NSW parliament flares up over briefings on caravan plot ‘hoax’

The Minns government is under pressure to divulge when it first knew the caravan plot was not a ‘terrorist threat’.

NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley and Police Commissioner Karen Webb answer questions at the budget estimates meeting in Parliament in Sydney. Picture: Thomas Lisson

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One of NSW Police’s top cops has said its investigators discredited the caravan terror plot theory in late February, as the Minns government refused to reveal when they were briefed that the plot was a “criminal con job”.

Under questioning in parliamentary estimates on Wednesday, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson confirmed any terror threat was ruled out on February 21.

Although his suspicions of a “hoax” were raised from its public discovery on January 19, police could not discredit a potential threat until more than a month later.

“(On January 20) the premier (Chris Minns) was told that we were treating it as a terrorist event,” Mr Hudson said.

“He also (was) told that it could be part of a criminal conspiracy. The details of that, as I said, were complicated by external reporting that entered the investigation, which we couldn’t discredit, and until that was discredited, we treated it as a terrorist risk.”

Earlier, under questioning from Greens MLC Sue Higginson, Police Minister Yasmin Catley was accused of withholding “respect” for the public and parliament by withholding information.

“I received confidential briefings from the 20th of January by senior police officers in NSW Police. I then continued to receive daily briefings and was provided information related to the progress of the investigation. I have not shared that information with anybody, and I won’t be sharing any of the content of those conversations with you today. I do that on the basis that it is to keep the community safe,” Ms Catley said.

“We need to ensure that we remember what the environment was at that point in time … the Jewish community were experiencing fire bombed cars on their street. They were experiencing anti-Semitic attacks every second night.”

The committee flared up less than half an hour after it commenced when Ms Higginson accused Ms Catley of “not telling the truth” under oath, an accusation she was asked to withdraw.

Ms Catley fired back saying the Greens MLC had “amnesia” in forgetting the state of community tensions during the height of Sydney’s streak of anti-Semitic attacks.

Coalition Attorney-General spokesperson Susan Carter accused Ms Catley of “recalcitrance” for her unwillingness to disclose the contents of her police briefings.

When questioned on if crimes allegedly falsely ascribed to be motivated by hate had swayed the government into introducing its new hate speech laws, Ms Catley said the legislation was still necessary.

“The hate speech and hate laws that came in are in relation to the ongoing threats to the Jewish community, and they have also included around places of worship,” she said.

“I believe that they are founded, and I believe that they were in direct response to what we were seeing going on at the time, which has been a summer of hateful behaviour on our streets.”

On Monday, police have labelled the Dural caravan plot, which included an explosives-laden caravan, “a hoax”.

Although police have not charged anyone yet in relation to the caravan, they had previously arrested suspects on the “periphery”: Tammie Farrugia and her partner, Scott Marshall.

Both had been arrested previously over alleged involvement in the December arson and vandalism attack in Woollahra.

The alleged mastermind behind the caravan plot and other vandalism attacks conscripted almost 30 people: from criminals for hire, drug addicts and teenagers, to co-ordinators and “middle men”.

On Tuesday, Sayed Moosawi, 32, was revealed to be the alleged mysterious “James Bond” who directed criminals to firebomb a Bondi brewery they mistook for a Jewish kosher deli in October.

The identity and location of the puppetmaster who “pulled the strings” for the near-five-month plot investigated by the state’s dedicated anti-Semitism task force has not been disclosed, with Australian Federal Police investigators saying they have “an operational strategy” in place to bring him in.

Police believe the puppetmaster orchestrated the anti-Semitic arson and graffiti attacks – unsuccessfully – with the intention of using information about the scheme as leverage to lessen penalties in unrelated criminal proceedings.