Audio Transcript

Hi all, welcome to AFPA EA Update #7.

First, I’d like to start by acknowledging the death of our colleague in South Australia. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family, his colleagues and friends. This highlights the importance of the work that we do and the perils that you face each and every day, and why it’s important to be fairly renumerated for the work that you do each and every day.

Recently, the Australian Public Service Commission released the non-APS government bargaining parameters, which the AFP will be subjected to. These parameters limit pay rises and prevent any enhancements or additional allowances.

We feel that this is a disgraceful betrayal of the hardworking AFP members, who are already the lowest paid police force in Australia and are continually being asked to do more with less. Our members are already a breaking point and this decision is another kick in the guts.

The AFP have advised today that they’ll be pausing negotiations until January 2024, leaving our members uncertain about what the future holds. We do not support this action and would prefer to try to resolve the issues around the restrictive policy under which we have been placed.

We call on Commissioner Kershaw and the lead negotiator to make immediate representation to government to forcefully advocate for our removal or exemption from this policy. No meaningful improvements to our paying conditions will be possible without these. You’ll hear more from us about this matter in the coming days. Rest assured the AFPA will continue to fight for the rightful recognition that is well overdue for our members.

Thank you and stay safe.

Audio Transcript

Hello again, welcome to AFPA EA update #6.

Another round of robust discussion was had regarding your pay and conditions;  we were able to ascertain that the AFP’s preference is to return to a six-month averaging period. The only way that this will work is if those excess hours are paid out periodically through the averaging period; this is what we are going to be fighting for,  we don’t want to see members worked extensively or excessively throughout the first part of the averaging period and then stood down for the majority of the remaining of the averaging period. This is not a workable solution and is not something that we want to see moving forward.

Discussions were had around PRS having a proportionate response to established Category 3 conduct issues; they include temporary reduction in band increment and proportionate fines – opposed to what it currently says in the EA which is a permanent reduction of band increment or termination. There was unanimous disagreement amongst all of the bargainers regarding the common condition around Higher Duties Allowance. The common condition still enforced is a two-week or 10-day period that someone has to work before they get paid. Around the board, it’s certainly the AFPA’s position that any day worked at HDA will be paid. It’s the only way to compensate or remunerate someone for the additional responsibility placed on them acting in those higher positions.

The financial declaration is yet to be endorsed and until it is we can’t progress bargaining to any great degree. To further complicate things, the Australian Public Service Commission has moved the goalposts and placed further restrictions on our ability to bargain a meaningful outcome for our members. This is frustrating for both the AFPA and the AFP.

Next week, there is no bargaining meeting. We’ll provide an update if there is any progress made with the Public Service Commission and the Australian government.

Please, as always, continue to send through your ideas and your suggestions. At the end of this video, you’ll see a link to the AFPA’s full log of claims; this is an evolving document, it is by no means set in stone – so those suggestions,  ideas, and comments are really worthwhile and are really meaningful.

Thank you and take care.

Audio Transcript

Hi, my name is Alex Caruana and I’m the President of the Australian Federal Police Association. Welcome to AFPA EA 2023 Update #5. This week, we were again discussing common conditions.   

We again discussed the importance of a consultative committee or tribunal, and thank the AFP for working with us to make this reality. This week, the AFP agreed that disputes regarding Flexible Work Arrangements will be able to be disputed via the Fair Work Commission. We also had some strong discussions about no financial detriment for members who have not been or will not be released for deployments and the like.  

The AFP also agreed to explore and get back to us with an answer regarding all training to occur on work time. 

Next week is another big week; we’re discussing travel relocation and geographical mobility, as well as working hours and employment types. The AFP is seeking ideas in relation to all of these issues, so as always, we would encourage you to please send through your comments, ideas or suggestions to the link at the end of this video. Similarly, if you  know of any colleagues that are non-AFPA members, please encourage them to join by following the link at the end of this video also. 

