Peter Dutton suggests Anthony Albanese wasn’t briefed over caravan terror plot due to ‘leaking’ concerns

Peter Dutton has made the extraordinary claim that NSW Police chose to keep the PM in the dark over the foiled caravan terror plot due to concerns of “leaking”.

Peter Dutton has attempted to suggest Anthony Albanese was not briefed about a foiled Sydney terror plot which appeared to target the Jewish community because NSW Police did not trust the Prime Minister, or the Prime Minister’s office not to leak details of their secret operations.

Prior to media reports which first appeared in The Daily Telegraph, the AFP and NSW Police had been secretly investigating the discovery of an explosives-laden caravan which had detailed the address of a Jewish synagogue and umped in Sydney’s north west.

While NSW Premier Chris Minns was briefed on the investigation the day after the discovery, on January 20, Mr Albanese has so far refused to confirm when he was briefed, refraining from commenting on “operation matters”.

The incident was also not disclosed at a national cabinet meeting convened in the wake of the Melbourne Adass Israel Synagogue fire bombing on January 21.

Peter Dutton has suggested NSW Police didn’t inform the Prime Minister of the caravan terror plot because of fears information would be leaked. Picture: NewsWire/ Luis Enrique Ascui

However, the Coalition has called on Mr Albanese to be transparent, questioning whether he was only told of the incident following media reports.

On Sunday, the Opposition Leader, who has called for an independent assessment of the communication process surrounding the foiled error plot, went a step further and suggested Mr Albanese was not told because NSW Police were concerned of the Prime Minister, or his office leaking the details of the clandestine operation.

Mr Dutton’s claims were not substantiated and NSW Police have been contacted for comment.

“I suspect what has happened here, if I’m being honest, is that the NSW Police have been worried about the Prime Minister, or the Prime Minister’s office leaking the information,” he said.

“It’s inexplicable that the Premier of New South Wales would have known about this likely terrorist attack with a 30-metre blast zone, and he’s spoken to the prime minister over nine days but never raised it.”

Citing his former experience as home affairs minister, Mr Dutton said it would have been “the instinct” of AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw to inform Mr Albanese of the incident, and said it was “inconceivable” for Mr Albanese to not have been informed.

“I just think Premier Minns and the Prime Minister need to give an honest account of what they knew when and why,” he said.

Police located the caravan in Dural after it was reported by a resident. Picture: NewsWire/ Damian Shaw

On Saturday, Mr Minns said while he had spoken to Mr Albanese about the “ongoing threat in the Jewish community,” he wouldn’t “generally” speak about “confidential, clandestine, ongoing police operations unless there was a reason for me to do so”.

“That reason would be that there was a stalemate between the agencies or something needed to be clarified,” he said.

Mr Minns also repeatedly stressed the “confidentiality” required for sensitive investigations, and believed Mr Albanese was not publicly commenting on the timeline for “understandable reasons”.

He also confirmed he did not know whether Mr Albanese had been informed of the investigation before media reporting of the incident.

“For very understandable reasons, the Prime Minister is not commenting about it. I can understand why national security briefings to the executive, to the Prime Minister are very sensitive the subject of confidentiality.“

Earlier on Sunday Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth lashed Mr Dutton for “playing politics” over his pressuring of Mr Albanese to reveal when he was briefed.

Ms Rishworth said Mr Dutton “should be condemned” for politicising the issue and said the priority of politicians should be in boosting community safety.

“I think this is a ridiculous criticism from Peter Dutton, and just shows that all he wants to do is play politics with what is a really serious issue,” she told Sky.

“It is unacceptable that there are people of Jewish faith feeling unsafe in this country, but for the government, it is about being responsible and making sure people are actually safe, not playing politics.

“Ensuring police and agencies, security agencies can do their job and keep the community safe should be, in my view, the number one outcome we all want to see.”

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said Peter Dutton ‘should be condemned’ for his attempt to politicise the investigation into the foiled terror plot. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

However, the Coalition’s spokeswoman for finance Jane Hume said Mr Albanese continued silence was risking the Jewish community’s confidence in the government.

“I think that Peter Dutton’s call for an independent investigation into how this information was shared and with whom it was shared is a sensible idea,” she told Sky on Sunday.

“We have to be able to give Australians, and it’s particularly Jewish Australians, confidence that our prime minister is, in fact, on top of his national security responsibilities.”

Originally published as Peter Dutton suggests Anthony Albanese wasn’t briefed over caravan terror plot due to ‘leaking’ concerns