Australian Federal Police Association Media Release
The critical shortage of police officers across Australia, as reported today, is a particularly acute problem in the Australian Federal Police, where officers are relatively underpaid compared to other jurisdictions.
AFP Association President Alex Caruana:
“AFP officers are overworked and under-resourced and the situation has reached a tipping point. It’s now at a point where it is endangering public safety and jeopardizing the welfare of AFP officers.
“The pressures on our officers have never been greater, and today’s reports of police shortages only confirm what we know. The AFP is being stretched to breaking point. Officers are exhausted, and the current pay and working conditions are pushing many to consider leaving the force altogether.
“AFP officers face unique challenges compared to other public servants, yet the federal government offers them inadequate compensation in a pay-deal that was designed for desk-job public servants.
“Unlike public servants, however, AFP officers cannot work from home. They’re on the front lines every day, dealing with the worst of humanity – whether it’s international drug traffickers, paedophile rings, or terrorists. These officers work weekends, holidays, and are often called upon at a moment’s notice. They put their lives on the line every day, and in exchange they are offered a deal by the federal government that doesn’t remotely reflect the demands of the job.
“The AFPA has warned that the government’s failure to address these issues is creating a mass exodus risk. In a recent survey, 92% of AFP officers reported that they are not resourced to handle their current workload, and 79% have considered leaving the force in the past year due to the pressures they face.
“If the government continues to lump AFP officers into the same category as desk-bound public servants, we will see a large number of officers walk out the door. Six percent of our members said they would leave immediately, and another 68% are actively looking for other jobs. This deal is toxic. The AFP is a tinderbox right now, and without urgent action, the Australian public will be the ones who suffer.
“Our officers perform vital counter-terrorism work and safeguard Australia’s national security interests. We cannot allow the AFP to be hollowed out by uncompetitive wages and conditions.”
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Maybe narrow their remit back to wandering aimlessly around airport borders vs tooled up military style border security stunts vs. ‘immigrants’ for the RW MSM.
For example several years ago the AFP threatening a sweep of the Melbourne CBD to check foreigner bona fides ‘papers please’, barely anyone in media twigged that Australians would have needed to carry ID (not a legal requirement), giving authoritarianism their blessing? Too easy….
Surely we should support the full staffing of public service positions so as to do necessay work, but, some like in this area are vague and secretive. Policing is in the news, with stories of recruitment problems, personal stress, change and difficulty. I’d like to know more so as to decide on support, when huge areas of education, health, administration and others need addressing.
Andrew Smith, it wasn’t the AFP threatening a sweep of the city’s CBD, it was Border Force. Facts, please. Don’t fall into the unfortunately large pool of lazy commentators who seem to believe that ‘near enough is good enough.’ It takes only moments to cross-check details before clicking to post a comment.
@Canguro & @Andrew Smith, putting both your comments together gives us the true picture. The Federal Police should simply return to their original duty – policing Australian Capital Territory residents.
Canguro, pedantic and ironic ABF Vs AFP under Home Affairs or whatever name, but you are not concerned at flagrant abuse of authority and shoot messengers who high light these symptoms?
It doesn’t change the meaning of the comment ie. authoritarian & nativist tendencies of Australian authorities vs immigrants &/or citizens, as opposed the mass of unsupported opinions masquerading as insight
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-28/operation-fortitude-cancelled/6733008
However, what are you offering for insight, do you agree with the Border Force or whoever?
Becomes tedious this tendency of Australians to be didactic, opinionated and authoritarian over non issues, but ignoring or missing the substantive?
You’re missing the point, Andrew Smith. You’re a frequent and opinionated blogger, and as such I’d expect that you assume that what you say is correct and relevant. Proofreaders have a role to play, always have, and always will; they are, to an extent, the gatekeepers between truth and falsehood. If you wish to label that noble profession pedantic, so be it; pigs will squeal when stuck, kangaroos, on the contrary, merely huff.
And on the note of flagrant abuse and whether to be concerned about it, if one was to take up every issue that dogs mankind and fly a flag of protest in opposition – usually futilely, let it be noted – one’s life would fly by with little accomplished and a high probability of feeble senility to show for it all.
Barely a post of yours gets by without a serve at the Koch cartel, or some other conservative malfeasant phenomenon …to what end, it could be asked? Do you think the primarily aged population of readers of The AIMN actually care, or are motivated to do something… what exactly, no-one knows; but there you go, up on your stump, beating the drum, again & again, basically, pointlessly.
If you’re going to put information into the public domain, at least get the facts right. Correct spelling and punctuation go a long way as well, as does lexical coherence.
There seems to be no question that Oz has been deficient in many areas of human resource objectives, like essential services and qualified labour whilst opening the various gates to immigration. Particularly over the past decade where there has been a concentration of bringing an almost ‘slave class’ of immigration for exploitation into agriculture and food processing, and otherwise a source to line the pockets of land barons and banks. At the same time, it demolished apprentice incentives and privatized vocational training and tertiary education turning them into sub-par mill for exploitation of temporary immigrants, and a high cost disincentive for Oz young folk – particularly the disadvantaged.
This dirty tail end of neoliberalism has bitten the entire world, and Oz too. Rather than the deception of it being good for all, it has furthered debt and inequities, further concentrating wealth in the already wealthy, and leaving us with a major shortage of essential services and qualified labour sufficient to accommodate population growth. That coupled with entrenchment of oligarchies in the resources and wholesale / retail sectors has left the ordinary folk of Oz subject to workplace stress, merchantile extortion and a plunge towards poverty, homelessness and ill-health.
It’s the same pattern the world over, and coupled with climate change and the vast cost of abatement, insecurities and transnational competition via almost any means are running rife, with civil disruption and criminality occurring under many guises.
The wiles of oppositional politics in democracies has rapidly become more putrid than at any time since WWII, and with the advent of the internet, individualists and extremists are having a go, thereby, with the help of sensation driven mainstream media, smashing community bonds and confidence.
For any government, it’s an utter mess, and managing a path to reform is a multifarious nightmare – which structure, which threat, which deficit, and which shortage to tackle first, and to what extent, given that all but the wealthy are equally feeling the pain.
It took maybe 40 years for neoliberalism to become so entrenched, so it won’t be resolved quickly to a relative comfort perception (not reality) of the 70s per se, it is likely to take at least a decade or so.
Like the manifest problems in the military, some of the problems in policing may well emanate from the hierarchical nature of absolute command and control and the temptation for political expedience and for subversion within the ranks.