1.1
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement (the committee) has a statutory duty to examine the annual report of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) under the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement Act 2010 (the Act).
1.2
Paragraph 7(1)(f) of the Act provides that one of the specific functions of the committee is to 'examine each annual report on the AFP and report to the Parliament on any matter appearing in, or arising out of, any such annual report'.
1.3
The duty of the committee to examine annual reports of the AFP under the Act arises from an expectation that agencies which have been granted strong coercive powers, such as the AFP, should be subject to additional oversight.
1.4
The AFP Annual Report 2017-18 was presented to the Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon Peter Dutton MP, on 5 October 2018. It was tabled in the House of Representatives on 22 October 2018 and in the Senate on 12 November 2018.
1.5
In examining the Annual Report 2017-18, the committee held a public hearing at Parliament House, Canberra on 6 December 2019. The witnesses who appeared before the committee are listed in Appendix 1.
1.6
In addition to this chapter, the committee's report comprises the following chapters:
chapter 2 examines the AFP's compliance with reporting requirements, its performance against key performance indicators, and issues discussed at the public hearing on 6 December 2019; and
1.7
The committee acknowledges the cooperation and assistance of the AFP Commissioner and other AFP officers who assisted the committee in its examination.
1.8
References to the Committee Hansard are references to the proof transcript. Page numbers may differ between proof and official transcripts.