Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very glad we're on the topic of supporting workers. In late 2019, an AFP officer from Brisbane asked to see me. This officer was stressed out; she was nervous and running on empty. She told me she was very worried about the security at Brisbane Airport; it was keeping her up at night. She told me that her colleagues were working double shifts, and most of them were spending their free time looking at job ads, because it wasn't just the long hours, it was the level of pay.

I have had the same story from AFP officers for years. Australian Federal Police officers are not your run-of-the-mill public servant. These are the Australians at the front line of the fight against terrorism and extremism. These are the Australians who have to sift through the most revolting child pornography. These are the Australians who literally put their lives on the line to protect the people in this place and the rest of the country 24 hours a day.

I'll be honest with you: an 11 per cent pay rise doesn't actually work for them. I find it absolutely baffling that in the same month this is going on the ASIO director raises Australia's official terror alert level to probable. The federal government isn't finding any more money for the most underpaid police force in the country. They aren't prepared to pay the people who literally put their lives on the line for us every day. And by the way, I read recently there has also been a record number of threats against politicians over the last 12 months and still the government of the day doesn't want to pay these people correctly.

The government and the Australian people are asking and expecting more and more from the Australian Federal Police, so I simply say this: why is it, when it comes to politicians, the Australian Federal Police have our back 24/7 and yet the government of the day sure as hell doesn't have theirs?