AFPA Zone Structure

At the February 2022 National Executive meeting, the National Executive endorsed the establishment of an AFPA Zone and Rules Advisory Committee. The purpose of the Committee was to examine the current Zone structure and inform a discussion paper for the National Executive.

In June 2022, the Committee held its first meeting, discussing the general focus of the Committee and identifying any information that Committee members would require. In addition, information was requested from other Australian police associations and unions about their zone structures, including a summary of any changes made to them over time.

After this initial preparatory work, the Committee held a half-day workshop in July 2022.

At the meeting, the following recommendations were agreed to unanimously:

1. The Zones and Rules Advisory Committee were satisfied that the AFPA rules remained appropriate and suitable for allocating members to Zones and determining the number of Delegates assigned to each Zone.

2. The following Zones were identified as not needing any further changes:

◾ New South Wales Zone

◾ Victoria/Tasmania Zone

◾ Queensland Zone

◾ South Australia Zone

◾ Western Australia Zone

◾ Northern Territory Zone

◾ Canberra Zone

◾ Forensics Zone

◾ Protective Service Officers Zone

3. The Committee recommended that the Intelligence Canberra Zone be disbanded. It was suggested that existing members within that Zone would most likely be re-assigned to the Canberra Zone unless they were designated as a Protective Service Officer, in which case they would be assigned to the Protective Service Officer Zone.

4. The Committee recommended that the ‘Community Policing Zone’ be changed to the ‘ACT Policing Zone,’ and the Committee confirmed that the ‘Community Policing Zone’ did not require any further amendment.

5. The Committee recommended that the ‘Specialist Response Group Zone’ be renamed the ‘Specialist Operations Zone.’ The Committee also recommended further investigation into what functions would be included within this Zone.

6. The ‘Executive and International Zone’ was recommended to be split into an ‘Executive Zone’ and an ‘International Zone.’

7. The Committee would explore whether Inspectors should be included within the new ‘Executive Zone’, noting the intent to make Inspectors commissioned officers.

8. The Committee recommended that the ‘International Zone’ be restricted to those working within the international network, not those temporarily assigned duties overseas for a short period.

9. The Committee requested that a draft Zone Structure document be crafted for consideration.

Result: The National Executive endorsed the above recommendations and will continue to be updated by the AFPA Zone and Rules Advisory Committee over 2023. This is expected to culminate in changes to the AFPA Zones if endorsed by the National Executive as recommended by the AFPA Zone and Rules Advisory Committee.