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

I was merely, by extrapolation, explaining to you—someone who may not have understood how it works in the real world—that, where public servants provide the service, they are in fact quite good at dealing with the public and complaints and investigation. If we had more time I might have shared some of the difficulties we were confronted with under a Liberal government—and their ability—but I will not go there this evening. In any event, that is primarily where these matters can be dealt with.

The answer you were given about the Australian Federal Police, as I understand it, was that currently the Workplace Relations Act has limited operation in relation to the Australian Federal Police. Section 69B of the Australian Federal Police Act applies the Workplace Relations Act in relation to matters involving the AFP command powers and termination of employment of AFP employees. There will be a process of consulting with the AFP about appropriate amendments to the AFP Act to preserve the current arrangements. As I understand it, that is the area that you wanted a bit more detailed information on. Were you asking about the difference between the state police and the Australian Federal Police? That was the import of the question that you asked. I am just trying to establish whether you were talking about the state police or the AFP.