QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: TAKE NOTE OF ANSWERS

Senator LAMBIE (Tasmania) (15:27): I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister representing the Minister for Home Affairs (Senator Watt) to a question without notice I asked today relating to AUKUS. Not a week goes by where I'm not surprised by the AUKUS program. I'm not against nuclear powered submarines, but I am against the delinquent spending of taxpayers' money, especially when Australians are dealing with a cost-of-living crisis and when our national debt is heading off a cliff.

AUKUS has massively impacted Defence, with procurement projects, upgrade projects, the maximum number of annual reserve service days and the Defence estate all subject to cuts, and now it's impacting the Australian Federal Police. There has been some extra funding for the AUKUS command for the AFP to protect those AUKUS assets in Western Australia, so the whole AFP got an overall headcount increase, including protective service officers.

But the portfolio budget statements only increased the headcount by 101. We hear from the minister today that the head count is increasing by 435. No-one knew about that.

We already know that, for the AUKUS security framework, at least 199 personnel are needed. How was recruiting to cope with these additional numbers not known until today? I suggest the AFP officers will still need to be pulled away from other frontline duties until the AFP recruitment catches up.

We'll be disrupting the lives of AFP officers and their families, forcing redeployment of officers from potentially important frontline roles, creating operational friction, degrading our overall capacity—all to protect not Australian assets but foreign owned assets, American and British assets. The AFP recognises that their people are their greatest asset. My challenge to the government is to make sure the AFP is properly funded so the AUKUS impact won't hurt the people.

Question agreed to.