Man charged with threatening to kill Qld Premier, Chief Health Officer

A Gold Coast man has been charged for allegedly threatening to kill Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and the state’s chief health officer.

A Gold Coast man has been charged after allegedly threatening to kill the Queensland Premier and Chief Health Officer.

A Queensland Police spokesperson said detectives had executed a search warrant at a Nerang property on Wednesday night, into alleged threats made against Annastacia Palaszczuk and Dr Jeannette Young.

A 43-year-old Nerang man will appear in the Southport Magistrates Court on October 7 charged with one count of Using a Carriage Service to Make a Threat to Kill.

It comes as it was revealed Dr Young was assigned a personal police escort amid mounting online trolling and death threats.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has previously said increased trolling was taking a toll on her and her family. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Ms Palaszczuk has previously said the criticism over her border closure had been “relentless”, but her government would not be pressured to budge on her stance.

“It is relentless. It is intimidating. But I will not be intimidated,” she said.

The Premier also said her family had been “upset” by the attacks on her.

Dr Young said on Monday the intense trolling had been very difficult to deal with.

“But then, this (pandemic) has taken an enormous toll on nearly every single person in our community,” she said.

“We can’t see a clear end to this. So, we’re going to all have to work this through together and work out how we can manage this as well as go forward.”

Dr Young said she felt reassured knowing she had the support of the Queensland Government and Police.

“It helps me to know that our government here in Queensland is willing to support me to that extent... the support they’ve shown me has made me feel much safer to do what I need to do,” she said.

Speaking to media on Thursday afternoon, Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick defended the Premier and Dr Young, saying they have worked every waking hour to steer the state through the pandemic.

Mr Dick deplored any alleged acts of violence towards them.

“It is absolutely reprehensible that anyone would think of doing harm to these two very fine Queenslanders,” he said.

AMAQ President Dr. Chris Perry earlier this week called for internet trolls to leave Dr Jeannette Young alone. Picture: News Corp/Attila Csaszar

Earlier this week, AMA President Dr Chris Perry doubled down on his support for Dr Young, and called for internet trolls to “back off” and “leave her alone” on Sunday.

“The (border) restrictions seem to be justified,” Dr Perry said on Monday morning in support of Dr Young.

“You have got to make a choice … do we have more people at funerals or more COVID funerals?”

Under the Commonwealth Criminal Code, the charge carries a maximum term of 10 years behind bars.

Queensland Police declined to make further comments.