‘Foolish error': NSW Labor staffers face arrest after defying summons
Five political staffers working for Premier Chris Minns and Police Minister Yasmin Catley face being arrested and detained in Parliament House after they defied a summons on Friday and refused to give evidence at an upper house inquiry.
In a dramatic escalation in the growing tension between Minns and the upper house, inquiry chair and independent MP Rod Roberts met with the Legislative Council president Ben Franklin late on Friday to ask him to seek arrest warrants from the Supreme Court.
Franklin will consider the matter over the weekend but if the five are arrested, it will be unprecedented, and they would be detained, probably in Parliament House, before being forced to front the inquiry and give evidence.
The five refused to appear before the inquiry into the Dural caravan incident, which is investigating details relating to the discovery of an explosives-laden caravan in northern Sydney in January.
The caravan contained a note referencing the Great Synagogue and the Sydney Jewish Museum, and Minns described it as an act of terrorism which could have caused mass casualties.
After the discovery, new race-hate laws were rushed through NSW parliament. Minns later acknowledged that he was also initially briefed by police that the caravan plot may have been the work of opportunistic criminal gangs and not terrorism.
Minns and Catley were asked to appear before the inquiry to answer questions about the timing of briefings they received in relation to the caravan discovery but because they are lower house MPs, they are not obliged and cannot be compelled to front the upper house.
The committee then called the five staffers, which include Minns and Catley's chiefs of staff and senior advisers. They declined the invitation, arguing that political staffers should not be called before a parliamentary inquiry.
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