The Australian
THE Australian Federal Police’s capacity to fight organised crime and terrorism networks in ethnic communities is being called into question given the mainly Anglo-Celtic background of its staff.
In order to address its ethnic background deficiencies, the AFP was forced to spend $4 million in 2012-13 on interpreter and translation services, and $2.7m in 2013-14.
AFP translators boast about being very well paid for the work they do, which includes providing certified translations that can stand up in court.
The AFP’s human resources head, Assistant Commissioner Shane Connelly, has provided unpublished figures to The Australian showing 9.5 per cent of its staff was overseas born and 12.6 per cent could speak, read or write a second language.
These figures include migrants from Anglo-Celtic backgrounds and non-ethnic staff who have undergone language training. The AFP reported that 145 staff members received language training in 2012-13
Mr Connelly said the AFP now had 73 staff with “Arabic skills”, but a spokesman confirmed that this included non-Arabic staff who had undergone language training.
An AFP source said there were about 10 staff from genuine Arabic backgrounds in the organisation.
AFP sources say there has been some anecdotal evidence of a culture of bullying and discrimination against ethnic recruits, although Mr Connelly said that there was “no evidence of that at all”.
He was responsible for professional standards in the organisation and would be fully aware of any complaints if they were made, he said.
The AFP has been recruiting from state-based police services to boost its ethnic diversity. While these recruits are officially referred to as “lateral transfers”, some AFP staff called them “dirty laterals”.
Mr Connolly said the AFP highly valued ethnic diversity, although he did not believe there should be a target.
“Diversity is something that is really important for the AFP,’’ he told The Australian.
“We want to be representative of the community that we serve and feel it provides for the AFP to respond to crime, and the victims of crime. We encourage diversity, we have diversity programs.”
The AFP’s latest annual report, while not including data on ethnic staff, gives considerable emphasis to other minorities.
The report refers to the aim of increasing the level of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff from 1.2 per cent to 2.5 per cent by next year, and it discusses support for gay, bisexual and transgender staff.
The report also noted that in May last year the force received “an award in recognition of the support provided to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex staff members”.
The award was made by the Pride in Diversity organisation, a not-for-profit workplace program designed specifically to assist employers with the inclusion of GLBTI employees.
“The AFP achieved the award as the highest-placed public sector organisation for GLBTI inclusiveness,” the annual report noted.
By contrast, the term “non-English-speaking” cannot be found anywhere in the report.
ASIO is also doing badly in its senior ranks.
According to its 2012-13 annual report, not one of 43 Senior Executive Service members has such a background.
These figures compare poorly with the almost one in four Australians who live in a household where a language other than English is spoken.
It means that ASIO has an even more Anglocentric culture than the ABC, which reports an 8 per cent NESB level in editorial.
ASIO declined to answer The Australian’s questions about its number of Arabic-speaking staff or to explain why its NESB level has declined over the past three years.
Related article in The Australian from 3 October 2014 below.
Low levels of diversity an issue for security agencies such as ASIO
SECURITY agencies including ASIO have been unable to recruit significant numbers of staff from ethnic backgrounds, despite claiming to be organisations that value diversity.
Only 5.8 per cent of ASIO’s 1761 staff* identifies as coming from a non-English-speaking background, and not one member of its 45-strong senior executive service identifies as such.
The NESB component has actually declined from 6.9 per cent in 2009-10, according to ASIO’s 2012-13 annual report.
This compares poorly with the 23 per cent of people in Australia who live in a home where a language other than English is spoken, which indicates the size of the NESB population.
At a time when security agencies are grappling with organised crime and terrorism within some ethnic communities, some insiders say their waspy culture is an acute problem. There are also anecdotal reports of bullying and discrimination directed towards recruits from ethnic backgrounds.
ASIO has declined to answer The Australian’s questions about the number of staff members who are Arabic speakers and were raised in Arabic-speaking families, as well as on why the percentage of NESB staff had not increased in the past four years.
A spokesman referred to a section on diversity on ASIO’s website that says it aims “to have a workforce that reflects Australian society and we encourage people from non-English speaking backgrounds to apply”.
To make up for this deficit, ASIO encourages staff to undergo language training. Last financial year, 26 staff underwent language skill development with support from ASIO.
Low numbers of ethnic staff make security agencies more dependent on translators to listen to tapes and produce documents that can be used in court.
At least ASIO is transparent about its NESB staff, whereas the Australian Federal Police and the Defence Intelligence Organisation do not report these figures.
The AFP annual report refers only to the level of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, and support for gay, bisexual and transgender staff.
The AFP reports that 1.2 per cent of staff identify as ATSI, which is less than half the national average and the AFP’s 2015 target.
The annual report also notes that in May 2013 the force received “an award in recognition of the support provided to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex (GLBTI) staff members”. It came from Pride in Diversity.
“The AFP achieved the award as the highest-placed public sector organisation for GLBTI inclusiveness,” the annual report says.
AFP assistant commissioner Shane Connelly has provided extra figures to The Australian although this data does not reveal precise details of the extent of ethnic diversity in the organisation. For example, the AFP’s “self-declared data” for April 2014 says that 9.5 per cent of the 6909 staff is overseas born — but this may include immigrants of Anglo-Celtic backgrounds as well. Similarly, some of the 12.6 per cent of staff who speak a second language could be non-ethnic staff who have undergone language training.
The same applies to the 73 staff members who have “Arabic skills”, an AFP spokesman confirmed.
The AFP reports that 145 staff members received language training in 2012-13.
Mr Connelly, who is head of human resources at the AFP, said the force was committed to being “a multi-gender, multiskilled and multicultural” organisation. However, while the AFP wants to be more multicultural, it does not have a specific target for NESB staff, unlike the target for indigenous employees.
“We are always aspiring to increase the (NESB) level but we don’t have a specific target,” Mr Connelly said in an interview.
He said the AFP had to be “careful not to show bias” because staff had to be employed on merit.
However, he said people from ethnic backgrounds should be looking to work at the AFP.
The DIO, one of four security agencies within the Defence department, does not provide figures on NESB staff and it admits that it is dependent on translation services to make up for this deficit.
In a statement on its website about its culture, DIO said it boasted staff from a “variety of backgrounds” to fulfil its mission. The website shows photos of staff who appear to be of Asian and Middle Eastern backgrounds, although the same photo is used twice under the names “Christos” and “Nic”.
A defence spokesman has declined to provide details on DIO’s ethnic diversity.
“DIO relies on a range of linguists and translation services from the broader defence and national security community to fulfil its mandate to provide all-source intelligence analysis,” the spokesman said.
“However, due to their prior experience and education, many DIO staff have specialised language skills which enhance their analytic abilities and cultural appreciation.”
The spokesman added that staff were not required to divulge whether they were from a non-English-speaking background as part of their personnel records.
*ASIO’s total staff numbers are 1904, but not all staff provided data for the survey.
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