Anxiety is growing inside Australian Federal Police ranks over a proposed restructure of the organisation, with Commissioner Krissy Barrett telling staff a “workforce budget realignment” is needed to deal with increasing costs and funding shortfalls.
The Nightly can reveal the Commissioner has warned that the AFP’s operating budget is “under increased pressure” and the force is now considering combining some of its commands to “ensure priorities are resourced appropriately”.
“There are several factors that are impacting our budget, including the fiscal position of the Commonwealth more broadly, the increasing cost of doing business, and our ability to effectively deliver what is expected of us by the community, government and key partners,” an AFP document seen by The Nightly warns.
According to the document, the Commissioner has outlined that planning is underway by the AFP’s various commands so they “operate within our affordability limits” through “recalibration, reskilling and in some cases, realigning of resources.”
“This includes identifying opportunities to best align resources to high-priority areas and identifying what work we can and should be turning down or triaging differently.”
“It’s important to keep in mind that the AFP continues to grow, and the goal remains not to reduce the agency’s overall FTE (full-time equivalent) footprint, but we need to re-balance as some Commands reconfigure or reshape to ensure priorities are resourced appropriately.”
Under the AFP’s proposed organisational structural changes, the existing Crime Command and Cyber & Special Investigations could be combined into one standalone Command.
The AFP is also considering merging its Adelaide command with either Western Command or Southern Command, and merging Darwin with either Northern Command or Western Command.
A separate proposed “realignment” is also under consideration for “Remote Defence Sites” such as Pine Gap, Exmouth and Geraldton, which would merge with the AFP’s Defence & Aviation Command.
“Importantly, no decisions have been made at this stage. Today marks the beginning of formal consultation within Commands on any changes being proposed to what and how we work,” the AFP told staff earlier this week.
Australian Federal Police Association President Alex Caruana said his members were very concerned with the prosed restructure, and they would be closely monitoring the process.
“The AFPA strongly encourages members who may be affected by these proposals to participate in the AFP consultation process,” Mr Caruana told The Nightly.
“Members are best placed to identify operational, workforce and practical consequences that may not be apparent when organisational structures are considered at a strategic level.
“While organisational structures are ultimately a matter for the AFP, any changes must properly consider the impact on employees, workloads, reporting arrangements, career opportunities, mobility, allowances, operational capability and member welfare.”
Earlier this year The Nightly revealed an AFP “national surveillance team” set up under the Commonwealth High Risk Terrorist Offender regime was quietly disbanded because of funding shortfalls just weeks before the deadly Bondi attack.
In January The Nightly reported the decision to wind up the Canberra-based squad was made late last year after a senior AFP figure told staff: “Current budget pressures and the lack of certainty in relation to ongoing funding has limited our ability to fill vacancies.”
“Whilst funding for eight positions was confirmed in February 2025 for the 2025-26 financial year, this did not meet the requirements for 10 members under AFP best practice,” the commander of Covert and Technical Operations, Intelligence and Covert Services said.
“Further to this, funding was only confirmed for the ‘25-26 financial year and not out years. As such, a decision on the future of the team against competing resourcing and operational priorities is required,” the commander told affected staff in September last year.
The Nightly has approached the Australian Federal Police for comment about the latest “workforce budget realignment”.
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