Latest news with #JamesCullen
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Staff front 'kangaroo court' probe after arrest threat
Senior government staff have faced terse questions over the passage of anti-protest and hate speech laws after threats they could be arrested for refusing to front an inquiry. NSW Premier Chris Minns' chief of staff James Cullen, his deputies and two senior staff for Police Minister Yasmin Catley showed up on Friday after being summoned to appear earlier in June. The parliamentary inquiry is probing the swift introduction of laws in February after the discovery of a caravan at Dural, on Sydney's outskirts, containing explosives and a list of Jewish sites. Mr Minns and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese initially labelled the caravan incident a thwarted terror attack in late January when a media leak disclosed the earlier caravan find. But inquiry chair Rod Roberts on Friday criticised the terrorism label, saying it would have led to fear and consternation in the community. "I can't see how the premier standing in front of a press conference saying there is no other alternative to terrorism provided any calm to anybody," the independent MP said. It later emerged the caravan was thought to be part of what investigators labelled a "criminal con job" that was staged in an attempt to gain leverage with police. Senior NSW police told the inquiry in April they believed it was a ruse virtually from the outset. Controversial laws that passed parliament included curbs on the right to demonstrate near places of worship. But Mr Cullen, appearing frustrated and occasionally interrupting questions, repeatedly defended the premier's language about the caravan find. "This was not a line dreamt up by the premier," he told the committee inquiry in a tense exchange with Mr Roberts. "It was not a term thrown around lightly at all. "There's a very convenient rewriting of history and squashing of time and concepts." The three pieces of legislation were drafted during a 12-18 month period when there was a marked rise in anti-Semitic incidents, Mr Cullen said. "The relationship that's been constructed by some between the Dural caravan event and those three pieces of legislation is extremely ... unfair." They included graffiti and arson attacks on a synagogue, a preschool's fire-bombing and other incidents in areas with large Jewish populations, all of which had drawn widespread condemnation, he said. Mr Minns - who, along with the police minister, cannot be compelled to appear before the upper house - told reporters his perspective had been "well ventilated". Following news the staffers could face arrest, Mr Minns on Wednesday said they had been summoned to an inquiry that was "close to a kangaroo court". Mr Roberts had addressed five empty chairs a week earlier when the government staffers did not appear, prompting the drastic but legal step of threatening to arrest them. Mr Minns criticised parliamentary "shenanigans" on Friday and said his focus was on supporting the people of NSW.
The Guardian
12 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
NSW premier was guided by police when he characterised explosive-laden caravan as terrorism, Minns' team says
The New South Wales premier characterised a caravan found laden with explosives as a terrorism event because that was the briefing provided by police, his chief of staff has told an inquiry, despite the police telling the public at the same time there were 'alternative lines' of inquiry. On Friday, five staffers from the offices of the NSW premier, Chris Minns, and the police minister, Yasmin Catley, appeared before the inquiry after they were threatened with arrest for failing to attend last week. The inquiry – launched with the support of the Coalition, the Greens and crossbench MLCs – is examining the handling of information about the caravan plot amid concerns parliament may have been 'misled' before controversial laws aimed at curbing antisemitism were rushed through parliament. After police announced in January that a caravan had been found laden with explosives at a residential property in Dural, in greater Sydney, Minns said it had the potential to be a 'mass casualty event', and that 'there is only one way of calling it out, and that is terrorism'. But in March, the Australian federal police revealed they believed it was a 'con job' by organised crime figures seeking to divert police resources and influence prosecutions. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Minns' chief of staff, James Cullen, appeared alongside two of Minns' deputy chiefs of staff, Edward Ovadia and Sarah Michael. The police minister's chief of staff, Ross Neilson, and deputy chief of staff, Tilly South, also appeared. But it was mainly Cullen who came under intense questioning by the committee. Cullen told the hearing that the premier characterised the incident as a terrorist attack during a press conference on 29 January, shortly after the incident was leaked to the media, because that was 'the language and the briefing the police provided the premier'. He said the same was true for Minns labelling it a 'potentially mass casualty event'. 'The language 'potential mass casualty event', was not a line dreamed up by the premier. It was in briefings from New South Wales police provided to the government, provided to the premier,' he said. Cullen then reminded the inquiry that the deputy police commissioner, David Hudson, had made it clear during the same press conference, and also during an appearance on 2GB the following day, that there were alternative lines of inquiry. Independent MP and chair of the inquiry, Rod Roberts, responded to this by asking why the premier did not tell the public there were other possibilities, saying: 'Now I watched that news, and I believed what the premier told me. I believed it right. He says there's no alternative to terrorism at that stage.' He also pointed out that neither Hudson, nor the then police commissioner Karen Webb used the word terrorism when describing the event. Cullen asserted the premier's comments were 'based on the latest advice from police, and which was... there was a [joint counter-terrorism team] investigation looking at a potential mass casualty event, and there was lines of inquiry in relation to that'. 'I just think there's a very convenient rewriting of history here and squashing of time and of concepts.' Cullen did not directly answer multiple follow-up questions about what the premier was briefed in regards to alternative lines of investigation, saying it involves a 'delicate investigation'. 