AFP Association says officers will leave Parliament House unless they get a better pay deal

AFP officers could leave their posts at Parliament House next week because of a ‘toxic’ pay deal presented by the Albanese government.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government has offered public servants an 11.2 per cent pay rise over three years but the AFPA is calling for an offer comparable to what state police have received. Picture: AAP/Lukas Coch

Australian Federal Police could leave their posts at Parliament House next week because of a “toxic” pay deal presented by the Albanese government, as spy boss Mike Burgess warned politically motivated violence was ASIO’s principal concern alongside espionage and violent extremism.

The Australian Federal Police Association wrote to all parliamentarians on Sunday informing them that AFP officers will be removed “from key locations including Canberra Airport and Australian Parliament House during sitting weeks” as well as “withdrawing Australian Federal Police resources from federal political functions and events unless they carry a ‘significant’ threat rating”.

There will also be a removal of resources from federal investigations, including those relating to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Australian Taxation ­Office and affiliated offences.

The strike – which comes as nearly 70 per cent of AFPA members say they would choose a different career if the pay deal offered by the government was accepted – could occur next week if the government doesn’t intervene.

It follows pro-Palestinian protesters gaining access to the roof of Parliament House during the last sitting and the terrorism threat being raised to “probable”.

“I know these actions will disrupt the viability of activity at Parliament House,” AFPA president Alex Caruana writes. “They are not measures the Australian Federal Police Association is taking lightly.

“We have, however, been left with no choice. The pay deal presented by the federal government, which puts AFP officers into the same category as desk job public servants, would trigger a mass exodus from the AFP … The deal currently being presented is toxic.”

Pro-Palestine protesters gained access to the roof of Parliament House in July. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman

The Albanese government has offered public servants an 11.2 per cent pay rise over three years. The AFPA is calling for an offer comparable to what state police have received. In NSW, sources said the pay rise could be 25 per cent over four years – which is considered a benchmark by AFPA members – while in Victoria police just voted down 16 per cent over three years.

The AFPA is also trying to negotiate several crucial ­allowances, including for working unsocial hours and for having the ability to take a person’s liberty or life.

An AFP spokeswoman said the agency hadn’t received formal notification of the strike ­action but would “vigorously object to any action that jeopardises the safety and protection of high office holders, parliamentarians or designated airports”.

Mr Burgess, ASIO director-general, said on Sunday that politicians needed to watch their language, including Nationals frontbencher Barnaby Joyce’s metaphor about voting being like using “guns and magazines” to remove an incompetent government.

Mr Burgess also took aim at the Iranian ambassador to Australia’s “inappropriate, unacceptable” comments last week, in which Ahmad Sadeghi called for a “wiping out” of the “Zionist plague” from Palestine by 2027, and said that Iran was one of “at least three or four” countries caught interfering in Australian domestic affairs.