent the administration’s “thoughts and condolences” following the “very traumatic experience”.