Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Ruby Jones and you're listening to seven AM.
Speaker 1: The AFP is in charge of investigating the country's most
Speaker 1: serious crimes, terrorism, corruption, drugs and human trafficking. But a
Speaker 1: new report from the Commonwealth Ombardsman has suggested that the
Speaker 1: thing it's not good at is investigating itself. It's found
Speaker 1: that the agency is dismissing complaints that should be investigated,
Speaker 1: including allegations of corruption and assault. Today journalist Karen Middleton
Speaker 1: on allegations inside the AFP and what they tell us
Speaker 1: about the culture of the agency. It's Wednesday, July twenty three.
Speaker 1: So Karen, you've been looking into the report just released
Speaker 1: into internal complaints at the AFP. Tell me what you've uncovered.
Speaker 2: Well, the Commonwealth Ombardsman is responsible for overseeing the operations
Speaker 2: of the AFP and the Ombardsman files a series of
Speaker 2: reports every year on aspects of those operations. One of
Speaker 2: those is about its handling of complaints against its own
Speaker 2: offices and staff. And we've just seen a report tabled
Speaker 2: by the Obodsman in the last week or so looking
Speaker 2: at that. Now, there's a bit of a lag in
Speaker 2: these reports. They aren't published for a year or so
Speaker 2: beyond the period that they look at, so this report
Speaker 2: is really from twenty twenty three to twenty four, and
Speaker 2: there was a change to the way the AFP managed
Speaker 2: its complaints in the middle of twenty twenty three. It
Speaker 2: went from using regionally based bodies right around the country
Speaker 2: to one centralized body. But what this report suggests is
Speaker 2: there's a pretty chronic overuse of the power of discretion
Speaker 2: that is given under law to the Commissioner of the
Speaker 2: AFP to you dismiss complaints without any further action or investigation.
Speaker 2: Now that power is a delegated power. He doesn't exercise
Speaker 2: it personally directly himself. It is exercised by that complaint's body.
Speaker 2: But the list of complaints that are being dismissed has
Speaker 2: gone up pretty dramatically. If we look at the figures
Speaker 2: in that report, they show that in the year before
Speaker 2: that centralization occurred, just thirty two percent of complaints were
Speaker 2: being dismissed under this discretionary power. In the year after
Speaker 2: it began, the rate was eighty five percent. And the
Speaker 2: Ombudsman is very concerned about that. The Ombudsman's report says
Speaker 2: they found that in nine of the eleven instances they
Speaker 2: reviewed the use of the discretionary power was unreasonable, unfair
Speaker 2: and failed to meet the requirements of the legislation.
Speaker 1: Okay, can you tell me what kind of complaints we're
Speaker 1: talking about, what sort of alleged conduct.
Speaker 2: Well, I think the most prominent of the examples it
Speaker 2: gives is allegations of the personal misuse of police vehicles.
Speaker 2: So there's not a lot of detail about exactly what happened,
Speaker 2: whether these were marked or unmarked police cars, but the
Speaker 2: suggestion was that they had been used inappropriately. The obitsmen
Speaker 2: found that when the police were asked to explain this,
Speaker 2: its response was that even though the guidelines for using
Speaker 2: police vehicles were clear, it had discovered that officers didn't
Speaker 2: understand them and that the practice of using police vehicles
Speaker 2: personally was widespread, so they took no further action. The
Speaker 2: Commonwealth Combitsmen's taken a very dim view of that and
Speaker 2: says that it needs to be referred to the National
Speaker 2: Anti Corruption Commission for examination as potential serious systemic corruption.
Speaker 2: The example of the police vehicles dated back to before
Speaker 2: the switchover in the complaints handling, and also before the
Speaker 2: Anti Corruption Commission, which we call the NAC had been created.
Speaker 2: Prior to that, there was another body that was responsible
Speaker 2: for investigating police corruption allegation see Australian Commission for Law
Speaker 2: Enforcement Integrity. But in this case it was found that
Speaker 2: it was referred to them. Initially they sent it back
Speaker 2: to the police and said, look, you look into this,
Speaker 2: let us know if you find any evidence of wrongdoing.
