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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 3 Hansard (27 March) . . Page.. 702 ..

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I thank Mr Whitecross for the question. It is a very good question in the light of recent comment. I am certainly concerned about the suggestions that were made on national television, on the 60 Minutes program, and subsequently by that former officer of the Australian Federal Police. The concern that I have, of course, is centred around what has been, for the ACT, an extremely good record with police probity up until the present. We have not seen circumstances in which any serious allegations of corruption against officers serving the ACT, as part of the ACT Region, have been sustained in recent years or indeed for as long as I can recall, since the AFP was created back in 1979. That is a sign, I think, of considerable merit in the way in which the AFP has seen its work and the way in which it continues to carry out its duties of community policing in the ACT.

The allegations made in respect of the AFP by the former officer on the 60 Minutes program and subsequently have been allegations made in respect of the national function of the AFP. I have not seen, at this point in time, any allegations relating to the ACT function of the AFP - the community policing function here in Canberra of the AFP - which would give me any cause for concern in relation to that function. Certainly, from time to time, citizens of the Territory make suggestions which I would describe - not in fairness, perhaps, to those citizens - as minor allegations of corruption about the operations of the AFP. Such allegations are always fully investigated, using the agency of the Ombudsman to do so. The concern that that sort of thing gives rise to has not yet been translated into, as far as I am concerned, any concern about the fundamental nature of the structure of the AFP or the nature of the quality of officers serving in the AFP as far as the ACT Region is concerned.

The structures that have contributed to these sorts of problems, in the words of Commissioner Palmer from last week, certainly are the sorts of issues which have needed to be examined, and have been examined, in the ACT context. The team-based approach towards police management has been, I think, a welcome device by the AFP to deal with those sorts of problems.

I am aware that the Federal Attorney-General, who has responsibility for the Australian Federal Police globally, has indicated his willingness to examine these allegations seriously and, as I understand it, has commenced to do so. I understand also that Commissioner Palmer has begun the task of working with the Federal Attorney-General to do just that. In the absence of allegations made against officers in respect of their ACT duties, I do not propose to initiate any parallel program or process in the ACT. With respect, that would be to initiate a process of tracking down allegations which have not actually appeared at this point in time. But I can assure members that the continuing brief I have given the Australian Federal Police is to be vigilant for this kind of problem. If any serious allegations or any concerns arise in the ACT context about these sorts of issues, they will be investigated as fully as the devices at my disposal allow. That is an ongoing commitment, not just for this particular point in time.

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