Bob Debus (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I will respond to those general questions from the member for Sturt, although possibly not quite in the same order that he asked them. First of all, concerning the recruitment of 500 new police, I point out that the government has, in fact, redeemed its election commitment to increase AFP sworn officer numbers by 500 by allocating $191 million over five years and by doing so in a manner that is both operationally sensible and financially responsible in the present budgetary circumstances. That is in addition to $20 million already provided by the government to allow AFP to develop their recruitment and retention strategies.

I point out that the Australian Federal Police Association has applauded the government’s commitment to boost sworn police officer numbers. The national president, Jon Hunt-Sharman, said at the time of the initial announcement that the government had demonstrated a clear understanding of police resources and our ability to protect Australians from the dual threats of crime and terror. The commissioner of the AFP said at Senate estimates that the AFP’s training college could best cope with the rollout that has been designed in the context of the election commitment—and, as I have said, the Federal Police Association essentially agrees that it will take some time to organise the recruitment of so many officers. It is true—and the government has made no secret of the fact—that recruitment will be modest in the first years and increase rapidly in the later years of that recruitment program. But, as I say, that is the way that it is appropriate, from several points of view, to organise the recruitment process.

I mention also that the budget has included $49 million extra to support the AFP’s child protection operations team, with 91 additional AFP members dedicated to online child protection by 2011. It would be a reasonable thing to be concerned if funding for child protection had been cut, but it has not. The $2.8 million that the member for Sturt has mentioned concerns only corporate support funds, not operational funds. There is no effect whatsoever by that change on the government’s general capacity to deal with the protection of children. There is, in fact, no decrease; there is a significant increase in child protection funding. It may be that I can provide a more detailed technical or financial account of those particular initiatives in order to wholly satisfy the concerns that have been raised.

I turn briefly to the question of the police in airports. As has been indicated, the Wheeler review made a series of recommendations about the so-called unified policing model. The implementation of the Wheeler review is itself kept under review by two processes. One is an ongoing internal review by the AFP and the other is a review by the secretaries Transport Security Working Group. I believe that includes the secretaries of a number of relevant departments but certainly those of the Attorney-General’s Department and the department of transport. The first of those reviews, the internal review by the AFP, is underway. (Extension of time granted) It will inform the Transport Security Working Group, which in turn will continue to look at the implementation of the recommendations of the Wheeler report and, I take it, recommend any modifications if they should deem that to be a reasonable thing to do.

Apart from the sorts of vacancies that occur in the course of any operation—that is to say, sickness or people resigning and being recruited; leaving aside those sorts of changes in the numbers—all of the states have committed to the number of police that were required under the Wheeler arrangements, except for Queensland and Western Australia. Queensland will fill 46 existing vacancies by the end of the year. A small number of vacancies continue to exist in Western Australia. But, overall, the proposals of the Wheeler review are in place and are themselves under ongoing review.

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