A Braybrook man has been sentenced to 12 years’ jail for planning terror attacks and preparing a handbook for terrorists.
Phillip Galea, 36, was sentenced in the Supreme Court on Friday.
In December 2019, he became Australia’s first right-wing extremist to be found guilty of planning and preparing a terror attack under federal anti-terrorism laws.
During his jury trial, it emerged Galea planned to target a left-wing rally with chemical bombs.
He had looked up the addresses of a range of ‘left-wing’ targets, including the union movement’s Trades Hall headquarters, the Socialist Alliance’s Resistance Centre and the Melbourne Anarchist Club.
The jury also found Galea guilty of producing an instruction manual he called the Patriot’s Cookbook, which prosecutors described as a how-to guide for terrorists.
In her sentencing remarks, Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said Galea was not being punished for his “radical right-wing views” but for “the violent means by which you contemplated promoting your beliefs”.
She said Galea, who was a member of Reclaim Australia and the True Blue Crew, had proposed to blow up his targeted buildings with Molotov cocktails.
His Ballarat Road property was raided by counter-terrorism police in August 2016.
The court heard he had spent most of the past four years in custody in solitary confinement due to the nature of his crimes.
He must serve at least nine years of his 12-year sentence before being eligible for parole.
-With The Age
