Premier’s leadership is strong, but he will need to find another gear to reassure Jewish community

NSW Premier Chris Minns has shown strong leadership as antisemitism has swept across his city, reassuring a shaken Jewish community that he will never abandon them.

In turn, the Jewish community has been grateful, watching on as homes, cars and childcare centres are firebombed, antisemitic bile is splashed across public places and hundreds of police are patrolling their streets in a constant reminder that violence is always lurking.

Premier Chris Minns and Police Commissioner Karen Webb speak on Thursday. Credit: Nick Moir

However, that goodwill to Minns, which is not extended to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, could evaporate if the premier, and his police force, cannot convince the Jewish community that it had to be kept in the dark over the discovery of an explosive-laden caravan that had the potential to cause mass casualties. There was a note inside with details of a Sydney synagogue.

The only reason the details of the caravan, abandoned for six weeks in the semi-rural Sydney suburb of Dural, emerged and were confirmed on Wednesday was because the Daily Telegraph had been leaked the details. At that point, the government and police had to jump.

At that stage, it was made clear that some 10 days earlier, the caravan had been discovered and a 100-strong investigation team formed to investigate what could have been a deadly disaster had it been towed to the identified synagogue and detonated. The owner of the caravan is in custody.

Meetings were planned with selected members of the Jewish community (who had been kept tangentially abreast of the ongoing investigation) and the federal police for Thursday morning. Had the Telegraph not been provided with the leak, the public would be none the wiser.

Minns took to Sydney’s morning breakfast television shows and radio programs to stress that the one and only reason for the secrecy was because the NSW Police (and by extension its partners the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Office) believed it was crucial for their investigation.

This is not uncommon or unreasonable.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb reiterated Minns’ defence of the police actions, going further to say that their investigation had been compromised by the unauthorised leak of information to the Telegraph.

Police cannot publicise their work or risk compromising investigations and allowing criminals to be kept fully abreast of what inquiries they are making. This is obvious and critical.

Minns said on Thursday morning that he would not commit to issuing a media release each time an anti-terrorism investigation was launched. Of course not – no one is suggesting he should. But whether Minns likes it or not, the Jewish community is likely to feel they were let down when the first they were told of a possible mass casualty event targeting their heartbroken community was as a result of a media leak.

After all, the attacks have been increasing, and on Thursday morning the Jewish community woke to news that one of their schools in Maroubra had been targeted with antisemitic graffiti as students returned from holidays. It is a disturbingly common occurrence.

The premier on Thursday said there were “bad people in our community. Hateful people who have a horrid ideology.” He is correct. He was also right when he made a veiled swipe at the federal opposition, suggesting that with a federal election looming, “politics can wait”.

Minns has been politically astute since the October 7 Hamas attacks. But the “bastards”, as he calls them, who continue to strike fear in the hearts of Sydney’s Jews, have not shown any signs of giving up their reign of terror. The caravan discovery shows escalation in the hate.

If it becomes clear that one motivating factor behind the police’s operational decision was, in part, to not add any more panic to the Jewish community, forgiveness is not likely to be forthcoming. Jews in Sydney are already in a heightened sense of distress. They need knowledge, not shielding.

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