New Forensic facility to provide the Australian Federal Police with better criminal intelligence

Joint Media Release

The Hon Nicola Roxon MP
Attorney-General
Minister for Emergency Management

The Hon Jason Clare MP
Minister for Home Affairs
Minister for Justice
Minister for Defence Materiel

8 May 2012

Attorney-General Nicola Roxon and Minister for Home Affairs and Justice Jason Clare today announced that the Federal Government would deliver a new purpose-built forensic facility for the Australian Federal Police.

“This purpose-built facility will provide our Federal Police with access to the latest forensic science and technology to detect and disrupt criminal organisations and give prosecutors the evidence they need to put them away,” Ms Roxon said.

The new facility will:

  • increase capacity to combat illicit firearms trade through state of the art firearms testing facilities and bullet tracking technology;
  • expand the AFP’s explosives analysis capability, that was first used to support the investigation of the Bali bombing in 2002 and continues to be used in domestic and international counter terrorism responses;
  • house new, highly sensitive DNA technologies to identify suspects;
  • enable multiple complex serious crime examinations to be carried out simultaneously, including through the provision of large enclosed crime scene reconstruction spaces;
  • provide the flexibility for future growth and adaptation to new forensic science capabilities;
  • improve capability for disaster victim identification expanding on the capability deployed following the Bali Bombings and the Boxing Day Tsunami;
  • improve collaboration and the exchange of forensic information and intelligence between scientists and investigators; and
  • enable the AFP to contribute to internationally significant research advancing forensic science.

Mr Clare said that the current forensic facility is out-dated and that there were growing demands on its capabilities.

“The new facility will provide the capacity to process major crimes concurrently or for a major operation to be processed without impacting or delaying other casework.”

“This is an investment in enhancing the intelligence capability of our Federal Police. The more intelligence law enforcement has, the more drugs and guns they seize and the more arrests they make,” Mr Clare said.

The cost of the new facility remains subject to commercial negotiations.

Media contact:
Attorney-General’s office - 02 6277 7300
Minister Clare’s office - 02 6277 7290