And I will take it as a coincidence that my co-panellist is the Executive Director of the Ethics Centre!
Can I put Simon and all of you at ease, and assure you that trust, accountability and authenticity are the foundations of my Commissionership.
Today, I will reflect on events that have sparked transformation within the AFP and extend a challenge that I hope you will all consider.
The AFP is a workforce of about 8000 members posted throughout Australia and across the globe.
Our role and remit are extraordinary.
Our size is dwarfed by our capability, technology, and AFP statecraft, which is our means to broker law enforcement and diplomatic outcomes with agencies and governments around the world.
I like to think about the AFP as a living organism - always learning, always growing, and becoming fitter and faster.
For us to do this, the AFP needs brains, muscle and heart.
Overseas law enforcement agencies often marvel at our canny investigators - the brains who find fugitives and offenders hiding in all corners of the globe.
Our world-leading and brilliant forensic scientists are often the first to be called upon during world tragedies. Our digital masterminds are regularly cracking criminal crypto wallets and find hidden proceeds of crime.
Our muscle are the men and women who protect our politicians, high office holders, designated airports and Defence sites; and of course, it is often prime-time viewing when our members are kitted-up and literally kick down doors to arrest dangerous offenders.
Our heart includes our Community Liaison Teams that work with our vulnerable communities. Then there are our victim identification experts, who have the gruesome task of viewing imagery of children being sexually exploited so they can be saved. They are among the most passionate members within our agency and many searching for these monsters are women and mothers.
Our day-to-day work continues, but the AFP is facing new threats fuelled by converging crime types, the mixed motivations of criminals, contempt for the rules-based order, constant strategic competition in our region and evolving technology that is assisting and hindering law enforcement agencies.
When I became AFP Commissioner in October 2025, I announced we would refocus and reform, and that included clearly defining the AFP's identity and purpose.
The AFP's role is now unambiguous - we are a national security agency.
For all these reasons, I shifted the AFP's mission statement to defending and protecting Australia and Australia's future from domestic and global security threats.
I have no doubt many of you in the audience are energetic, bursting for change and are the disrupters in your own workplaces.
And while AI and machine learning will significantly feature in our careers, for me as Commissioner, humanity - in other words, people - will always be at the heart of policing and leadership.
I am cognisant that I provide frank assessments when speaking about the security threats facing Australia.
However, there is no point sugar coating what we are facing, because honest conversations help keep us all safe.
Yet, while we live in daunting times - you should be confident that we have exceptional national security architecture in Australia.
And many of those determining the shape and direction of that national security architecture are women.
For example:
The head of the Office of National Intelligence is a woman.
The head of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service is a woman.
The head of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission is a woman.
The head of the Department of Home Affairs is a woman, and the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is a woman.
Women have always been great protectors and now more than ever they are the determiners of how we protect our country.
This two-day Future Women's summit is exploring how to shape inclusive and equitable leadership.
I ask that you think about what that could mean through another prism.
As AFP Commissioner I want to encourage our younger generations and more women to reimagine inclusive and equitable leadership through the value of service to our country - which really is about how we protect what we love about Australia - and how we live our lives.
We need to start thinking about service to country through a modern lens - but with the same value proposition.
It is great that generations continue to join the AFP, the Australian Defence Force and other national security and law enforcement agencies - and I continue to encourage service to country.
However, I accept wearing a uniform is not for everyone.
But that does not mean you cannot contribute to Australia's efforts in keeping our character, our country, and our kids safe.
So, when you next invest your thinking, time or your career, can I ask, have you thought about working for, or working with, the AFP.
Could you be working with law enforcement on shared goals?
Could your business, product or research project be the lever the AFP can pull to help make the world a safer place?
Your influence, connections and decisions are important because they could contribute to a prosperous and safe Australia.
As we navigate these challenging times, agencies like mine will have to work more closely with academia, think tanks, influencers and business, as well as entering into more public-private partnerships.
It is not only the right thing to do, it makes sense.
Australians are great innovators.
Australians are smart.
But we are also drawn to work that has meaning and value.
I will be bold and ambitious in my Commissionership. I will be comfortably uncomfortable because playing it safe does not work in this new world.
Finally, it's important to recognise that an empowered country has empowered women.
Women empower themselves in many ways.
But by empowering yourself through helping to keep people safe and secure - now and in the future - you are not just future proofing your own career, importantly, you are helping to future proof our country.
Thank you.