Thank you. 

Audio Transcript

Hello, my name is Alex Caruana, and I am the president of the Australian Federal Police Association. Welcome to the fourth AFPA EA Bargaining Update. This week, there was some healthy and robust discussion; the discussion centered around the adoption of the Commonwealth common conditions and this time was very much focused on consultation and consultation clauses. A number of important topics were covered – including formal acknowledgement of the AFPA as the employee representatives, and the synergetic partnership that the Association and our delegates play in protecting and supporting our members while we are pursuing common goals. 

I’m also pleased to inform you that the AFP accepted several key changes and suggestions tabled by the AFPA Bargaining Team in relation to the wording of these common conditions. Whilst minor, this can have a major implication for our members. The AFP has expressed its initial in-principle support for the inclusion of a clause that outlines collaboration and agreement between the AFP and the AFPA that is facilitated by an independently chaired body or committee for all decisions that may affect appointees’ pay and conditions. This is a great step forward and we hope the Australian Public Service Commission or the Australian Public Service Commissioner doesn’t throw up any hurdles to prevent this from occurring. 

Next week, we’ll discuss some more common conditions focusing on flexibility at work, including Flexible Work Arrangements and part-time work. We will also be discussing some non-common conditions such as recruitment, transition to retirement, study leave and the like. 

In the coming weeks, the AFPA will be sharing our overarching list of claims, which may undergo some revision or evolution as negotiations continue so please continue providing us your suggestions, ideas, and comments as they’ve greatly aided the AFPA Executive and AFPA EA Advisory teams. The contact details can be found at the conclusion of this video. 

 If you or your colleagues are considering joining the AFPA, please use the links also at the end of this video. 

Thank you for your time, we look forward to your valuable insights, and we will continue to work hard to ensure positive outcomes for all of the AFPA members.  

Thank you and take care.  

Audio Transcript

Hi all welcome to AFPA EA update #3. 

Today’s meeting was another productive meeting. We discussed a number of the common conditions, namely Disaster Support Leave, Emergency Response Leave, Witness Leave, Defence Service Leave, Defence Service, Sick Leave, Long Service Leave, portability of leave, Jury Duty, blood donations and vaccinations. 

One of the provisions we discussed at length today was Long Service Leave, and whilst long service leave is a common condition and it is part of the EA, the legislation around it is separate to the EA and is outside of the scope of the EA bargaining, so unfortunately this does mean that when members are taking their Long Service Leave, they are unable to take some of their entitlements with them such as composites and some of their allowances. It’s calculated as per the legislation. 

Another topic we spent some time discussing was the portability of leave. What  the AFPA would like to see is that when members are joining the AFP from another jurisdiction, such as a police jurisdiction or a state government agency, that they’re able to bring their leave across from the state jurisdiction across into the AFP with them. This allows the AFP to be a more attractive employer and hopefully attract and retain the talent that we need in the in the recruitment crisis that we’re currently going through. Next week, we’re discussing topics that are again common conditions, they include consultation, consultative committees’ policies, dispute resolution, and employee representational rights. 

What the AFPA is trying to achieve is not just a consultative model but also a consultative and agreement model, and this could be in the means of a committee or a police arbitrary tribunal, which is available in other jurisdictions at the moment – and the AFP used to have this model in the 70s and 80s, so we are not reinventing the wheel, but what it would allow is where the AFP have formed a decision unilaterally it allows the AFPA to come in and say “hey this isn’t how we see it; this isn’t in the intent of the EA.” – and we can have a true dispute resolution process and a true agreement as to what the provisions are going to change to, and where we don’t agree then we can go through the standard provisions or the standard changes that we need to do to make that happen. 

Thanks again for your time, and if you have any suggestions for next week’s meeting, please follow the link at the end of this video, and if you’re interested in joining the Association and reaping the benefits of being a member, please follow the link at the end of this video also.  

Stay safe out there. Thank you. 

