- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese testy with reporters
Anthony Albanese became agitated when asked about a caravan packed with explosives that was possibly intended as a terror plot targeting Jews.
The Prime Minister was defensive when he was pressed on whether the Australian public and state premiers should have been given more information about the anti-Semitic discovery in Sydney’s north-west.
‘This should not be the source of political debate, and … I note that the Coalition have said as well that they wouldn’t change the protocols that have been in place for a long period of time,’ he told reporters on Friday morning.
‘The idea that you make public pronouncements about something that is an ongoing investigation is, of course, entirely inappropriate.’
A caravan filled with explosives and notes with the address of a Sydney synagogue was discovered at Dural in Sydney’s north-west almost a fortnight ago but the information wasn’t revealed to the public until Wednesday.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has argued national cabinet should have at least been told, following revelations they weren’t.
Tammie Farrugia and her boyfriend Scott Marshall are in custody charged with unrelated offences, with police saying their arrests were made on the ‘periphery’ of the case.
The couple had posted on Facebook last month seeking a caravan.
Anthony Albanese became agitated when asked about a caravan packed with explosives that was allegedly intended as a terror plot targeting Jews
Farrugia and Marshall have not been charged in relation to the caravan and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing.
Farrugia was arrested over an alleged anti-Semitic attack at Woolha in December, while Marsgall was charged late last year with weapons and drug offences to which he has pleaded not guilty.
They do not appear to have any history of extremist ideology, which might support Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw’s warning that overseas actors could be paying petty criminals to carry out anti-Semitic attacks.
