By Grace Crivellaro, Allanah Sciberras and Dominic Giannini in Canberra

A bomb scare that prompted the prime minister’s evacuation from The Lodge has been condemned across the political spectrum, as security threats against politicians spike.

Anthony Albanese returned to The Lodge in Canberra about 9pm on Tuesday after he was moved to a secure location about three hours earlier.

The threat sparked a significant operation by Australian Federal Police, who said a thorough search of the property was undertaken and nothing suspicious was found.

It was the latest in a series of politically motivated threats against parliamentarians, the AFP confirmed, with 950 incidents investigated in the 2024/25 financial year.

The number of threats made against MPs in 2024/25 was 63 per cent higher than the previous four financial years combined.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher could not divulge more details of the threat against Mr Albanese but labelled the situation “very troubling”.

“Our point of view, and the prime minister’s been saying for months, we need to take the temperature down,” she told ABC TV on Wednesday.

The Labor frontbencher said she couldn’t remember a time when an incident like this had occurred and suggested the “online world” had inflamed political tensions.

“It would be great if people could disagree without issuing a death threat or threatening someone’s life at work, that’s for sure,” Senator Gallagher said.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said in a post on X he was grateful Mr Albanese was safe and condemned threats against politicians as “utterly abhorrent”.

Greens senator Nick McKim echoed the sentiment and said all Australians must “be careful and make sure that we try to keep our political debate … on civil terms”.

“We should argue our positions strongly and forcefully, but there is a line that we don’t want to cross,” he told ABC TV.

The threat reflected a deterioration of where Australia is heading, Nationals leader David Littleproud told Sky News, also urging people to be civil when engaging in political debate.

“I get everyone’s got to have a cause these days … but there’s a forum in which you can do that without perpetrating hate and violence against any of the elected officials,” he said.

The AFP set up a national security investigations team in October 2025 to target people “causing high levels of harm to Australia’s social cohesion, including the targeting of federal parliamentarians”.

AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett revealed 21 people had been charged nationwide since she established the team.

“The majority of these charges relate to threats towards parliamentarians, high office holders and the Jewish community,” she told a parliamentary hearing in February.

A 67-year-old Sydney man was arrested on Tuesday after allegedly sending multiple offensive emails to a federal parliamentarian.

He was charged with using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Meanwhile a 51-year-old man was charged last week over online threats towards politicians.

He will face court in April after federal police investigated social media posts that “contained threatening remarks towards two federal parliamentarians”.

The prime minister has been the target of threats before, with a man convicted earlier in February of using social media to menace, harass and offend.

A death threat and a graphic slur were directed at Mr Albanese and his wife, the court heard.