The gatekeeper: Roman Quaedvlieg

For the past 5 years, border protection has been a political hot potato. Whoever and whatever has attempted to cross Australia’s borders, and the policies that govern this, are all closely scrutinised by government officials, the public and the media, whether it be scrupulous border controls, new counter-terrorism measures, controversy surrounding the government’s refugee policy – even entire television series depicting border force officers riffling through flustered people’s baggage in the name of border security.

Yet despite so many eyes on its operations, there are various elements of the Australian Border Force (ABF) that are regularly overlooked. "In terms of actual operational opportunities, the ABF has a wide remit. There is no other agency anywhere in the Commonwealth that has such a diverse and rich array of responsibilities," says ABF Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg.

"Of course, there’s a lot of attention given to the people-smuggling operations, but it’s also the force that deals with stopping the inflow of drugs, firearms, asbestos, child pornography, intellectual property fraud, corruption, as well as running maritime operations as a coastguard function." 

Roman Quaedvlieg was born for police work

Roman himself has served in numerous senior roles for the Australian Federal Police, Australian Crime Commission, and the Queensland Police Service, even being awarded an Australian Police Medal in 2011 for his investigations into drug trafficking, people smuggling and child sex tourism. 

Growing up in a blue-collar suburb in north Brisbane, he was given the opportunity to make a steady income through the Queensland Police, and took to it like a duck to water. Within 18 months, Roman went into detective work, and later moved into covert operations, where he spent 8 years working undercover to bring down serious organised crime groups. "I had an affinity for it. I really enjoyed the intellectual challenge of investigating and prosecuting," he says. "It’s always rewarding when, after these long, complex investigations that take a lot of effort and creativity, you take down those big high-end syndicates." 

After a brief stint in security for the private sector, Roman returned to the federal policing domain and undertook a 3 year appointment with the newly formed Australian Crime Commission in an executive role. In 2005, he joined the Australian Federal Police (AFP), where he spent 2 years heading up financial investigations such as money laundering and large-scale fraud. In 2007, Roman was promoted to assistant commissioner, responsible for border operations, and national manager, and later also served as AFP chief of staff, then chief police officer at ACT Policing – the community policing arm of the AFP. 

Becoming Commissioner of The Australian Border Force

Roman joined the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service in May 2013, and was CEO by October 2014. "We really lifted the ante of the game there, on the back of what was a very difficult time for Customs," explains Roman. "They’d gone through a bit of a crisis when they discovered a corrupt cell of officers working out of Sydney Airport. During the recovery from that, I was poached across by the then minister, Jason Clare, who wanted a law enforcement influence at a senior level, so I was involved in some anti-corruption work within Customs." 

When the border control and investigative functions of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service were integrated in 2015 to form the Australian Border Force, Roman was naturally the best fit to be commissioner.

"We’re in a period of significant consolidation now. We’ve been lucky to have had the backing and the confidence of government to invest in the merged organisation, and in return we’re investing in uplifting the workforce, expanding capabilities, and improving the tools that they get," says Roman. 

New technologies & tools to handle new and complex threats

New technologies are being implemented to improve intelligence gathering and sharing, data analytics, and to develop advanced automated passenger processing to better deal with the growing volumes of people, activities and threats facing Australia’s borders. "Everything we do is tied to volumes – greater passengers, greater air and sea cargo, greater numbers of visa applications, greater numbers of tourists visiting, and so on. If we don’t get ahead of that game by using artificial intelligence, we’re going to suffer." 

I caution people who want to join the force … it’s not all milk and honey. You see the dark side of humanity.

With the growing number and complexity of threats, focus on the human element of the Border Force operations can’t be lost, with a key element of Roman’s leadership to tackle the potential for his staff to suffer blows to their mental health due to negativity they can be regularly exposed to in the line of duty. Welfare mechanisms like counselling and preventative treatments are put in place to help ABF officers develop resilience and coping mechanisms. "We need to constantly provide support and messaging from the upper levels," says Roman. 

Dealing with the dark side of humanity

While serving as chief police officer for ACT Policing, Roman also broke new ground by introducing compulsory mental health training for frontline police officers, putting clinicians into the field to assist staff in need. "I caution people who want to join the force. I say to them, ‘It’s a great career, it’s very rewarding, but just be prepared.’ It’s not all milk and honey. You see the dark side of humanity, and if you’re not careful, you can become quite cynical."

These mechanisms also come in handy when Border Force officers face criticism for controversial government policy directing their operations. "We’re conscious that some of our directives are not popular. But our people execute that policy to the best of their professional experience and skill, and if done with good diligence and values, I will back my officers 100%," says Roman. 

As a leader, he finds happiness in watching his people develop and succeed. "I draw positives now from seeing the passion and the commitment that is often evident in our younger officers, and the satisfaction when they have good results," he says. "When I see that pride, it’s something from which I draw a lot of comfort and satisfaction."