Chris Ellison (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Hansard source

That question shows a complete lack of understanding by the opposition. They equate ‘underspend’ with lack of performance in law enforcement. You only have to look at what the AFP has been doing in this country, with record drug busts, with the work on counterterrorism, with the work on child pornography, with the work overseas and with the work nationally with the Australian Crime Commission and the state and territory police forces. That is how you judge law enforcement—on what it does and not on the dollars that are spent. An underspend does not equate to lack of law enforcement, which is the premise of this question.

The Australian Federal Police has had record funding and it has programs which have gone over a period of time. The Papua New Guinea case is one which we have been aware of and, of course, the AFP has been returning those funds to the department of finance. It is not just a one-off, one-year expenditure; it is expenditure which goes over a period of time. The opposition is trying to equate underspend with lack of law enforcement. (Time expired)