Speaker 2: The police did uncover what the Ombardsman says could have
Speaker 2: actually been admissions and a number of other pieces of
Speaker 2: information that were potentially useful, but it was never referred
Speaker 2: formally and that really was why the Ombodsman has decided
Speaker 2: that it needs proper investigation and the police have agreed
Speaker 2: to do that, and they've also agreed to set up
Speaker 2: their own separate external inquiry into the whole complaints handling system.
Speaker 2: They've appointed a law firm to run that. They consulted
Speaker 2: the Obardsmen in the course of setting that up and
Speaker 2: that should start by the end of the month.
Speaker 1: So that particular case is going to the knack now
Speaker 1: that the Onwardsman has I suppose pointed it out in
Speaker 1: their report, But tell me more about other cases that
Speaker 1: they identified where the AFP hadn't fully pursued an investigation
Speaker 1: where perhaps the Onwardsmen thinks that they should.
Speaker 2: Have found well. The Obousman found one allegation of sexual
Speaker 2: misconduct against AFP personnel who had been dealing with a
Speaker 2: person in custody. Now that was also dismissed without further investigation,
Speaker 2: on the basis that the body cam vision that the
Speaker 2: police were wearing didn't substantiate the allegation. But when the
Speaker 2: Obodsman's office reviewed the footage, they found but nineteen minutes
Speaker 2: of it was missing, and no record that either the
Speaker 2: people who were accused or the specific complainant had been
Speaker 2: contacted for their version. And there was another complaint about
Speaker 2: an officer inappropriately using a firearm in the workplace. Now
Speaker 2: that was dismissed on the basis that the person had
Speaker 2: already been counseled. But the Onbardsman has found that this
Speaker 2: didn't reflect the seriousness of the allegations. It didn't properly
Speaker 2: consider comments that were contained in the complaint that other
Speaker 2: personnel felt unsafe when this had happened, and there seemed
Speaker 2: to be no if it made to establish whether this
Speaker 2: was a service weapon, a real weapon, or a training
Speaker 2: weapon a replica. So there were a range of concerns
Speaker 2: the onbitsmen had and said that needed further examination.
Speaker 1: After the break. Why the AFP is allowed to decide
Speaker 1: not to investigate itself, Karen. Central to all of this
Speaker 1: is the idea that serious allegations of misconduct, at times
Speaker 1: or at least in one case, potentially reaching the level
Speaker 1: of corruption, have been identified but then dismissed or not
Speaker 1: investigated further within the AFP. So can you tell me
Speaker 1: a bit about how that decision is made.
Speaker 2: Yes, So, this legislation that governs the AFP's operations, it's
Speaker 2: the Australian Federal Police Act, and there's one section in
Speaker 2: that section forty TF that gives the Commissioner the discretion
Speaker 2: to take no further action on a complaint. Even though
Speaker 2: that is a power that is ultimately the commissioners, it's
Speaker 2: a delegated power. So it's the complaints handling body that
Speaker 2: really exercises that discretion and makes the decision on whether
Speaker 2: or not things should be further investigated. So that seems
Speaker 2: to be where these problems are centered. The almostmen found
Speaker 2: that these sort of first pass assessments that the body
Speaker 2: was doing didn't always consider a whole lot of other
Speaker 2: available evidence, you know, other verifying information, what other sources
Speaker 2: there might be that they could pursue, witnesses or other records.
Speaker 2: Didn't always consider that any available evidence might be highly
Speaker 2: credible even though it was limited. Didn't look at whether
Speaker 2: more investigation could be required to establish the basic facts
Speaker 2: before making a ruling, or whether the seriousness of the
Speaker 2: allegations just naturally necessitated taking more steps to inquire about
Speaker 2: them before making a determination.
Speaker 1: Okay, so is the ombudsman critical then of either the
Speaker 1: Central Complaints Body or the leadership of the AFP.
Speaker 2: Well, Interestingly, he notes that there has been an old
Speaker 2: quote a particularly high repeat of issues over the last
Speaker 2: six years, and that is actually the time that the
Speaker 2: AFP Commissioner Rees Kershaw has been in his job. He
Speaker 2: started there in twenty nineteen. Now, as I say, it's
Speaker 2: a delegated power, so it's not a power that he
Speaker 2: personally has exercised. But the Home Affairs Minister, when I
Speaker 2: asked his office about that timeline, has backed in the
Speaker 2: commissioner and says Commissioner Kershaw is an impressive leader and
Speaker 2: enjoys my confidence. So he's certainly not raising any concerns
Speaker 2: about the Commissioner.
