The City Police Station on London Circuit opened in 1966. Photo: Albert McKnight.
The police union boss says he’s almost at the point that he wants to collect a bucket of sewage from inside the Canberra City police station and “pour it out the front” of the ACT Legislative Assembly to “see how many of those MLAs like to live and work in those conditions”.
Alex Caruana, president of the Australian Federal Police Association (AFPA), says the station on London Circuit in Civic has been at the “same level of derelict for 20 years”, with a fix from the ACT Government still several years away at best.
“It’s getting to the point that the watch house is not human-rights compliant,” he says.
“We’ve shut down a number of buildings in ACT Policing already, and we’re prepared to go and do that again.”
The police station, built in 1966, has been in the news in recent times for various water and raw sewage leaks.
Some staff had to be permanently relocated to the AFP headquarters in Barton in early 2024 after being told it was no longer safe to work there, and twice in the past few months, urine and faeces have been detected trickling into the below-ground watch house from burst pipes.
“It’s not good enough,” Mr Caruana said.
“And if I go in and shut down that watch house, there is no other accommodation for criminals in the ACT.
“The contingency plan in Belconnen isn’t human-rights compliant. The secondary contingency plan in Tuggeranong isn’t human-rights compliant – it’s being used as a storage facility because they know they can’t put any prisoners in there.
“The frustration for our members is real.”
Australian Federal Police Association president Alex Caruana. Photo: Albert McKnight.
The AFPA has thrown its support behind a motion by Shadow Minister for Police and Canberra Liberals MLA Deborah Morris this week, calling for the ACT Government to show it’s not covering anything up by releasing all paperwork associated with Canberra’s police facilities.
“Our police officers have been forced to work in dangerous conditions,” Mrs Morris told the ACT Legislative Assembly on Wednesday (9 April).
“I’m talking about the decaying, squalid and dangerous conditions at police stations and watch houses across Canberra.
“I’m still hearing reports that despite the quick plumbing fixes at the city police station, staff are still enduring disgusting, stinking raw sewage odours in their workplace.
“No one should be forced to work in conditions like that, and it’s hardly surprising that the Australian Federal Police Association has said that they’re willing to explore legal action to protect their workers if that’s what it takes.”
In an October 2023 report, commercial real estate company JLL rated “almost half” of the ACT Policing facilities as “below average” or “average”. It said they required “immediate or imminent renewal or replacement”. It pegged this cost at about $7.5 million.
Former Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan has also sounded the alarm for years on the state of the city station, telling Region in 2023 “it’s almost as old as me”.
Mrs Morris’s motion, which passed with the support of The Greens, asked for “a list of any inquiries, reviews, reports and other initiatives which have been commissioned by the ACT Government regarding the Canberra City police station” and “a list of contracts, reviews, inquiries, reports and other initiatives on a new city police station”.
Minister for Police Dr Marisa Paterson replied that the latest leak, reported on 7 April, was “extremely small in size and restricted to the basement and was not impacting business at the city police station”.
“Plumbers attended the same day and are rectifying the issue as we speak,” she said.
Dr Paterson added that the government had set aside $3.82 million in the 2023/24 Budget for completing a “comprehensive feasibility study and business case” over the next two years for a new city police station as well as “assessing police infrastructure needs” for Woden and Molonglo Valley.
She said a new city station remains a “high priority”.
“Further detail around time frames and site selection will be developed as part of the detailed stage.”
She also told Mrs Morris more information should be requested from the government through “appropriate channels under FOI laws”.
