Caravan hoax fallout deepens as Dutton hits back on claims he ‘stoked fear’

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has rejected an accusation he avoided briefings on the now-debunked caravan terror plot in order to be free to “stoke fear”, saying he was kept up to speed in conversations with the head of ASIO.

Police revealed on Monday that a caravan found packed with explosives outside Sydney in January was a “criminal con job” and not an antisemitic terror plot as first thought.

On Tuesday morning, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke suggested it was suspected as a hoax early in the investigation, accusing Mr Dutton of intentionally avoiding a briefing on the matter in order to be free to make claims that stoked fear.

“He deliberately avoided being briefed, even when we kept saying that he should be getting a briefing. And as a result, he was effectively reading from a script that may as well have been written by organised crime,” Mr Burke told ABC News Breakfast.

“He wanted to make sure he could continue to make the most outrageous claims. He wanted to make sure that he could stoke the most fear.”

The extraordinary accusation was disputed by Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson, who said he, the shadow attorney-general and staff from Mr Dutton’s office were briefed the day after the plot became public.

The opposition leader said on February 6 he had not received briefings, but suggested on Tuesday afternoon he had been kept up to speed in conversations with the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

Mr Dutton said there had been no indication to him in those conversations that the plot was a hoax.

“At no time during those briefings or my discussions with the director-general of ASIO including on February 18, was there any mention of a hoax,” Mr Dutton said.

“What’s obvious is that Tony Burke has been caught out lying today, and I think this is a massive own goal from Tony Burke. If the prime minister had that knowledge he didn’t publicly disclose it.

“The thought that we didn’t request a briefing is a complete and utter nonsense.”

Mr Dutton then speculated whether Mr Burke was running a “beauty parade” competition to become a future Labor leader.

“I will never be intimidated by Tony Burke or by Chris Bowen or Jim Chalmers or Anthony Albanese,” he said.

In the fallout of revelations of the hoax, both Labor and the Coalition have slung mud at each other with a tightly contested federal election looming.

AFP suspected hoax early in investigation

Mr Burke claimed the briefings “changed fairly early” after the one given to the Coalition on January 30, but that the opposition leader did not seek a briefing or a follow-up in the days after.

A week later and under pressure during Question Time, the prime minister multiple times noted Mr Dutton had not asked for a briefing, and had not taken up the government’s initial offer for one.

“I would have thought that, on this issue, it’s pretty handy to find out the facts,” Mr Albanese taunted at the time.

At a press conference that same week, Mr Dutton confirmed he had not personally been briefed, and said he would do so in time as the investigation developed.

“I haven’t had a briefing in relation to this event. I will do in course when there’s further information available,” Mr Dutton said at that February 6 press conference, where he also demanded an inquiry into when the prime minister was first briefed.

It is the ordinary course for the opposition to request briefings and the government to oblige those requests, though the government does initiate briefings in some circumstances.

It is still not clear when the prime minister first learned of the caravan plot, or when the government was first informed that it was suspected to be a hoax.

Labelled ‘terror’ despite early hoax suspicions

Police revealed on Monday that the plot, quickly labelled “terrorism” by the prime minister and Mr Dutton, was in fact staged by organised criminals as the AFP had suspected.

“Almost immediately, experienced investigators within the [Joint Counter Terrorism Team] believed that the caravan was part of a fabricated terrorism plot – essentially a criminal con job,” deputy commissioner Krissy Barrett said.

“This was because of the information they already had, how easily the caravan was found and how visible the explosives were in the caravan. Also, there was no detonator.”

Police hinted in a press conference the same day the caravan plot was publicly revealed that they were investigating whether it had been set up in order to distract police or be used as a bargaining chip by criminals in a sentencing deal in court.

The “elaborate scheme” by domestic and overseas criminals was confirmed by police to be an attempt by one criminal to have their status changed.