While both sides have accused each other of “politicising” antisemitism in the wake of the incident, the political attacks have continued in the lead-up to the federal election.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke on Tuesday accused the opposition of skipping briefings on the bomb plot in order to continue to stoke fear about the incident.
In response, shadow home affairs minister James Paterson rejected the claim as a “desperate attempt” to distract from the government’s “failures on national security”.
“We continued to say publicly that Peter Dutton should be briefed,” Mr Burke told ABC RN Breakfast on Tuesday.
“We continued to remind him that he was able to be briefed by the Australian Federal Police, he deliberately chose to not find out.
“He’s been willing to disregard ASIO advice, maybe he would have been willing to disregard the advice of the Australian Federal Police as well.
“But certainly what he was saying was not where the investigation was going, and a briefing would have borne that out.”
At the time, Mr Dutton branded the plot as a “grave and sinister escalation” in the rise of antisemitism in Australia and called for the government to increase resources.
The major parties then engaged in a heated dispute about whether or not either side was “politicising” antisemitism.
Mr Burke’s accusation has again reignited tensions between the government and opposition, which has maintained that it was, in fact, briefed by the AFP.
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson hit back at Mr Burke’s criticism in a statement, alleging that he was attempting to deflect failures on national security.
“In a desperate attempt to distract from Labor’s failures on national security, Tony Burke has again misled the public,” Mr Paterson said.
“The opposition was briefed by the AFP on Thursday 30 January, including myself, the Shadow Attorney-General, and the Opposition Leader’s office.”
It comes after the caravan bomb plot was revealed to have been fabricated by organised crime figures.
Australian Federal Police and NSW Police confirmed that the caravan, discovered in Dural on January 19, was part of a “fake terrorism plot” to create fear for criminal gain.
AFP Deputy Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the plot was a “criminal con job” and that investigators had “almost immediately” realised the threat was fake.
The controversy has heightened tensions between the two parties, heading into the federal election, to be held on or before May 17.
In response to the rising levels of antisemitism, the Albanese government recently shifted its policy to introduce mandatory minimum sentences.
The decision to introduce one to six-year mandatory minimum sentences followed intense pressure from Mr Dutton.
