A second female lawmaker in Australia is threatened days after alleged car attack

MELBOURNE, Australia -- A man has been charged with threatening an Australian lawmaker’s staff with nunchucks, police said Thursday, days after another legislator was critically injured when a man repeatedly hit her with a car.The incidents are heightening concerns about female politicians’ safety and raising concerns about security in a country where lawmakers are highly accessible to the public. Police say that a 56-year-old man entered Western Australian state government minister Hannah Beazley’s electorate office in suburban Perth on Wednesday, brandishing nunchucks and making verbal threats. Beazley wasn't in the office at the time.Nunchucks are a weapon used in martial arts consisting of two sticks or rods connected by a rope or chain. The man was detained and charged with being armed in a way that may cause fear and with threatening to perform an unlawful act. He spent the night in police custody and will appear in a Perth court later Thursday, police said. There was no allegation the man’s behavior was connected to the driver who hit federal lawmaker Helen Haines with his car in the east coast state of Victoria on Monday. Haines' alleged attacker, Brendan Nugent, appeared i...