Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

My question is directed to Senator Ellison, Minister for Justice and Customs. Is the minister aware that the budgeted average staffing level of the Australian Federal Police this year is 95 personnel less than the average staffing level last year? Is it also true that the AFP were supposed to have increased the number of police by 326 last year but that they fell short of the target by 421 officers? Given this record of recruitment failure, on what basis did the minister assert on the Meet the Press program on 27 August that ‘the AFP had no trouble in recruiting’? In view of the minister’s track record of failure in police recruitment, what confidence should anyone have that he will come close to meeting the Prime Minister’s latest promise to expand the AFP? Was the minister unaware of the extent of his failure, or is he so incompetent that he signed off on incorrect figures in both this year’s and last year’s budgets?