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Editors --- "New Ministerial Direction sets focus for future" [1999] AUFPPlatypus 10; (1999) 63 Platypus: Journal of the Australian Federal Police, Article 2


New Ministerial Direction sets focus for future

The Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator Amanda Vanstone, signed a new Direction to the AFP in accordance with section 13(2) of the AFP Act on February 25 this year. The Direction supersedes that issued on December 23, 1994.

Prime Minister John Howard set the benchmark for the AFP in July 1998 when he made his commitment to the AFP becoming a law enforcement agency ‘second to none'. Through the reform program, the AFP is meeting this challenge operationally and administratively. We are developing improved resource management practices and performance measures to ensure that our managerial systems support the delivery of our endorsed outcomes.

The AFP will continue to pursue greater efficiency and effectiveness through increased cooperation with our strategic partners at the Commonwealth level, such as the National Crime Authority, the Australian Customs Services and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, and our State and Territory colleagues.

The Direction defines the Government's expectations of the AFP and reflects our key organisational outcomes. It identifies special areas of focus on the basis of existing and emerging priorities and places a strong emphasis on continuing the recent initiatives, effectively positioning the AFP for the next five years.

The changing focus of criminal activity reinforces the need for the AFP to develop its capacity to deal with new kinds of crime. The Direction reaffirms the primary roles of the AFP with an emphasis on targeting issues such as drug trafficking, electronic commerce, organised crime and an increased strategic intelligence capacity. The AFP focus on transnational crime to fulfil its role in strategic law enforcement has been reinforced.

I believe the document provides the strategic focus for the AFP which reflects current and future law enforcement priorities and provides an unequivocally supportive basis on which we can plan our future.

Commissioner M. J. Palmer.

Section 13(2) Australian Federal Police Act 1979

This Direction is issued under section 13(2) of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) Act 1979 and outlines the Government's priorities and expectations for the AFP for the period 1999-2001.

The Direction supersedes that issued by the Minister for Justice on December 23, 1994.

The role of the Australian Federal Police

The AFP is the major instrument of Commonwealth law enforcement. Its role is to enforce Commonwealth criminal law and protect Commonwealth and national interests from crime in Australia and overseas. The AFP is Australia's international law enforcement and policing representative and the chief source of advice to the Government on policing issues.

The Government is committed to ensuring the AFP becomes a law enforcement agency second to none. It is also committed to ensuring the AFP is adequately positioned and appropriately resourced to deal with the criminal environment of the 21st century.

Given its role, the Government has high expectations of the AFP. It expects the AFP to respond positively to the challenges facing law enforcement. It expects the AFP to pursue continuous improvement and innovation, and to achieve best practice in resource management and planning.

It expects the AFP to seek opportunities for greater efficiency and effectiveness through increased cooperation and resource sharing with other agencies, especially the National Crime Authority, Australian Customs Service and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre. The Government expects the AFP to fully implement the reform program established by the Government in July 1998 and to meet its responsibilities under its Budget Charter and the Government's broader financial management regime.

Functions and outcomes

The AFP's functions are set out in section 8 of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979. Within that framework, the AFP is to pursue clearly defined outcomes agreed by the Government. These outcomes may be amended, usually within the Government's annual budget process, but the AFP will initially pursue the following outcomes:

• That criminal activity is deterred in areas impacting on the Commonwealth Government's interests.

• That those individuals and interests identified by the Commonwealth Government or the AFP as being at risk are kept safe and secure as a result of AFP protective services.

• That policing activity creates a safer and more secure environment in the ACT, Jervis Bay and Australia's external territories.

• That the Commonwealth Government contributes effectively to international law enforcement interests.

• That community confidence in the honesty, effectiveness and accountability of the AFP is high.

In pursuing these outcomes, the AFP will adhere to Government policy relating to the protection of privacy, occupational health and safety, and the promotion of workplace diversity.

Special areas of focus

The Government expects the AFP to give special emphasis to:

• Countering and otherwise investigating illicit drug trafficking, organised crime, serious fraud against the Commonwealth; money laundering and the interception of assets involved in or derived from these activities.

• Providing community policing services in the ACT, Jervis Bay and external territories.

• Providing protective security services to the Governor-General, federal parliamentarians, internationally protected persons, other persons who are of specific interest to the Commonwealth, witnesses and special events.

• Investigating special references and performing special taskings from the Government.

The AFP should, in particular, ensure that it provides an effective contribution to the implementation of the Government's ‘Tough on Drugs' strategy and to the conduct of the 2000 Olympics.

The AFP should also continue to develop a capacity to deal with new forms of criminal activity.

Special attention should be directed at the investigation of economic crime, in all its forms, transnational crime and crime involving information technology and communications (including electronic commerce).

The AFP reform program

In implementing the Government's reform program, the AFP will recruit additional staff to enhance its investigative and operational capabilities and it will restructure its employment base to develop a more mobile, flexible and skilled workforce.

It will improve its strategic intelligence capability to enhance its operational performance and increase the quality of assessments of criminal activity used for corporate decision-making and strategic planning.

The AFP will establish improved management structures and resource management practices, including performance measures which address the production of outputs and achievement of outcomes.

It will also achieve the internal efficiencies identified by the Government in the reform program and give priority to developing an alternative to the AFP Adjustment Scheme.

Reporting

The Government expects the AFP to report regularly, at least on a quarterly basis, to the Minister for Justice and Customs on its performance.

Senator the Hon. Amanda Vanstone

Minister for Justice and Customs.


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