Firestorm erupts over whether NSW premier Chris Minns knew about fake terror plot before hate speech and protest laws passed
At the end of January, the New South Wales premier stood grim faced, surrounded by the state’s most senior police officers. It had been leaked to the media that a caravan had been found parked hazardously in a quiet town on the outskirts of Sydney, laden with explosives. Inside were a list of Jewish targets.
“This is the discovery of a potential mass casualty event,” Chris Minns told reporters. “There’s only one way of calling it out, and that is terrorism.”
Now that’s in doubt.
This week, the police changed their tune, saying it was a “con job” by organised crime figures. The arson attacks and antisemitic graffiti, primarily in Sydney’s east – including at a childcare centre, Jewish school, and the former home of a prominent Jewish figure – were part of the same conspiracy.
A “very small group” or individual had pulled the strings – and the motivation was not hate, ideology, or politics, but to distract police resources and influence prosecutions, police said.
A firestorm has now erupted over when the premier knew this information, and if it was before the government rushed controversial hate speech laws and protest restrictions through parliament.
“I have grave concerns that the NSW parliament was misled,” Independent MP Rod Roberts said this week.
A week before the caravan was reported in the media, the Australian federal police revealed “foreign actors” could be behind some of the recent antisemitic attacks across Sydney, with people potentially being paid to commit crimes.
The day after the leak, the deputy police commissioner, David Hudson, told the public police were exploring if the caravan plot was a set-up.
Hudson also repeatedly pointed to the wave of antisemitic attacks potentially being orchestrated – and as more arrests were made – appeared not to be ideologically motivated.
“Hopefully there was no threat,” he told 2GB at the time. “But we can’t confirm that so we are treating it at its highest and investigating it to its fullest.”
The “highest” included investigating whether the caravan plot was a terror event. Hudson told a budget estimates hearing on Wednesday this was only ruled out as a possibility on 21 February, the day the NSW government’s hate crime legislation passed parliament.
He said the government was not “categorically” told if it was a terror event in the investigation’s early stages. However, he said, it was told police were investigating whether it was terrorism alongside whether it was a criminal plot.
After Minns labelled it terrorism, Anthony Albanese, when asked if he also classified it as terrorism, stated: “I certainly do.”
“I agree with Chris Minns. It’s clearly designed to harm people but it’s also designed to create fear in the community. And that is the very definition.”
It has since been revealed Albanese knew “very early on” that police believed it was a hoax. Both Minns and the NSW police minister, Yasmin Catley, have refused to say when they knew.
“Obviously as the investigation progressed, more information was given to myself and the police minister. I couldn’t give you the exact date, but it wouldn’t have been a definitive declaration,” Minns said on Tuesday.
“I wouldn’t have been in a position to jump out and say, look, the motivations for this particular crime we believe have changed because it would have blown the covert police investigation that was taking place.”
Hudson has said Catley – who received daily briefings from police – was told it was an organised crime plot last Friday, two weeks after he said police ruled out it was a terror event.
The government is under pressure from within its own ranks to reveal when it learned the caravan plot was not a terror threat. A source said Labor MP Stephen Lawrence requested a briefing on when the government was told.
But Catley rebuffed Lawrence’s request, on Wednesday telling the Sydney Morning Herald, where the briefing request was first reported, that she “had never heard of a more stupid idea”.
On Friday, Catley’s office told Guardian Australia she had not changed her position on the request.
Since the caravan plot revelations, sections of the NSW crossbench have claimed they were “misled”.
Earlier this year, a suite of laws aimed at curbing antisemitism were rushed through the state parliament.
The most controversial changes were the government’s push to criminalise people making racist remarks in public – despite a review the government commissioned last year recommending against it. Had these laws not been designated as urgent and followed the usual timeline, they would have been debated this week.
Another contentious aspect was an amendment that gave police broad powers to restrict protests “near” places of worship, regardless of the demonstration’s purpose. Both changes carry a maximum penalty of two years in jail.
Neither Minns – nor any Labor MPs – referred to the caravan plot when the laws were introduced or supported.
On Friday, the attorney-general, Michael Daley, told the ABC the police gave him no indication that the incidents were not motivated by antisemitism when the legislation was introduced.
“What I did deal with was the firebombing of a childcare in my electorate. I saw the bombing. I walked into the building. I saw it, smelt it, spoke to parents who had children in that childcare centre who were absolutely terrified,” he said.
The Greens and Libertarian John Ruddick are backing calls from the NSW Council for Civil Liberties for a legislative inquiry into whether the parliament and public were misled before the hate speech and places of worship bills were passed.
Alternatively, they want the legislation repealed – which Minns has ruled out, arguing NSW had seen hundreds of antisemitic attacks and incidents.
The NSW opposition leader, Mark Speakman, whose party had called for sections of the laws to be tougher – including introducing a police user-pay system for regular protests – has said whether or not the laws will be repealed is a matter for the joint party room.
“It’s clear that putting aside the caravan con job, there’s been an unprecedented level of antisemitism and our Jewish communities need protection,” he told Guardian Australia.
However, Speakman said Minns and Catley “need to come clean” on when they were told it was a “con job” and also when Albanese was informed.
“If they don’t, then parliament should get to the bottom of it, including by a parliamentary inquiry if that’s what it takes.”
Josh Roose, an extremist expert at Deakin University, said, on the face of it, a caravan found with explosives with a list of Jewish targets did appear like a terrorist attack, and the premier would have wanted to appear strong for the Jewish community.
He also believed there was a “breakdown” in communication between layers of government and police agencies.
“There was this perfect storm of competing influences and political perspectives that has led to this breakdown in communication and hence eroded trust in the process even further,” he said.
A joint statement from the Alliance of Australian Muslims and the Australian National Imams Council said they were concerned if the premier knew the caravan incident was not a terror threat before the laws passed.
“The premier’s characterisation of, and response to, the incident caused panic and fear, increased Islamophobia and had the effect of undermining social cohesion in our society,” the statement said.
Irrespective of the politics that have surrounded it and the fact it was ultimately for criminal gain, Roose said it still had had a profound effect on the Jewish community and was antisemitic.
Sharonne, who lives not far from where the childcare centre was firebombed and defaced with antisemitic graffiti, said it still frightened her that organised crime figures were behind the plot.
“The psychological terror is there, whether or not that’s their intention,” said Sharonne, who asked not to use her last name for privacy reasons.
She was also pleased that the laws designed to crackdown on antisemitism were rushed through in February.
“I think the government has been doing what they can to try and stop this.”