The Greens have demanded mandatory sentencing laws rushed through parliament after a string of antisemitic attacks be “revisited and repealed”, after revelations several incidents were coordinated by criminals, including a hoax terror plot.
Police have revealed a caravan packed with explosives outside Sydney was a hoax set up by criminals seeking to negotiate on other crimes — and that nearly every antisemitic attack since December in that state had been coordinated by organised criminals.
Under pressure from Jewish community groups and the Coalition to act, the federal government agreed to amend hate crime laws before parliament to include mandatory minimum jail terms for antisemitic crimes — despite Labor being formally opposed to mandatory sentencing in its party platform.
Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi told the ABC there was now an open question as to whether Labor introduced those amendments despite knowing some of the motivating incidents were not necessarily motivated by antisemitism.
“The mandatory sentencing amendments by Labor were an absolute disgrace,” Senator Faruqi said.
“The Greens opposed them then and continue to do so. These unjust provisions must be revisited and repealed when parliament sits again.
“The prime minister has serious questions to answer. If the AFP knew almost immediately that the caravan plot was a hoax, why did Labor whip up media hysteria and community fear? We need to know if they pushed these laws through under false pretences.“
PM hinted knowledge of hoax before sentencing backflip
The federal government has hinted that it knew days after the caravan plot became public that it had advice suggesting it was a hoax.
Earlier this week, Labor ministers accused Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of deliberately missing AFP briefings after the police investigation developed.
During Question Time on February 5, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese suggested the Coalition receive an update on the caravan plot after Liberal Deputy Sussan Ley characterised it as a “planned mass casualty terror attack”.
“I note the characterisation of the deputy leader of the opposition. I’m happy to provide a brief, through the security agencies, if requested by the deputy leader of the opposition. The leader of the opposition [Peter Dutton] hasn’t got one, but we’re happy to provide that, and then the shadow minister might be better informed,” he taunted.
“I would have thought that, on this issue, it’s pretty handy to find out the facts,” Mr Albanese later added.
Those comments came one day before Labor backflipped and introduced its mandatory sentencing amendments.
The prime minister said on Wednesday he had “known for some time” that the AFP believed the caravan plot was a hoax.
Mr Albanese said the hoax still caused genuine fear, and sentencing laws that were rushed through were justified by a number of other genuine attacks.
The amended laws were rushed through within a day of being rewritten, with the support of the Coalition and the Greens in the senate.
The Greens passed the bill, which the minor party otherwise supported, after its attempts to strike out mandatory sentencing laws were voted down.
In NSW, state Greens and independent MLCs have reacted with fury over similar laws pushed through that parliament after revelations that politicians had been played by a “criminal con job”.
Yesterday Greens MLC Sue Higginson called for a parliamentary inquiry into the issue, which civil liberty groups have supported.
Separately, Senator Faruqi wrote to the prime minister on Thursday urging him to take seriously a rise in Islamophobia in Australia, after a high-profile attack on two Muslim women in Melbourne.
“This is the time to combat Islamophobia as the emergency it is, not attack those bearing the brunt of this searing hatred,” the senator wrote.
“I urge the government to drop the one-sided approach to racism, unequivocally acknowledge and tackle the breadth and depth of rising Islamophobia and loudly reject political narratives that fuel fear, blame and hatred against Muslims.”
