Man arrested for allegedly making threats at WA MP's office with nunchucks

Police have arrested a man after he reportedly made verbal threats while armed with "nunchucks" at state MP Hannah Beazley's electoral office in the inner-city Perth suburb of Victoria Park.

In a statement, police said they responded to reports of a man causing a disturbance at the electorate office on Albany Highway in Victoria Park about 1:15pm today.

They said he was armed with nunchucks — a weapon used in martial arts made of two short sticks connected by a short chain. 

Police found the 56-year-old man in nearby Bentley, where he was apprehended. He is assisting police with their inquiries.

No-one was injured in the incident.

Man 'demanded to see MP'

Speaking outside parliament, Ms Beazley said the man had allegedly demanded to see her.

She said he was asking for her by name and "demanding access" to her while brandishing "home-made" nunchucks.

"But apart from that, when he was escalated, [they] couldn't actually understand what he was saying," she said.

Ms Beazley said it was especially concerning due to the "heightened environment" following the alleged attack on Helen Haines in Victoria.

"I immediately jumped to concerns for [my staff], and to be honest concerns of getting home and being able to have a conversation with my kids before they found out from anyone else," she said.

"Often times my local police say to me I should be calling them more often with some of the stuff we see in the electoral office.

"I'm a highly accessible member of parliament, I love that … every time I walk down the street I'm stopped for a conversation — I do not want to see that change at all."

Staff upset

Earlier, Ms Beazley described the incident as a "confronting situation".

"I have spoken to my staff, who are understandably shaken and upset by what took place," she said in a statement.

"At this time, I do not know the motivation behind what occurred today."

Ms Beazley is the daughter of former federal opposition leader Kim Beazley, who was also a former US ambassador and WA governor.

Witness heard screaming

Olivia Nelson witnessed the incident from a business across the road. 

"We heard some screaming, and that's not uncommon here along this strip," she said.

"But we heard it pretty prevalently so we went out there.

"And this guy was just screaming, cussing, going crazy."

Ms Nelson said the incident was different from what she ordinarily might witness along the highway.

"It was scary stuff," she said.

"He was much louder than the usual crowd that we see."

Safety discussion

The incident comes just two days after an attack on the federal member for Indi Helen Haines, who remains in a critical condition in hospital after being run over outside her electoral office.

Leaders of the state's political parties are due to meet with representatives from government, police and the parliament tomorrow to discuss safety issues in the wake of the attack on Ms Haines.

Premier Roger Cook said yesterday it would offer an opportunity to talk about recent improvements, as well as "what further actions can be taken to improve the security arrangements".

"There's three elements here: there's the parliamentary precinct, where we're already undertaking significant upgrades in security," he said.

"There's electorate offices, and they've changed significantly since I was an electorate officer back in the 1990s, and obviously there's people's homes as well."