Opposition leader Peter Dutton has hit back at accusations he avoided police briefings on the explosive-laden caravan found in NSW so he could stoke fear about it.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke took to the airwaves on Tuesday – a day after police revealed the abandoned caravan, found at Dural in Sydney’s north-west on January 19, was a “con job” arranged by organised crime figures – to blast Dutton.

After the find at Dural, Dutton was immediately on the offensive about the discovery, calling it potentially “the most catastrophic terrorist attack in our country’s history”.

“He made claim after claim which is now demonstrably untrue [and] simply asserted a large-scale planned terrorist attack,” Burke said on Tuesday.

“That is not what we were dealing with. We were dealing with a criminal con job, and Peter Dutton was one of the people who was conned.”

Dutton said on Tuesday that accusations he did not seek a briefing were “utter nonsense”.

He called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to answer questions about when he knew the so-called bomb plot was a hoax.

“The Prime Minister, if he had information he has kept from the public in relation to this being a hoax, the prime ministership (should) answer those questions,” said Dutton.

“If Tony Burke knew information that the public was not aware of or was kept from the opposition, he should declare why.

The Coalition’s home affairs spokesman James Paterson tweeted that he and shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash were briefed on the investigation on January 30, along with people from Dutton’s office.

At the time, the discovery of the caravan – packed with enough explosives to create a 40-metre blast, and a note with a list of “Jewish entities” – was still being treated as a potential terror incident.

“In a desperate attempt to distract from Labor’s failures on national security, Tony Burke has again misled the public. The Opposition was briefed by the AFP on Thursday 30 Jan, including myself, the Shadow AG and the Opposition Leader’s office,” Paterson tweeted.

A senior Coalition source also rejected Burke’s suggestion that briefing offers were declined, telling the ABC one was never offered.

Later, Dutton accused Burke of trying to find “political opportunity” on a national security issue.

“We requested a briefing on the 22 January. We requested everything about a week later. At no time during those briefings or my discussions with the director general of ASIO, including on 18 February, was there any mention of a hoax,” he said.

“The thought that we didn’t request a briefing is a complete and utter nonsense and there is a home own goal here by Tony Burke. I think the Prime Minister needs to answer questions about when he was advised of this being a hoax – and the Premier of NSW.

“I think Tony Burke is trying to find political opportunity out of a national security issue and should stand condemned.

The caravan was found after a string of antisemitic incidents in Sydney. Including arson and graffiti attacks on a synagogue, they sent shockwaves through the city’s Jewish community.

The Dural discovery was viewed as an escalation of antisemitism in Australia and prompted federal opposition calls for an inquiry into when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had learned of it.

Albanese, who has repeatedly condemned antisemitism, dismissed the need for an inquiry.

Early in the investigation, he also described it as a terrorist plot.

“After a reasonably short time they had started to review it and realised that what they were dealing with was something quite different,” Burke said.

“At that point, we continued to say publicly that Peter Dutton should be briefed. We continued to remind him that he was able to be briefed by the Australian Federal Police; he deliberately chose to not find out.”

“As the police view developed, certainly our briefings and our understanding of the situation developed as well.”

Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the caravan was never going to cause mass casualties but was a concocted criminal plot to cause fear for their benefit.

Almost immediately on finding it, investigators believed it “was part of a fabricated terrorism plot – essentially a criminal con job”, she said.

On Monday, police made 14 more arrests related to the antisemitic crime wave. They said it was not ideologically motivated, but arranged to benefit organised crime figures

The men and women, aged 18-41, have been charged with 65 offences following the investigations into the multiple antisemitic incidents across Sydney’s east between October and February.

Charges were laid after warrants and firearm prohibition orders were executed across Sydney on Monday.

No one has yet been charged over the explosive-laden caravan.

On Tuesday, NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said the criminals involved in the hoax “sought to take advantage of already-strained social cohesion and unprecedented levels of antisemitism by targeting the Jewish community for their own personal benefit”.

“This is reprehensible and had a chilling effect on the Jewish community,” Ossip said.

Monday’s “confirmation that the caravan plot was fabricated will bring some comfort to the Jewish community and we look forward to receiving further information as the investigation continues to progress”, he said.

Reported cases of antisemitism and Islamophobia have increased in Australia since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023 and Israel launched a war in Gaza in response.

-with AAP