Five staff members from the NSW Premier and Police Minister’s offices will appear before a parliamentary inquiry into a fake caravan terrorism plot, over concerns it may have misled Parliament into rushing through new and controversial antisemitism laws.
The government staff were threatened with arrest after first failing to attend the inquiry, which is backed by the Coalition, Greens, and crossbenchers in the Upper House.
Hear more from today’s headlines on The Briefing:
It had initially called Labor Premier Chris Minns and Police Minister Yasmin Catley to give evidence about what they knew and how they handled information about the plot.
Back in January, Minns described the caravan just outside Sydney, laden with explosives and a note listing synagogues to be targeted. Minns said it had the potential to cause a “mass casualty event.”
Police since having this to say: “The caravan was never going to cause a mass casualty event, but instead was concocted by criminals who wanted to cause fear for personal benefit.”
Both Minns and Catley didn’t show up when called to give evidence because they’re both lower house members and lower house MPs don’t have to show up to upper house inquiries.
So instead, their staff members were called, all five failing to appear last week.
That’s when chatter of arrest warrants started to swirl, an unprecedendent move in NSW parliament’s history.
The Premier has slammed the move, accusing the inquiry of overreach.
With the staffers now set to give evidence on Friday.
Subscribe to The Briefing, Australia’s fastest-growing news podcast on Listnr today. The Briefing serves up the latest news headlines and a deep dive into a topic affecting you. All in under 20 minutes.