Audio Transcript

Alex Caruana here from the Australian Federal Police Association. Welcome to EA update number two. There seems to have been some technical glitch with getting the previous two EA updates through to you, so please keep looking at the AFPA website, and we’ll keep you updated there with some short videos after each of the EA bargaining meetings.  

An update about today’s meeting: the meeting went quite well, although the AFPA is getting quite frustrated that, even at this early point in the negotiations where we’ve yet to get into anything controversial or meaty, the meetings are starting to get bogged down by some of the independent bargainers. We’ll continue to  work with the AFP, the CPSU and the independent bargainers to make sure that we can achieve timely pay rises without any delays. 

The AFP put a number of proposals forward, mostly around the common  conditions in relation to the National Employment Standards, the EAP, and individual Flexible Work Arrangements. The AFPA is going to look at these proposals and make sure that they’re not at the members’ detriment before we get back to the AFP.  

On the agenda for next week’s meeting is again  discussing the common conditions. These are the common conditions around different leave types, namely: Emergency Response leave, Disaster Support leave, Witness and Jury Duty leave, Defence leave, Long Service Leave, and vaccinations. We will nut through those and give you an update next week.  

As always, if you have any ideas or suggestions about the EA process or about bargaining in general, please email us at the contact details at the end of this video.  

Thanks again. 

Audio Transcript

Hi, my name is Alex Caruana. I’m the Australian Federal Police Association President. Welcome to the first EA 2023 bargaining update. I intend to give regular updates to keep everybody informed as to the negotiation process. Please keep an eye on your emails for these regular communications. The AFPA has several key aims for 2023 bargaining. These include but are not limited to achieving real pay rises with no loss of pay or conditions for all AFPA members (this includes our EL comrades) and an improvement to all allowances; we want to see a simplified EA that is easy to understand and is fit for purpose,  we want to see better career development and better broadbanding arrangements for all members and an independent arbitrary body or an independent process to facilitate meaningful consultation and effective agreement between the AFP and the AFPA for all matters resulting from people’s pay and conditions.  

As anticipated, yesterday’s meeting was brief. It mainly focused on administrative matters and establishing the direction and the time for future discussions.  

During the meeting, the AFPA provided information regarding their proposed schedule, the rules of bargaining and the meeting guidelines. They also shared with us some guidance on what they are trying to achieve and their design principles emphasising on their intentions for the negotiation process. Additionally, the AFP agreed to share their proposed timeline with everybody. It is obvious there is an increased level of interest in this bargaining process.  

Today, we observed an extraordinary number of independent bargaining representatives, with over 30 individuals present today. I and the AFPA bargaining committee are acutely aware of the potential challenges that arise from having such a large number of representatives and how it can slow the bargaining process down; additionally, I’m mindful of the delays in pay rises that occurred in the previous round of bargaining due to independent bargainers.  

The AFPA recognises the role of independent bargainers and will work constructively with all bargaining parties to achieve the best results for you all; however,  as the registered organisation responsible for representing all AFP appointees, the AFPA is committed to ensuring that the extraordinarily high numbers of independent bargainers does not impede or create unnecessary delays to the outcomes of this Enterprise Agreement.   

I’m actively engaging in ongoing discussions with the AFP and government to ensure a smooth process. The time frames suggested by the AFP, whilst ambitious, are positive, reasonable, and promising. From their timeline, we do expect to see a pay offer early in the New Year. The next EA meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday, October 3rd, with several important topics on the agenda – including terms of resignation, the AFP employee assistance program, individual Flexible Work Arrangements, and overpayments. 

 If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or ideas regarding the EA process – we would like to hear from you,  and I encourage you all to reach out to us via email on or on the contact details at the end of this video. If you or your colleagues are considering joining the AFPA, please contact us on (02) 62851677 or on the contact details at the end of this video.   

Thank you for your time; we look forward to receiving your valuable ideas and suggestions.