The Australian Federal Police (AFP) will receive an additional $321.4 million in tomorrow’s budget to fund an expansion of the force.
Up to 300 personnel are expected to be hired, including negotiators, tactical response officers, bomb squad technicians and forensic specialists.
Justice Minister Michael Keenan said the funding will ensure the AFP has adequate personnel and resources to deal with the multiple threats facing Australia.
“We are living in a very difficult national security environment and we’re also living in an environment where organised criminals, particularly those involved in the drug trade, continue to enhance the sophistication of their operations,” he told AM.
“And we need the AFP to be a high-tech organisation, with the skills sets available to it, to meet these threats.”
Mr Keenan has also denied suggestions the extra funding indicated the force had not been properly resourced.
“This is a very significant investment, the largest single investment in the past decade and it goes over and above what we have already done to ensure the AFP has the resources that it needs to do its job,” he said.
The $321.4 million will be rolled out over the next four years with the Federal Government indicating it will not be cutting any funding from other areas to provide the extra money.
Earlier this year, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security recommended national security agencies — such as the AFP — be exempt from the annual funding cuts referred to as efficiency dividends.
But Mr Keenan said that will not occur, arguing that “no agency is exempt from the efficiency dividend”.
“… But the money that is contained within this announcement, on top of all the extra significant resourcing we have given to the federal police, more than makes up for that,” he said.
Source: Budget 2017: AFP to get $321m funding boost to hire extra personnel – Federal Budget 2017 – ABC News
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