Senators furious after questions to cops on Albanese’s caravan briefing shut down

Senator says Labor is in “damage control” after shutting down questioning of top cops over when Anthony Albanese was briefed on the discovery of a caravan allegedly packed with explosives.

Australia’s top federal cops have avoided questions about when Anthony Albanese was briefed on the discovery of a caravan packed with explosives linked to an apparent anti-Semitic plot, as Labor shut down the public grilling.

After Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw repeatedly batted away questions from a parliamentary committee about whether the Prime Minister had been briefed on the foiled alleged terror plan, Labor declined a request to extend the inquiry to get some answers.

Greens Senator David Shoebridge on Thursday requested an extra 15-minutes be added to the scheduled hour of questioning so members of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement could continue asking about the caravan incident, but chair and Labor Senator Helen Polley ended the hearing.

Despite the senators’ complaints about the hearing ending without answers, the committee’s rules explicitly prohibit its members from reviewing “operational information” or investigations that have been or are being undertaken by the APF.

Earlier Nationals MP Llew O’Brien had called on Mr Kershaw to explain when Mr Albanese had been briefed.

“What I would say is that that question relates to an ongoing joint counter terrorism team. investigation. And according to the briefings I’ve received that’s not the subject or purpose of today’s hearing,’’ the AFP Commissioner said.

“And also, I am conscious that this is a public hearing, and it’s not an appropriate forum for us to provide information relating to an ongoing investigation.”

Senator Shoebridge after the hearing slammed Labor members for shutting questioning down.

“This was one of the worst examples of this government using its numbers to prevent basic transparency,” he said.

“This is meant to be an AFP oversight committee, not a government-run exercise in political damage control.”

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC at a press conference in Brisbane. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

Prior to the committee hearing, Opposition leader Peter Dutton also questioned why Premier Chris Minns did not raise the caravan investigation with the Prime Minister, saying it “just doesn’t ring true” that “not one word” about the situation was uttered between the pair for nine days.

Mr Dutton also revealed he had written to Mr Albanese concerned about the “breakdown in the national leadership and co-ordination of Australia’s response to domestic terrorism” and called for an “independent and transparent” assessment of the circumstances that lead to the “failure”.

The PM said his “priority” was making sure people engaged in anti-Semitic activities were caught and put behind bars.

“Peter Dutton wants resources of the Australian Federal Police and the intelligence agencies to stop doing what they’re doing, chasing down these criminals, arresting them, putting them in the clink,” he said.

“Instead, he wants a political process.”

Greens Senator David Shoebridge appears at a Senate estimates hearing last year.

The ongoing stoush came as the Coalition and Labor united to pass an amendment to the government’s proposed hate crimes bill to add mandatory minimum sentencing for some terrorism offences and displaying hate symbols through the House of Representatives.

Senior Albanese Government figures defended Labor’s backflip on mandatory minimum sentences as a reflection of the “very serious” anti-Semitism problem in Australia.

Despite the capitulation on a longstanding principle in the Labor Party’s platform to not support mandatory minimum sentences, Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt said it was in the community’s interest to pass the hate crime laws as “quickly as possible” with the broadest possible support across the parliament.

“We need to take quick action and firm action when we face something like the anti-Semitism scourge that we’re facing right now,” he said.

Mr Watt said a two-year review in the legislation provided a “safeguard to ensure that the mandatory minimums are working the way they’re intended”.

The shift was criticised by several independent crossbench MPs and Senators, as well as the Greens, with party leader Adam Bandt accusing Labor of allowing the opposition to “write the laws of the country”.

Originally published as Senators furious after questions to cops on Albanese’s caravan briefing shut down