Who is Krissy Barrett, the first woman to lead the AFP?

When Krissy Barrett began at the Australian Federal Police in Melbourne almost 25 years ago, she never expected to rise to its top job as the first woman to hold the position.

“I never imagined that one day I would be leading this very fine organisation,” Barrett said when she was appointed this week.

Her path to the top was atypical. Rather than starting out as a uniformed officer and coming through the ACT and community policing, Barrett began in administration.

But her work and accolades – including a medal for her role in the Bali bombings investigation and a Kings Birthday Honour – spoke for themselves, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Monday as he announced Barrett’s appointment as commissioner of the force.

Barrett was the obvious choice for the job when incumbent commissioner Reece Kershaw brought his retirement forward a year, which government sources said took place because Barrett had emerged as his ideal successor.

“The prime minister and I both immediately had the same name, and that is for Krissy Barrett to be the ninth federal police commissioner,” Burke said. “[She] has shown herself to understand the work and to be a true leader.”

Kershaw had agreed in May 2024 to serve as commissioner for two more years, instead of a full five-year term, because the government had not found a candidate ready for the role.

Barrett, as deputy commissioner, had taken charge of the AFP’s national security portfolio just months earlier, in March. A role everyone agreed she had excelled in.

In that time, federal police investigated a caravan found in the outer Sydney suburb of Dural that appeared to be a prelude to an antisemitic bombing, but found it was a hoax.

It was Barrett who spoke to the media to explain that organised criminals had faked the plot in Sydney, after a political furore over national security and antisemitism was whipped up in the vacuum of communication from, and between, state and federal law enforcement – something Kershaw was criticised for.

Australian Federal Police Association president Alex Caruana, who negotiated with Barrett over the force’s latest pay agreement, says she is amicable, affable and strategic.

Barrett will need those skills because the AFP commissioner’s role is a delicate balance of executing the will of the government while also leading the force’s members.

When the AFP was moved into the Home Affairs portfolio under the Morrison government, shortly before Barrett’s predecessor Kershaw assumed the role, the police association raised concerns that the force was losing its independence and integrity.

Now the AFP is coming back into the “mega portfolio” after Albanese had separated it out in his first term, the reversal made in part because of the communications issues during the Dural caravan plot.

Caruana said that during enterprise agreement negotiations, Barrett rigorously held the government line while also showing empathy for the members seeking better pay.

“We need a commissioner that is going to have some empathy, some compassion and some understanding to what the troops are going through,” he said. “And hopefully Krissy is the person to take that argument to the government, to get us what the members need in order to continue to keep Australia safe.”

Barrett deployed to the Solomon Islands in 2003 as part of the AFP’s first contingent in a multinational peacekeeping force. The local government had requested assistance from neighbouring countries to help quell escalating, ethnically driven violence, and the AFP worked to disarm militias and investigate attacks in the region. She has been recognised for her distinguished service there, and began training to be a sworn officer two years later.

Barrett has since worked in fraud, anti-corruption and money laundering, counterterrorism, serious financial crime and transnational organised crime.

Along the way, Barrett has been no stranger to being the first woman in a role, successively breaking new ground while climbing the AFP ranks.

She was the first patrol sergeant at ACT Policing to work part-time after starting a family, and in 2015 did a research study into gender roles in frontline policing – achievements that were noted when she was awarded a King’s Birthday Honour in 2023 while an assistant commissioner.

Barrett did not shy away from the “first woman” mantle when addressing reporters following her appointment.

“It’s an absolute honour and privilege to be appointed to this position, and I’m very aware it’s a significant milestone for the AFP and probably policing more broadly,” she said. “I have been very fortunate to have some fantastic role models throughout my career, both men and women, and I do hope that I can play that role for aspiring leaders.”

Appropriately for top-level law enforcement, Barrett has a meagre online presence. There is no LinkedIn profile boasting of any classified work, Burke would be pleased to see, after spy chief Mike Burgess warned on July 31 that people with security clearances were making it too easy for foreign agents to target them by boasting about their access online.

But Barrett’s comments at the press conference with Burke this week provided a small insight into her priorities, starting with social cohesion “right at the top of the list”.

Barrett honoured Kershaw in her remarks, saying he was a mentor and crediting him with transforming the AFP.

“I never imagined that one day I would be leading this very fine organisation,” she said. “As commissioner, I will ensure the AFP continues to keep Australians safe, protects the vulnerable, and identifies and disrupts an emerging cohort of criminals who have mixed motivations and threatens our national security.”

The AFPA’s government relations manager, Troy Roberts, who worked with Barrett across policy and media when he was in the force, said Barrett was a person who stuck to her word.

“She’s a listener, which the organisation I think needs, but she’s also a doer,” he says. “And she’s a straight shooter … you can’t ask for anything more than that.”

With Olivia Ireland

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.