A communications breakdown between state and federal police kept Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the dark over the discovery of a caravan full of explosive, inflaming debate on antisemitism.
A communications breakdown between state and federal police kept Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the dark over the discovery of a caravan full of explosive, inflaming debate on antisemitism.
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By Paul Sakkal
Updated February 5, 2025 — 8.48pmfirst published at 6.34pm
Labor has caved to weeks of Coalition demands to force automatic jail time on terrorists and people displaying Nazi symbols, avoiding a political fight but defying the party’s own policy platform in a major backdown.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been under pressure on antisemitism in the wake of the discovery of a caravan full of explosives with a synagogue’s address. Federal officials briefed on the discovery last month said that Albanese was not informed before the case became public, which has formed a major part of the Coalition’s criticism of the government, due to a communications breakdown between state and federal police.
In a move to show strength against antisemitism, Labor on Wednesday reversed its long-standing principled opposition to mandatory minimum jail terms, accepting a Coalition proposal in a late-night session of parliament.
Labor’s national platform, which is supposed to set its policy agenda, states: “Labor opposes mandatory sentencing. This practice does not reduce crime but does undermine the independence of the judiciary, lead to unjust outcomes and is often discriminatory in practice.”
The sentences proposed by Labor, which largely mirror a Coalition proposal from weeks ago, include six years for terror offences, three years for financing terrorism and a year for Nazi salutes.
The government’s caucus of MPs did not meet to approve the planned change.
They were introduced to a secondary chamber in parliament house on Wednesday evening which could have resulted in the proposal receiving limited opposition or attention, but they will be debated in the full parliament on Thursday, where they are expected to become law.
Greens leader Adam Bandt said on Wednesday night it was extraordinary Labor MPs had given speeches earlier that day opposing the Coalition’s proposal for mandatory minimum sentences. “I had government member after government member, stand up in this debate and say they oppose mandatory minimum sentencing,” Bandt said.
One Labor MP who supports the change said that the party “did not want a fight on tackling antisemitism”. Jewish groups including the special envoy to combat antisemitism Jillian Segal had warned that antisemitic acts were not being punished harshly enough.
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The prime minister continued to dodge questions on Wednesday about the timeline of his briefings on the discovery of a caravan full of explosives in outer Sydney last month with the address of a synagogue. He turned the issue on Peter Dutton, claiming the opposition leader’s own MPs believed he was acting irresponsibly by politicising the case.
Federal officials briefed on the discovery of the caravan tied to antisemitic activity on January 19 said NSW police did not make clear to federal agencies they had briefed NSW Premier Chris Minns the next day, leading to ministers being blindsided when it became public nine days later.
In NSW, 12 people have been charged with offences under Strike Force Pearl, set up in December to investigate antisemitic crimes. Two men were charged yesterday in WA over antisemitic graffiti and a 64-year-old was charged on Wednesday under the joint state and federal antisemitism taskforce called Avalite.
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Albanese made his strongest defence of Labor’s handling of the Dural caravan case in Wednesday’s question time, arguing that maintaining secrecy in the investigation assisted officers to find who may be paying petty criminals to attack Jewish sites.
The opposition, Albanese said, could either “prioritise getting to the bottom of what is happening here, supporting the police and intelligence agencies, or you can choose to play politics and play these games.”
“There are other members on that side who know how irresponsible it is,” Albanese said.
The opposition has used Albanese’s delayed briefing to further its months-long claim that Labor had been slow to clamp down on antisemitic violence and inept in its management of domestic security, tapping into voters’ concerns about crime and social cohesion.
Dutton said on Wednesday that agencies kept Albanese out of the loop to avoid the information becoming public but did not provide evidence for his claim.
“The prime minister has been embarrassed because he was not advised by the police because they were worried about him leaking the information ahead of any action by the police,” Dutton said.
“The statement I have made is a statement of fact. It is a statement of fact that it is the reason that the prime minister keeps [dodging].”
The caravan case was not discussed at national cabinet or a federal security committee before it became public despite Minns learning of the case on January 20. NSW police and AFP, who are both part of the joint counter-terrorism team, declined to comment.
During that period, the federal sources said law enforcement were still working to determine if the caravan discovery was serious enough to brief Albanese, and whether it posed any imminent risk. No detonator was found in the dumped caravan, but it had enough explosives to produce a 40-metre blast wave and the address of a synagogue.
The AFP privately said it might have briefed Albanese had it known about their NSW counterparts telling Minns, to maintain consistency.
On January 30, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said officers were considering whether the caravan was a staged scene.
Tammie Farrugia and Scott Marshall were allegedly named in the search warrant used by police investigating the Dural caravan. Farrugia had already been charged over a separate alleged antisemitic incident in December and Marshall was in custody over unrelated weapons and drugs charges. Farrugia and Marshall have not been charged in connection to the Dural caravan.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw will face questions about the Dural case in a hearing of a parliamentary law enforcement committee on Thursday.
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Kershaw is also under pressure from the opposition to explain his claim this month that foreign actors might be paying local criminals to carry out antisemitic attacks.
Meanwhile, at a joint parliamentary hearing on antisemitism on university campuses on Wednesday, Queensland University of Technology vice-chancellor Margaret Sheil said she planned to accept all recommendations of an independent review her institution has commissioned of an anti-racist symposium it hosted in January.
At the same inquiry, Macquarie University’s vice-chancellor Bruce Dowton conceded one of the university’s academics, Randa Abdel-Fattah, had made previous posts that could be construed as antisemitic.
Dowton also said the university had engaged with an investigation by the Australian Research Council about Abdel-Fattah. A spokesperson for the ARC said there were “significant concerns about recent comments reportedly made” at the symposium by Abdel-Fattah, who is working on a project with $870,000 in funding.
The ARC is investigating Abdel-Fattah’s claims that she had not delivered what was intended under her grant. She was contacted for comment.
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Paul Sakkal is federal political correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald who previously covered Victorian politics and has won two Walkley awards.Connect via Twitter.
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