A 17-year-old boy arrested last week when police allegedly found three homemade bombs in his family home in Australia's second-largest city appeared in a children's court on Monday charged with terrorism offenses.

The boy, who as a juvenile suspect cannot be publicly identified, was remanded in custody after a brief court appearance in a Melbourne Children's Court during which he was charged with planning a terrorist act somewhere in Victoria state and with possessing items connected with a terrorist act.

He faces a potential sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Attorney General George Brandis told the Senate that the boy was the 23rd person to be charged in eight counterterrorism raids in the east coast cities of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Logan since September when Australia's terrorist threat alert was raised to the second highest level on a four-tier scale due to the unprecedented threat posed by the Islamic State movement.

The boy did not enter a plea and did not apply for bail. His next court appearance is May 26.

The boy sat in the dock flanked by police during the hearing. None of the boy's family appeared to be in the courtroom.