Anthony Albanese has confirmed he had “known for some time” that a caravan terror plot in Sydney was a hoax fabricated by known criminals while acknowledging the incident created a “very real” sense of fear for Australia’s Jewish community.
Despite this, this Prime Minister has continued to refuse to answer exactly when he was briefed by federal security agencies after authorities recovered the explosives-filled caravan in Dural in Sydney’s northwest on January 19 and whether he was informed before the investigation became public on January 29.
“I was informed appropriately by the AFP, and what I did was engage and support the AFP, not engage in the sort of nonsense that we saw from the Coalition,” he told reporters.
“I have known for some time what the AFP thought and what the ASIO (and our) security agencies thought about the events that occurred, including the caravan.
“What I chose to do, despite some of the media commentary and despite the criticism of the opposition, was to act in our interests, back our security agencies, back the Australian Federal Police and allow them to do their job.”
Mr Albanese also acknowledged the impact of the terror hoax on Australia’s Jewish community, with police recovering notes that detailed the address of the Great Jewish Synagogue.
“The fact that it was a hoax does not mean that it didn’t create fear for the Jewish community. It did,” he said.
“While it was a hoax and the motivation was about criminal activities and not related to those issues, the fear that it created was very real, and that is absolutely understandable that people felt that fear.
Following revelations from the police that the caravan plot was “essentially a criminal con job” from organised crime figures, Labor and the Coalition have been embroiled in a verbal back-and-fourth, with both parties accusing the other of politicising national security.
On Tuesday, Peter Dutton shot down comments from Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke that the Opposition Leader made “outrageous claims” without seeking briefings from security agencies.
Mr Dutton said the accusation was “utter nonsense”.
“We requested a briefing on the 22 January. We requested everything about a week later. At no time during those briefings on my discussions with the director-general of ASIO, including on February 18, was there any mention of a hoax,” he said.
More to come