Home Affairs Tony Burke calls on Peter Dutton to apologise over ‘reckless’ caravan terror ploy claims

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has blasted Peter Dutton following revelations the discovery of a caravan was allegedly “fabricated plot” by known criminals and said the Opposition Leader needs to apologies for his “reckless negativity”. The Coalition has repeatedly attacked Anthony Albanese for not revealing when he was made aware of the incident by Australian Federal Police, after authorities seized the explosive-laden caravan in Dural on January 19. The investigation was publicly revealed following reports in The Daily Telegraph on January 29. However police have now labelled the operation as a “fabricated terrorist plot,” that was not intended to cause a mass casualty event but to stoke “fear for personal benefit”. In light of the police update, Mr Burke accused Mr Dutton of “recklessly” labelling the plot as a “large-scale planned terrorist attack” without seeking a briefing from security agencies. In turn, the senior minister said Mr Dutton escalated and amplified the actions of organised crime and behaved “in exactly the way that the organised criminals hoped all Australians would”. “His recklessness today has caused him to make claims about national security which are now demonstrably untrue,” Mr Burke said. “If you want to deal with national security, one of the first principles is keeping people safe by knowing the facts.” Mr Burke also called on Mr Dutton to apologise for his behaviour. “Peter Dutton owes a pretty big apology to the Australian people. He made claim after claim which is now demonstrably untrue,” he said. “Part of national security is you can’t make things up. You can’t go around speculating and claiming that whatever’s in your head is a fact.” Following Monday’s revelations, the Coalition’s home affairs spokesman James Paterson maintained it was necessary for the government to share when Mr Albanese was briefed. “Organised crime concocting terrorism plots targeting the Jewish community is an extremely serious matter,” he wrote on X. “National security ministers and the PM should have been promptly briefed, as the NSW Premier was. The government must now explain whether they were, and if not, why not.” Speaking to media on Monday, AFP Deputy Commissioner Krissy Barrett labelled the caravan ploy as “a criminal con job,” and warned those found responsible “will face the full experience, capability, and dogged determination of terrorism investigators”. “What organised crime has done to the Jewish community is reprehensible and it won’t go without consequences,” she said. Authorities will continue investigating the caravan plot under Strike Force Pearl, which investigates allegations of anti-Semitism, and Operation Kissinger, which is dedicated to the caravan incident. To date, three people have been arrested on the “periphery” relation to the Dural plot, Tammie Farrugia, Scott Marshall and Simon Nichols, however no charges have been laid.