Premier was quick to call caravan plot ‘terror’. It matters when he knew it was a con job

There has been no bigger flashpoint in the wave of hate sweeping Sydney than the extraordinary discovery of an explosive-laden caravan in sleepy Dural. But just as quickly as those stunning revelations broke, which Premier Chris Minns immediately labelled “a potential mass-casualty event”, his mentions of the caravan – and the catastrophic risks it possibly posed – evaporated.

Caught off-guard when the details emerged via News Corp, Minns called a snap press conference to deliver the strongest of warnings. “There’s only one way of calling it out,” he said on January 29, “and that is terrorism.” Minns chose to be unequivocal.

Premier Chris Minns and Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson address a press conference about the Dural discovery on January 29.Credit: Nine News

The Jewish community was, and still is, hurting deeply, and the caravan development further fuelled its fear. But the premier also calculated that saying anything less would have left him exposed politically. He chose to be tough and unflinching, even if he risked stoking more fear.

Now it appears this is what happened, even though that was not his intention.

Fast-forward 13 days after the caravan discovery and the premier delivered a ministerial statement to parliament. “One act of antisemitism is too many,” Minns said. “A summer of rolling hatred is obviously intolerable.” He outlined that in response to the rising tide of racial hatred, his government would introduce new and stronger laws to target antisemitism. There was no mention of the caravan, the news of which had shaken Sydney’s Jewish community to its core, in his speech.

One week later, he spoke at Sky’s antisemitism summit. Minns, as always, was strong in his condemnation of the hate being spewed at Jews in Sydney and the desperate need to stop it. But, again, no reference to the caravan.

By February 21, the government’s new hate speech laws had been hastily pushed through parliament, but not before they were heavily criticised by faith and LGTBQ groups for being too exclusive. Crossbenchers and Liberal MPs were also concerned that they had only 24 hours to digest the new laws before voting on them. The government maintained that time was of the essence.

But we now know that, by that stage, there was murkiness around the caravan and probably other reported antisemitic attacks, too. NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson told media in January that the caravan was being handled as a potential terror incident when “taken at its highest”, considering the explosives and the notes identifying a synagogue found in the van. He used a similar form of words in budget estimates on Wednesday.

But Hudson has also repeatedly raised the possibility it was a “set-up” that had been disturbed when a resident in Dural towed the caravan to his property and discovered the explosives inside. “It is not unusual for certain elements of the criminal fraternity to try and seek assistance by disclosing certain weapons or explosives to police,” Hudson told 2GB’s Ben Fordham on January 30. “That’s certainly something we’re looking at.”

On Monday this week, the Australian Federal Police confirmed “the caravan was part of a fabricated terrorism plot – essentially a criminal con job”. It is also alleged that 14 other antisemitic attacks across Sydney were also con jobs by powerful crime figures trying to influence a prosecution or secure a lesser sentence, rather than racially motivated hate crimes or terrorist plots. The AFP said investigators had “almost immediately” come to the view that the caravan discovered on Sydney’s northern fringes in January was a set-up.

This does not mean antisemitic attacks were not inflicted on Sydney. As NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip warns, the fake plot should not be used to “diminish the summer of fear and anxiety” which the Jewish community lived through. “In fact, this plot could only succeed by exploiting already-strained social cohesion and unprecedented levels of antisemitism in Sydney,” Ossip said earlier this week.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, meanwhile, confirmed on Wednesday that he was aware of the caravan con job for “some time”. Minns and NSW Police Yasmin Catley, however, will not reveal when they were told that criminals were behind the ruse that the premier so quickly labelled a terrorist event.

The timeframe matters because the NSW Labor government’s hate speech laws were rushed through, in part, because of the angst around antisemitic attacks. The Jewish community and Sydney more broadly, also remained under the assumption that the city narrowly dodged a mass-casualty event.

Minns, inadvertently, contributed to Albanese looking weak to his detractors during the summer months, when the prime minister was accused of being too slow to respond to antisemitism. Minns was always quick to speak up. Albanese less so.

But now that we know many of the attacks unleashed on Sydney were the result of an alleged wild criminal plot, it appears Albanese was right to be cautious. Minns has proven to be strong in a crisis, but it is also worth him remembering the importance of being circumspect in the heat of the moment.

Alexandra Smith is state political editor.