But the Prime Minister’s defence is illogical, his argument unsustainable and his political attack on the opposition completely at odds with his call not to politicise national security.
Ever since police became aware of the explosives-laden caravan with a list of Jewish targets in Dural in Sydney’s west on January 19 and briefed NSW Premier Chris Minns the next day, the question of when Albanese was briefed was always going to be asked.
Minns has publicly confirmed he was told of the caravan bomb the day after it was discovered and that the police wanted it kept secret. The Premier has also said he didn’t tell Albanese when they attended a firebombed child care centre in Eastern Sydney or at a national cabinet meeting to discuss anti-Semitic terror.
When the existence of the caravan bomb was revealed in The Daily Telegraph last week, Minns and the NSW Police confirmed all the details and that it had been kept secret for nine days while investigations were under way. Police also revealed a number of arrests of people “on the periphery” had been made.
Yet when Albanese was asked when he, as PM, was told about the explosives amid a spate of fire bombings, attacks on Jewish homes and cars and a huge police operation, he avoided answering the question.
Dutton jumped in and said it looked like the Prime Minister had not known about the potential mass casualty plot until it was leaked to the press and accused Albanese of failing on national security.
On Tuesday, Dutton told his party colleagues: “For people in the Jewish community and right across the country now, Australians are watching their Prime Minister, knowing that he’s out of his depth and knowing that he’s not up to the task, particularly in relation to law and order and keeping our country safe. The first charge of a Prime Minister is to keep our people safe – and the Prime Minister has failed at that basic task.”
When finally challenged in parliament on Tuesday afternoon, Albanese steadfastly stuck to his defence that he could not say when he was briefed by security agencies because he would not compromise ongoing investigations.
Albanese said: “When we engage with the Australian Federal Police and national intelligence agencies, we don’t go out there and brief about national security committee meetings.
“We don’t discuss those details because it’s an ongoing investigation and what you do when you have an ongoing investigation is that you take the advice of the Australian Federal Police and the ASIO director-general. And that is precisely what I have done the whole way through,” he said.
He then went on to accuse Dutton of undermining security agencies and said the issue “should not be about politics”.
“We back up our national security agencies rather than seek to undermine them,” Albanese said.
But after the caravan bomb’s existence was public, Minns’ disclosure of when he was briefed, public details from the police, including of the investigation and that people were arrested, means Albanese’s argument about when he was told jeopardising an “ongoing investigation” is redundant.
What’s more, on many occasions Albanese has been anxious to disclose that he was briefed by police and intelligence agencies soon after anti-Semitic attacks, including the firebombing of the Adass Synagogue in Melbourne.
Albanese has been keen to demonstrate he was in the intelligence loop and being briefed by the AFP because it shows that he is up to date on security. He also volunteered when National Security Committee meetings had been held, and went out of his way to reveal briefings from the AFP commissioner and the director-general of ASIO.
For him not to follow the simple precedent of saying when he was briefed about an anti-Semitic attack – potentially the biggest terror bomb in Australian history – is not credible, reminiscent of so many other fudges and refusals to give a straight answer, and probably a politically untenable position.
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Anthony Albanese has dug in over the issue of when he was briefed on potentially Australia’s biggest mass casualty bomb as part of an anti-Semitic terror campaign and tried to turn the issue of national security back against Peter Dutton.