Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will begin my questioning to the minister tonight with a quote:

Clearly, if you are going to cut resources—if you are going to cut the number of personnel in our agencies—it is going to hamper the ability of law enforcement agencies to do their job.

Can anyone guess who this is? They sound like words of a man who goes to the cabinet table and successfully argues for an increase in funding and an increase in staff to his relevant agencies. But what I will be asking the minister about today is the savage cuts that have been made to the Australian Federal Police, including an extraordinary 151-person reduction in personnel over the next year alone. I ask the minister: what affect is this going to have on law enforcement?

It is critical that when the minister addresses this point he talks about the extraordinary dishonesty that came with the announcement that was made in the day before this year's federal budget. On 8 May this year the Minister for Justice and the Prime Minister stood before the Australian people and announced what they described as 'an additional $321 million in funding for the AFP and an extra 300 AFP personnel.' I was really happy, because it is really important that we properly fund the AFP. But what I was shocked to discover the following day is that the budget actually shows the complete opposite. It shows a cut to overall funding to the Australian Federal Police over the forward estimates and it shows a reduction in the personnel of the Australian Federal Police of 151 people to the next year alone. Despite this fake announcement of $321 billion, the AFP is actually losing funding, and it will get worse in the coming years.

I am glad that we have the shadow Attorney-General here in the chamber, because he has raised a very important point. There is a lot of political argy-bargy that goes on in this building, but it is not just Labor who is talking about the impact of these cuts. In fact, in Senate estimates last week and at the National Press Club today, we heard the AFP commissioner stand up and say that there is a reduction in resources going to this organisation. I will provide the quote to the minister in case he was not paying attending during the announcement. The commissioner said, 'The forward estimates show that our total resourcing levels will go down.' The AFP commissioner today was right there in the Press Club, in front of the Australian people, admitting that this so-called boost to the AFP is actually a reduction in funding. Will the minister apologise to the Australian people for misleading Australians about the funding that is provided to the Australian Federal Police?

When the government cut funding to the Australian Federal Police last year, the Australian Federal Police commissioner was asked in Senate estimates what areas would be impacted by the cuts. On 28 February 2017, the commissioner identified the areas that he was going to cut as a result of the government's cut to the AFP budget. He talked about organised crime, he talked about drug work and he talked about fraud. These are extraordinarily important national priorities, yet, due to the minister's inability to argue for increased funding for one of his most critical agencies, these are the things that will be losing resources. My second question to the minister is: given that the government is cutting $184 million over the forward estimates from the AFP, could the minister please confirm which programs relating to organised crime, drug work and fraud will be cut?

I notice that the minister is getting very agitated at some of the things that I am saying. I point out to the minister that these are not my words. I am quoting the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police in Senate estimates and at the National Press Club.

I will turn to the issue of staffing, because this is incredibly important in a resource intensive organisation like the Australian Federal Police. Again, I draw to the attention of the parliament the fact that this minister stood in front of the Australian people and committed to funding for an extra 300 police, yet the budget shows in absolute black and white that there will be a reduction of 150 personnel in the AFP over the next year alone. My third question to the minister is: could the minister please explain the discrepancy between his dishonest announcement and what is actually in the budget?

It is not only cuts to the AFP that we are concerned about. The Australian Federal Police Association have been working very hard to get an appropriate pay rise for their members. They have talked to us a lot about their concern about the attrition rate, in addition to the personnel cuts. I would like the minister to address this point in his statement.

Finally, I say to the minister: we began with a statement from you about your commitment to fighting for funding for this organisation. I ask you: given you have cut resources and the number of personnel from the AFP, do you agree that you are hampering the ability of this law enforcement agency to do their job?

See this speech in context