Furious Dutton says Burke is lying about caravan plot briefings

Peter Dutton and Tony Burke have traded blows over the Dural caravan bomb hoax, with the opposition leader accusing the home affairs minister of lying and the Labor frontbencher claiming the Liberal leader had behaved recklessly with national security.

On the eve of a federal election in which national security and rising antisemitism and Islamophobia will take centre stage, the two men argued over when the Coalition had been made aware of the hoax and whether Dutton had over-reached in his rush to accuse Labor of incompetence.

Peter Dutton has been accused of deliberately avoiding a briefing with police on the caravan.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The Australian Federal Police said on Monday that investigators had “almost immediately” come to the view that the caravan discovered in Sydney’s north-western fringe suburb of Dural in January was “essentially a criminal con job”, but Dutton and his home affairs spokesman James Paterson insist they were never updated properly.

For weeks after the caravan loaded with explosives was discovered, the threat was framed as a prelude to terrorism incident, by NSW Premier Chris Minns and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, because it contained a note with the address of a synagogue.

Dutton used it as a political cudgel to attack federal Labor, demanding an inquiry into Labor’s handling of the discovery during a press conference in Canberra on February 6, insisting the prime minister reveal whether he knew about the caravan discovery before it became public.

But after the police announced on Monday that the caravan and 14 other antisemitic attacks across Sydney were “con jobs” organised by crime figures, fresh questions have been raised about when Minns, Albanese and Dutton knew the attacks were not a legitimate terror plot – and why Dutton had not been briefed on the matter.

Burke accused Dutton of being “reckless with national security” and claimed the opposition leader deliberately chose to stay in the dark about what police had learnt on the caravan to continue attacking Labor over the issue.

Speaking on ABC Radio National on Tuesday morning, Burke said Dutton had not sought a briefing from police at the height of the furore and that could have informed him about law enforcement suspicions the caravan was not a genuine terror threat.

“He deliberately chose to not find out,” Burke said. “And so what we had was a situation where, quite deliberately, Peter Dutton made a decision to not find out the facts from the Australian Federal Police, to ignore the advice from ASIO in lowering the temperature, simply because it suited his self-promotion ambitions.”

Burke said Dutton’s claims aided the criminals who wanted to trade information about antisemitic incidents they had staged to negotiate discounts on prison sentences.

But Dutton said Burke had been caught out lying, that the Coalition had requested a briefing on January 22nd, received one a week later and that “this is a massive own goal from Tony Burke”.

Australian Federal Police boss Reece Kershaw issued a warning on January 21 that paid actors may have carried out some of the antisemitic attacks in Australia. Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson and a member of Dutton’s staff said they asked for a briefing the next day. They received a briefing on January 30, a day after the caravan discovery was revealed in the Daily Telegraph.

The Coalition has not sought or received a further briefing from security agencies since then. However, Dutton has spoken about receiving updates from spy agency ASIO’s boss Mike Burgess up until February 18.

“We requested a briefing on the 22nd of January. We received a briefing about a week later. At no time during those briefings or my discussions with the director general of ASIO, and including up to the 18th of February, was there any mention whatsoever of a hoax. So the thought that we didn’t request the briefing is a complete and utter nonsense,” Dutton said at his press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

Paterson said the involvement of organised crime was serious and warranted an explanation of when the federal government was briefed.

“What Peter Dutton said, what I said, what others said, is completely in line with what the New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said and completely in line with what the Prime Minister said. They called it terrorism. We called it terrorism,” Paterson told the ABC.

Asked if the Coalition had received further briefings after January 30, Paterson said the opposition “had no reason to believe there had been any significant elements in the case and police were publicly saying they were limited in what they could say about the case and we assumed that was the case for us”.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.