Prime Minister Anthony Albanese accuses Coalition of ‘playing politics’ over anti-Semitic attacks

The Prime Minister has accused the Coalition of “playing politics” over anti-Semitic attacks, as he repeatedly refused to reveal when he was first told about the foiled caravan terror plot.

The Opposition used all five of their questions in Question Time to quiz Anthony Albanese about when he was made aware of the discovery of a caravan in Sydney’s outer suburbs, with a note identifying significant Jewish sites and enough explosives to cause a “mass casualty” event inside.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has said he was briefed on January 20 — the day after police were called to the Dural property after a local found the caravan — but since it was made public on January 29, Mr Albanese has repeatedly refused to put a date to his briefing.

Conflicting reports have suggested he was briefed a few days before The Daily Telegraph broke the story, while others claim he was only made aware when it became public. He has refused to confirm or deny any reports, saying he won’t detail national security conversations.

He held firm again under the Coalition’s grilling on Wednesday, even as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton alleged agencies hadn’t briefed him for at least seven days, because they were concerned about leaks.

“The priority here is not the playing of political games . . . What people want to know is who is behind this. They want to know who is engaged in anti-Semitic attacks. They want to know if people have been paid, and where that trail leads,” Mr Albanese said.

“They want intelligence agencies to be able to do that work without political interference and without political games.”

He said his priority was on keeping the Jewish community safe, and in order to do so he needed to put his confidence in the national security agencies.

To a later question, an exasperated PM — who had spent Labor’s questions during Question Time trying to spruik a $1.7 billion hospital funding announcement, fee-free TAFE, childcare, and other cost-of-living policies —took aim at the Coalition for having the wrong priorities.

“If people are being paid, who are criminals, maybe it’s a good idea to use intelligence to find out who is paying them. Maybe that’s the priority, not this political game-playing,” he said.

”Those opposite, on a day in which we have announced $1.7 billion of additional health funding, they can’t ask any questions about health. They can’t ask any questions about education or TAFE, on a day in which the parliament has passed free TAFE.

“They can’t ask any questions about cost of living, even though they say that’s the number one priority because the only policy they have is free lunches.

“That is why they’re reduced to criticising and undermining the work of our police and our security agencies.”

Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson said that Mr Albanese had shown a blatant disregard for Australians in dodging the questions, and queried what he had to hide. “Once again, the Prime Minister had refused to give clarity as to when and how he received a briefing on what could have been the largest mass casualty terror event in Australian history,” he told The Nightly. “Consistently now, he has shown a disregard for the transparency and honesty Australians expect from their Prime Minister. “He has been more than happy to disclose this information in the past, so what does the PM have to hide by not doing so now?”

His defiance came as three further anti-Semitic arrests were made on Wednesday, with two men in Perth charged over hateful graffiti and a Victorian man charged under Operation Avalite for allegedly calling a political organisation and making offensive comments.

Mr Albanese said it was proof police were “getting on with the job”.

“That is the hard work that is conducted by our police and security and intelligence services. The idea that that is not the priority and that that should be not my focus is quite frankly absurd . . . and irresponsible,” he said.