Family First’s National Director Lyle Shelton has called on Australians to see the classical dance performance Shen Yun after a fake bomb threat led to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese being evacuated from his official residence.

Shelton said that while it was hard to link the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) directly to the incident, Beijing’s pattern of behaviour could not be ignored.

“Given the CCP’s long-running hostility to Shen Yun and its global campaign to silence critics, it is not wrong to suspect the regime or its sympathisers may be involved in bomb threat,” Shelton said in a statement. Family First is a well-known political party with a focus on Christian values and family.

“The Chinese Consulate-General in Sydney, along with the Chinese Consulate in Melbourne, has issued public statements urging Australians not to attend Shen Yun performances,” Shelton added.

Family First National Director Lyle Shelton attends the Australian Conservatives campaign launch at the Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort on the Gold Coast, Australia, on April 30, 2019. (Richard Szabo/The Epoch Times)

Shen Yun was founded in 2006 and, through the medium of classical Chinese dance, showcases 5,000 years of Chinese civilisation. Many artists are practitioners of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong, which has suffered persecution by the Chinese regime in China for nearly 27 years.

The Falun Dafa Information Center reports that Shen Yun received more than 130 death threats, bomb threats, or other methods of intimidation between 2022 and 2024, ultimately aimed at stopping performances. No actual incidents have eventuated, despite the threats.

The latest incidents in Australia saw two death threats delivered in Chinese to the show’s organisers, warning of violent harm and explosives targeting the prime minister’s residence, The Lodge.

A day later, it was revealed that the Gold Coast venue at which the show was to perform, the Home of the Arts (HOTA), also had to evacuate after it received a similar threat letter.

“This [Shen Yun] is the China the CCP does not want Australians to see—a rich cultural heritage that predates and contradicts communist ideology,” Shelton said.

“It is completely unacceptable for foreign diplomatic missions to pressure Australians about what cultural performances they should or should not attend.”

Shelton called on Australians to turn out in “even greater numbers” to see the performance.

Shen Yun’s Australian presenters have urged the federal government to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the local incidents and protect against foreign interference.

“When threats extend to a nation’s elected leader, this is no longer solely a matter of religious freedom or artistic expression—it becomes a direct challenge to national sovereignty, democratic governance, and public safety,” the Falun Dafa Australia Information Centre said in a statement.

“Such conduct mirrors patterns of transnational repression documented globally and warrants urgent attention at the highest levels of government.”

Shen Yun is performing on the Gold Coast, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Sydney as part of its Feb. 25–March 29 Australian tour this year.