Police Union Sounds Alarm Over Security Risks
The Australian Federal Police Association has issued a stark warning that proposed public service budget cuts pose an immediate and direct threat to Australia's national security. In a letter sent to Finance Minister Katy Gallagher on Wednesday November 26 2025, AFPA president Alex Caruana expressed deep concerns about plans to reduce agency budgets by up to 5 percent.
$100 Million Cut Would Hollow Out Critical Capabilities
According to the union's analysis, a 5 percent reduction would strip approximately $100 million from the AFP's $1.5 billion budget, forcing significant headcount reductions in specialist police roles. Caruana emphasized that these cuts would particularly impact high-priority areas including digital forensics, cybercrime, counter-terrorism and child exploitation investigations.
The AFPA president stated that the AFP is already operating at the very edge of sustainability, citing the organization's own public reporting and recent submissions to the Australian Public Service Commission. "Australia's threat environment is not shrinking; it is expanding rapidly", Caruana wrote in the letter.
Government Defends Savings Approach
The warning comes after Senator Gallagher and Treasurer Jim Chalmers confirmed that Labor had asked senior bureaucrats to identify potential savings in their annual budgets. However, Dr Chalmers has rejected suggestions that the government is breaking election promises, insisting that departments are being asked to find savings from lower-priority spending areas rather than cutting staff.
"We are not asking departments to cut their staff or to cut their budgets by 5 percent", Chalmers told ABC radio. "What we're asking them to do is to identify areas of spending that is lower priority so we can redirect it if we want to."
The budget reduction concerns are compounded by existing staffing challenges within the federal police. A recent survey revealed that one in five AFP employees plan to quit within the next two years, with nearly 40 percent citing better remuneration as their primary motivation for leaving.
The situation has prompted Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and state police ministers to consider federal policy changes aimed at improving police retention during an October meeting. Despite government assurances, the police union maintains that any reduction in funding would critically undermine Australia's security capabilities at a time of escalating threats.
