Noongar and other First Nations leaders from a range of groups and organisations met with senior police officials including WA Commissioner Col Blanch Wednesday afternoon to discuss the bomb attack on Monday's Invasion / Survival Day rally and next steps to improve community safety, as the Joint Counter Terrorism Team confirmed it is investigating the attack 'as a potential terrorist act'.

The leaders gathered at WA Police headquarters in East Perth.

After the meeting, Noongar advocate Tony Walley told National Indigenous Times the more than 20 leaders gathered had received from Commissioner Blanch "reassurance that he is going to go to his commissioned officers and those senior ranks and say 'we have got to work with this community, and we want to work with this community'".

"There is no good to having division or a divisive process here because that will get us nowhere. Whereas if we work together - even with robust, uncomfortable conversations, and those things need to be had - I think that will shape us better in the short term and the long term," he said.

"We could have had another 50 people in the room... Those who were absent, but we know they are great leaders and great people, we want them on board too."

Megan Krakouer, director of the National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Project, told National Indigenous Times the meeting was positive, but there remains a lot of unrest and unease in the wake of the attack.

"(The meeting) gave a lot of answers for questions that had been unanswered," she said.

"Obviously there needs to be more evidence and intelligence gathered at this point before the final outcomes... At this point it seems like it was racially motivated, but only once the evidence is gathered it can be (officially) called (a hate crime).

"It was a dangerous situation and there could have been casualties and fatalities... It makes me very sad. There is a lot of unrest and unease in terms of people coming together. Myself and my colleague Marianne (Mackay) and others, we organise rallies and there are a lot of people who come, particularly around social justice issues. This will no doubt cast in people's minds the question 'should I attend or not?'... There are safety concerns for all."

'So much racism, discrimination and hate'

Ms Krakouer said rising racism and extremism was a major issue "right across the country".

"There is so much racism, discrimination and hate towards our people, we saw it with the Camp Sovereignty attack in Melbourne last year, so many terrible statements when there's an issue, particularly social justice issues like a death in custody," she said.

"In terms of January 26... It is our right as First Nations people of this land... to push back against discriminatory practices that hurt us since colonisation."

Whadjuk yorga and Noongar advocate Marianne Headland Mackay told National Indigenous Times: "Everyone knows Invasion Day, right across the country, is a day of truth-telling and importance to our community."

"What I would like to see is our Noongar community come together and form an Invasion Day committee with the City of Perth, so we can have proper organisation for an event that is very important to our mob, and I think that is a way of our strengthening relations with the police as well as local authorities to hand out permits for these kind of events.

"I also want to thank the WA Police after seeing the footage for acting swiftly. This kind of thing hasn't happened before and they did really well... I think our coming together as a strong community in unity, with the Elders, to organise an event of this nature, is the way to go for our mob."

'Potential terrorist act'

On Wednesday evening, WA Police, the Australian Federal Police and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) issued a statement that the Western Australia Joint Counter Terrorism Team (WA JCTT) can confirm it is investigating the attack at Forrest Place on January 26 as a potential terrorist act.

"A man, 31, has been charged by Western Australia Police Force. He has been remanded in custody and will next appear in Perth Magistrates Court on 17 February, 2026," they said.

"The WA JCTT investigation is ongoing and further charges have not been ruled out. There is no ongoing threat to public safety."

Stan Headland, a member of Boorloo/Perth's Cultural Advisor Committee, told National Indigenous Times he was "so glad that bomb didn't go off".

"A lot of my cousin's grand-kids were there," he said.

"Commissioner Blanch put across well what they are going to do with the perpetrator, and explained to us how they are going to deal with this man and find out everything about him, anything he might have written down, on his computers.

"All the people out there who complain about our people and January 26, there's no need for it... If we want to go out and protest, so be it - there is no law against it."

'A very bad incident, and needed to be taken seriously'

Colin Garlett, chairperson of the Whadjuk Aboriginal Corporation, said it was "positive to see things are getting taken seriously".

"Other times when things affect us they don't get taken seriously by the police. I am happy to be here to represent the community and have an input into ways forward."

Dulcie Donaldson, chairperson of the WAC Cultural Advisory Committee, said the attack "was a very bad incident, and needed to be taken seriously... I believe the police and community in general are taking it seriously".

"I want to say, as a mother and a grandmother, and a great-grandmother, that we want to keep our community safe. Perth of all the places should be one of the safest places in the world... And we want to stick together as Australian people and make this place a better place, where people can enjoy events and be safe."

Anyone with information or vision of the incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.