Does anyone recognise this insect? Is it a good bug that should be let go, or a bad bug that should be killed?
Looks like a click beetle to me.
They are generally innocuous.
Harmless.
Leave it alone unless you’ve found it outside Australia.
Of course if you are an American tourist; it probably will kill you just for the hell of it as with other creatures from Australia
My guess: jewel beetle.
Thank you for your help, it does look like a click beetle. I’ve released it well away from the garden, just on the off chance that it’s one of the varieties whose larvae will damage plants’ roots.
Definitely not a click beetle. They have very characteristic spines at the outside edges of the thorax. This specimen clearly doesn’t.
blondebear’s jewel beetle is a good guess.