Speaker 1: Personally okay, But all of this, what does it tell
Speaker 1: you about the culture within the AFP at the moment.
Speaker 2: Well, I think the concern it raises is the risk
Speaker 2: that there's a perception of impunity among the police about
Speaker 2: complaints against themselves. And of course the police is a
Speaker 2: very important institution, but they depend very heavily on public trust,
Speaker 2: and the ombudsman is saying that this is now looking
Speaker 2: like a pattern of failing to completely investigate or even
Speaker 2: do an initial examination of too many allegations. When I
Speaker 2: ask the AFP for specific responses to what the ombardsmen found,
Speaker 2: it points to the fact that it's setting up this
Speaker 2: independent review and it says that this is to ensure
Speaker 2: the police force quote maintains a mature and defensible complaint
Speaker 2: management system unquote, and it also insists that the internal
Speaker 2: mandatory reporting regimes that it has on professional standards, which
Speaker 2: include allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct, are robust.
Speaker 1: So do you get the sense then that what the
Speaker 1: omwardsman has found is being taken seriously by the AFP.
Speaker 2: Yes, they've accepted the majority of the recommendations the obodsmen made,
Speaker 2: but there are a handful that they've only partially agreed to.
Speaker 2: And what isn't clear from the report is which bits
Speaker 2: of those they've agreed to and which they haven't. So
Speaker 2: there are some caveats on what they're doing. But they have,
Speaker 2: as I say, said, they will send that allegation about
Speaker 2: police car' misuse to the Anti Corruption Commission, and they've
Speaker 2: undertaken to re examine some of the issues that the
Speaker 2: Ombudsman recommends looking at. What they haven't fully committed to
Speaker 2: is re examining some of the cases where the Ombudsman
Speaker 2: says that things were classified too low in terms of
Speaker 2: the level of the complaint. Some of those the Obodsmen
Speaker 2: thinks should have been upper category, which would have warranted
Speaker 2: a different kind of investigation and would have had potentially
Speaker 2: more serious consequences, and the Ombodsman Ian Anderson was concerned
Speaker 2: that things were being kind of downgraded to dismiss them
Speaker 2: more readily. Now the police have said they'll re examine
Speaker 2: their way they categorize these complaints, but they haven't yet
Speaker 2: committed to re examining and reinvestigating if necessary, some of
Speaker 2: those key complaints that the Obotsman.
Speaker 1: Raised, And so Karen, it seems like the AFP is
Speaker 1: tasked with the job of investigating itself in a lot
Speaker 1: of these instances. So do you think that there is
Speaker 1: a question there about whether or not that is appropriate.
Speaker 2: Well, the Ombudsman hasn't specifically suggested that somebody else should
Speaker 2: be doing the job, but I think the implication in
Speaker 2: the level of criticism in this report is that the
Speaker 2: AFP should certainly be doing the job better.
Speaker 1: Well, Karen, thank you so much for your time today.
Speaker 2: Thanks Ruby.
Speaker 1: Also in the news today, Pauline Hanson has nominated Independent
Speaker 1: Senator David Pocock for the role of Senate President. Pocock
Speaker 1: declined the nomine nation, saying he was flattered and surprised,
Speaker 1: but focused on his role representing the ACT. Labour's Sue
Speaker 1: Lines was returned to the role after beating the Greens
Speaker 1: Penny Almond Pain fifty five twelve and new figures show
Speaker 1: an alarming increase in the number of women and girls
Speaker 1: seeking homelessness support. Homelessness Australia research shows there's been an
Speaker 1: increase from twenty four thousand, five hundred and seventeen women
Speaker 1: and girls seeking help in May twenty twenty two up
Speaker 1: to almost thirty thousand in March of this year. The
Speaker 1: figures also show an increase in the number of females
Speaker 1: at risk of homelessness. Almost half of women and girls
Speaker 1: looking for support had experienced domestic and family violence. I'm
Speaker 1: Ruby Jones. This is seven am. Thanks for listening.