Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I would reiterate what I said in response to your first question, Senator, which is that the ADF are not authorised as law enforcement officers. The authorisation for those powers remains with the police of the relevant state or territory, and these matters are determined, planned and operationalised between the ADF and the relevant police service, whether it is—the examples you have used—in New South Wales or in Queensland. In fact, given the amount of time since the beginning of Operation COVID-19 Assist in 2020, where we have seen over 20,500 ADF personnel deployed nationally under Operation COVID-19 Assist, there has been a very significant period for agencies to work together on exactly these matters.