'Put it this way, there were … alternative lines of investigation that were clearly being explored, early on, and really didn't, for want of a better term, get shaken out until the 21st of February,' he said. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The inquiry heard in earlier evidence during a hearing in May that the briefings between police and cabinet ministers about the incident was 'pens down'. Cullen, after questioning from Nationals MP Wes Fang, said he wouldn't characterise it as such and that no one instructed for it to be so. Fang later asked how a meeting where the premier was being briefed 'on a potential terrorism episode' in which his office did not keep notes was responsive to the State Records Act. Cullen asserted that Minns' office didn't breach the act because it wasn't a decision-making meeting. Following questions by Labor MP Bob Nanva, Cullen agreed it would have been 'irresponsible' to not treat the caravan incident as a 'potentially mass casualty' event given that it was being investigated by the joint counter-terrorism investigation. Cullen told the hearing that the legislation aimed at curbing antisemitism – which was passed on 21 February, the day police said they ruled out the Dural caravan as a terrorism event although they had not yet made this public – did not relate to the alleged terrorism event. 'There were a lot of things going on for an extended period of time. I mean, these conversations didn't start on the 19th of January, the 20th of January or the 29th of January,' he told the hearing. Cullen was also grilled by Greens MP Sue Higginson on whether the premier had instructed the five staffers to not attend the inquiry. Last Tuesday, days before the staffers did not appear and were then threatened with arrest, Minns told 2GB 'we've had extensive discussions with them about it, but I don't want them to'. Cullen said: 'There was absolutely no formal [or] informal direction from the premier. I must be really clear about that.'
ABC News
16 hours ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Tensions flare as senior NSW political staffers who risked arrest grilled at Dural caravan inquiry
Tensions have flared between the NSW premier's top adviser and an opposition MP in a highly anticipated appearance before an inquiry into the Dural caravan plot and the criminalisation of hate speech. Five New South Wales political staffers began giving evidence on Friday morning, one week after they risked arrest for failing to appear. The staffers include the premier's chief-of-staff James Cullen, deputy chief-of-staff Edward Ovadia and his director of media and communications Sarah Michael. The police minister's chief-of-staff Ross Neilson and deputy chief-of-staff Tilly South are also appearing. The inquiry is examining what the senior political staffers knew about the "terror" plot, which police later determined to be a criminal hoax, when the government was introducing legislation to combat antisemitism. Liberal committee member Susan Carter questioning Mr Cullen about what support his boss had offered in relation to the inquiry. A tense exchange ensued between the MP and the staffer, with both talking over each other. "Look, you can fight with the question or your can answer it. What would you like to do?" Ms Carter said to Mr Cullen. Mr Cullen said he first learnt the caravan bomb was no longer being pursued as an act of terrorism in late February — but it is unclear whether that was before hate speech legislation passed the parliament. "Effectively there was a finalised view from police … when the AFP source was discredited on the 21st of February," Mr Cullen said. "I recall after — I think it would have been NSW Police — got legal advice confirming that at that point they couldn't pursue terrorism charges … not long after that getting — might have been Mr Neilson — letting me know that police had contacted the minister or the minister's office, that that had been the case." A bill criminalising the incitement of racial hatred passed the parliament on February 21, having been introduced three days earlier. "I suppose then the next step was … the press conference with the AFP and NSW Police on the tenth of March outlining the results of their investigation." The staffers were summonsed to appear at the inquiry last Friday but failed to do so, arguing "it is ministers, rather than their staff, who are accountable to the parliament". Benjamin Franklin, the president of the Legislative Council, threatened to exercise powers under the Parliamentary Evidence Act to have the staffers arrested and brought before the inquiry. The staffers argued the summonses were not validly issued and that they had "important reasons" for not appearing. They also claimed the powers of arrest under the 124-year-old law, which have never been used, were unconstitutional. Mr Franklin sought legal advice from eminent barrister Bret Walker SC, who gave an opinion rejecting these arguments, prompting the staffers to change their minds. Ms Michael denied breaking the law when she and her colleagues failed to appear last week. "You were untroubled by breaking the law?" Ms Carter asked. "It wasn't that we were breaking the law here. It's just we needed to get more advice about what our rights were," Ms Michael said. "Do you always get advice about whether a law is valid or not before you follow it?" Ms Carter said. "In this particular instance — I like to think of myself a law-abiding citizen — so in this instance, yes," Ms Michael replied. Mr Neilson said the staffers believed their non-attendance was not illegal. "We had advice that we had just cause and reasonable excuse not to attend, and therefore we wouldn't be breaking the law," Mr Neilson said. Earlier Premier Chris Minns said he had let his staff "speak for themselves". "My position on it is very well ventilated," he said at a press conference on Friday. "I couldn't be clearer about the government and my perspective, but we are where we are. "I guess my main message is that there may well be shenanigans in the New South Wales legislative council but myself, my ministers and even my staff, when they're not appearing in front of parliament committees, are actually focused on the people of New South Wales." The premier added that he understood "some people, as part of their job, will try and divert us from that".
