AFP investigating whether foreign actors paid local criminals cryptocurrency to carry out antisemitic attacks

Federal police are investigating whether “overseas actors” are paying local criminals to carry out antisemitic attacks in Australia and whether children are being radicalised online following a wave of alleged hate crimes targeting Jewish communities.

National cabinet met on Tuesday for a snap meeting convened by Anthony Albanese, following the latest attack on a Sydney childcare centre. But state and territory leaders only agreed to set up a new national database tracking antisemitic crime, with no further new initiatives announced following the meeting, despite Albanese pledging that the childcare arson attack “will lead to action”.

The prime minister previously resisted calls for such a meeting, saying on Monday Australians did not just want to see more meetings on antisemitism.

AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw said the federal-led Operation Avalite into antisemitism had received 166 reports, with 15 under investigation. In a statement on Tuesday evening after national cabinet, Albanese said 36 people had been charged with “antisemitic related offences” in NSW, and 70 arrests had been made in Victoria.

“The Prime Minister, State Premiers and Chief Ministers unequivocally condemn antisemitism and reaffirmed to stamp it out in Australia,” a statement from Albanese’s office read, adding that leaders were “united in working together to stamp antisemitism out – and keep it out”.

Albanese told the meeting that the “full resources of the AFP and federal intelligence agencies stand ready” to help state police investigate a string of arson and graffiti attacks on synagogues, homes and cars.

Commonwealth, state and territory attorneys-general will “work to ensure best practice” in dealing with antisemitic crime, the statement said, but the only concrete new initiative announced was the national database to track crimes.

“The purpose of one national reporting system is to better inform and coordinate responses to antisemitic incidents,” Albanese said.

In a separate statement, Kershaw said he would convene a meeting of state police commissioners on Wednesday to discuss antisemitism, and foreshadowed more charges to come. He said federal police were investigating whether some of the incidents were instigated overseas.

“All lines of inquiry are open to the investigations – including what anonymising technology, such as dedicated encrypted communication devices, have been used to commit these crimes,” he said.

“We are looking into whether overseas actors or individuals have paid local criminals in Australia to carry out some of these crimes in our suburbs. We are looking at if – or how – they have been paid, for example in cryptocurrency, which can take longer to identify.”

“We are looking into whether any young people are involved in carrying out some of these crimes, and if they have been radicalised online and encouraged to commit antisemitic acts.”

The Coalition had been demanding Albanese call together state and territory leaders to discuss the issue and the government’s handpicked envoy on antisemitism, Jillian Segal, last week called for national cabinet to address a spate of recent crimes.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton was critical of the time Albanese had taken to call a national cabinet meeting.

“If the prime minister thinks that he’s going to get the Australian public off his back and that he’ll have some reprieve from the media by holding this meeting, he doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation,” he told a Liberal Party campaign rally.

“This is a national crisis. We are having rolling terrorist attacks in our community, and the prime minister is being dragged kicking and screaming to hold a meeting of our nation’s leaders.”

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, said earlier on Tuesday his government would put more resources into policing and investigating such crimes and held open the potential to strengthen the state’s laws on hate speech and vilification.

Albanese visited the scene of the Maroubra attack on Tuesday morning and described the incident as “a hate crime” and “an act of vile, antisemitic violence”.

“This is something that people in this great multicultural city of Sydney should never wake up to and this news will lead to action,” Albanese said in an earlier press conference outside NSW police headquarters.

On Monday, asked if he would hold a national cabinet meeting on antisemitism, Albanese answered: “What people want to see isn’t more meetings, they want to see more action.” He noted he had held a smaller meeting last week with the premiers of NSW and Victoria to discuss the issue.

The deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, said Albanese “must act”.

“Enough is enough. Enough press conferences. Enough platitudes. Enough prime ministerial mealy-mouthed words,” she said on X on Tuesday.

“Synagogues, homes, childcare centres are being firebombed. An antisemitic crisis rages on our streets.”

The government has come under pressure from the Coalition, as well as peak Jewish groups, to commit to tougher action to curb antisemitic hatred.

On Monday, Dutton announced a Coalition government would seek to quickly convene a national cabinet meeting upon its election, as well as introducing mandatory minimum sentences of at least six years for commonwealth terrorism offences, including targeting synagogues, and of at least 12 months for displaying prohibited hate symbols or flags of terror groups.

“It is astonishing to us that still to this day no national cabinet has been convened to respond to this crisis,” the shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, said on Monday.

Minns, standing alongside Albanese in Sydney, said the “full resources” of NSW police would be directed into investigating the spate of antisemitic attacks across Sydney. He noted numerous recent arrests and charges against those alleged to have been behind previous incidents.

The NSW police commissioner, Karen Webb, said on Tuesday an additional 20 investigators had been allocated to Strike Force Pearl, effectively doubling its investigative capacity.