Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator Johnston. Will the minister advise the Senate on current resourcing and funding to the Australian Federal Police to assist in its fight against crime? Further, what level of cooperation has been received from state governments in meeting their Council of Australian Governments commitment of September 2005 to provide personnel at each of the 11 counterterrorism first response airports?

David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Parry for his question and pause to acknowledge his longstanding commitment to law enforcement in Australia and indeed his service to law enforcement in his home state of Tasmania—a very admirable and proud service it was. Over the past 10 years there has been a 30 per cent increase in the number of sworn officers in the Australian Federal Police. The number of Australian Federal Police sworn police officers at 13 June 2007 was 2,503. This number has increased from 1,931 in 1997-98 to what it is today and represents a significant and important commitment from the federal government to ensure that our Australian Federal Police are provided with the required manpower to assist them in their fight against crime. Since 1995 the funding for the Australian Federal Police has increased from $276 million to the current position of $1.2 billion. I think in anybody’s language that is a massive increase in spending from the Australian government and an indication of our commitment as a Commonwealth to ensure that our Australian Federal Police are afforded the necessary funding and resources to enable them to get on with the job of fighting crime. This commitment has resulted in the AFP currently, as at 2 May, being resourced with a total of 6,011 staff performing a range of operational, specialist or operational support roles both nationally and, as everybody knows, internationally. This is forecast to increase to 6,345 by the end of the year.

Having said that, I am very surprised and disappointed that the Police Federation of Australia has even attempted to suggest that the Australian Federal Police is somehow inappropriately or not properly or fully resourced and is propped up by secondments from other jurisdictions. Of all Australian jurisdictions, there is only one that is adequately funding its law enforcement agencies—and that, of course, is the Commonwealth. The Australian Federal Police works closely with its state and territory colleagues on a range of fronts, including the International Deployment Group, which comprises a total of 694 staff and, as at 2 May, had 122 state and territory police secondments to its missions.

After the Wheeler review into policing and aviation, there was a requirement for increased policing at airports, and the Australian Unified Policing Model was provided in support of this strategy. As at this time only 110 of the COAG agreed 364 state and territory police are in place at these airports. In other words, the states agreed to provide manpower and they are 230 uniformed officers short of what they agreed at COAG to provide. I find it very ironic and rather political that the Australian Police Federation would simply fail to acknowledge the real problem here in policing. One government is doing the job properly; many—eight governments—are dragging the chain very badly.

What is also to be understood is that the Commonwealth has provided the states and territories with funding to recruit officers. We have actually provided the states and territories with the money to get the manpower. The public policy misfiring, the public policy incapacity and the public policy negligence has failed to deliver these officers. I am very surprised—of course, rather not surprised in an election year—that a police union is seeking to take a cheap shot at the government. We are doing more for law enforcement than any other government in Australia. The facts speak for themselves.