The Nightly On Leadership: How Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett finds power in silence

When Krissy Barrett made history by becoming the first woman to pin the Australian Federal Police Commissioner badge to her uniform, she had no way of knowing she would experience a baptism of fire.

Commissioner Barrett had been in the job less than two months when she received a call that would test her leadership and alter the course of her five-year tenure in the top job.

It was December 14 and terror had just been unleashed in Bondi.

Barrett was more than 2500km away at the time, commemorating the anniversary of an earthquake that flattened buildings across Vanuatu’s capital of Port Vila, leaving 14 people dead. The AFP had assisted the country with its recovery efforts.

She was in a meeting with the Australian High Commissioner to Vanuatu when her phone started buzzing.

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The minute she heard that two gunmen had opened fire at a peaceful Chanukah festival, killing and wounding scores of people at Australia’s most well-known beach, her first thought was how she could get back to Australia “as soon as possible”.

“It was an excruciating few hours of feeling like, ‘I’m so far away, I need to just get back’,” says Barrett.

Barrett, who has more than 25 years experience in law enforcement, hit the ground running as soon as she landed back on home soil.

“We flew into Brisbane because I had to do a National Cabinet meeting straight away. We gave the operational brief,” she says.

“Then I jumped on a plane down to Sydney and went straight out to Bondi.”

In the days that followed, the Bondi massacre would be confirmed to be Australia’s worst-ever terror attack with 15 victims, including one child.

“I went and spent some time at Bondi police station so that I could have a bit of time to engage with the New South Wales police officers,” Barrett says of the day she arrived.

I think vulnerability can be a real asset but there’s got to be a strength to the vulnerability as well.

“Then we walked over to lay a wreath. It was quite surreal to be there and very sobering.”

While once upon a time leaders were expected to be stoic, Barrett has no qualms about acknowledging her feelings and views her vulnerability as a strength.

“I don’t feel like I have to have a veneer up all the time,” she says.

“I’m comfortable to talk about how I’m feeling to our workforce, and I have done in a number of the musters we’ve done since I became commissioner.

“I’ve always felt that they need to see we’re all just humans and no matter what level we’re at, we’re all dealing with things that are confronting and that are challenging us.

“I think vulnerability can be a real asset but there’s got to be a strength to the vulnerability as well.

“You’ve got to give people comfort and confidence. I still know what I’m doing. I still know what we need to do. I still need to be making those decisions.”

Barrett says that while no one could have predicted what happened that day, she had flagged her concerns about the rise in hate crimes and anti-Semitism as far back as the August 4 press conference when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced her appointment as the new commissioner, exactly two months before her first day on the job.

“I don’t think anyone could have predicted what happened on December 14, but I have been on the record a lot talking about the shift in the environment,” she says, pinpointing the change to Hamas’ terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s subsequent military strikes on Gaza.

“I have been on the record a lot saying that post-October 7, what we have seen change has been of significant concern,” Barrett says.

“Both myself and Director-General (of Security Mike) Burgess have spoken about that a number of times.”

She is aware that given how pressing the issue is, it will continue to dominate her five-year tenure, with a string of reviews already in motion, including a government-commissioned internal review of the AFP by Dennis Richardson and the royal commission into anti-Semitism and social cohesion.

Barrett says one of her priorities in this process is keeping check on her team’s welfare.

“It’s obviously been a tough time for everybody,” she says.

“Just to be able to sit and chat with them and actually properly ask, ‘How are you? Do you have everything you need? What can I be doing to support you better? How’s it been for you?’

“That’s what gives me the energy because it pulls me right back to why I am doing this job.

“It’s a huge responsibility and that is not lost on me at all.”

Barrett says at the core of policing is people. In her opinion, the fact she is a people person is one of her greatest strengths in the role.

It’s evident as she wanders through the main courtyard of the AFP headquarters in Canberra, when a quick “ma’am” from one of her team will see her bound over for a quick chat.

“When I was in junior roles, I would have had no idea that the commissioner even knew what I was doing,” Barrett says.

“I want them (the team) to know that I know their business. I know that ‘you ran this job last week’ or ‘you locked someone up’.

“I still miss being out on the tools . . . doing on-the-ground police work. So it’s important for me to stay connected to that as well.”

Barrett’s dedication to the force is strong. So much so that she is already thinking of not only how she can improve things in the next four and a half years, but also who the best person to succeed her might be.

“I never imagined doing something other than working for the AFP,” Barrett says. “I’ve got a responsibility and a legacy to leave this organisation better than when I started.

I don’t run to music. I just like to run in silence, and I can’t run with anyone else.

“And a lot of that is about talent development, giving people the right access, the right opportunities, so that the organisation prospers long after I’ve been in this role.

“Even in my first few months, I’m already thinking about, ‘OK, well, who will we build to be the next commissioner and the next deputies?’ And that’s a huge responsibility.”

Over the course of her career, Barrett has held a range of AFP positions from general policing and international postings to investigative roles across counter-terrorism to organised crime.

She was destined for leadership, having taken up the national security portfolio as deputy commissioner national security, headed the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce and been deputy chief police officer of the ACT.

While she carries a heavy responsibility in safeguarding the nation, there are no daily mantras, self-help books or curated productivity playlists that help her prepare for making the tough calls.

Instead, Barrett says she finds mental clarity in routine and peace and quiet.

Her mornings are simple, and always start with a gym session or run to clear the deck mentally.

“I don’t run to music. I just like to run in silence, and I can’t run with anyone else,” she says.

“I don’t read self-help books, those types of things. I don’t have mottos. I don’t listen to podcasts.

“By the time I get into work, I’ve trained, I’m feeling mentally sharp, energised.”

Barrett admits she is regimented but not to the point of being “a robot”.

There’s no one leader or particular moment that has inspired her on her leadership journey. Instead, she’s relied on her instincts, personality and experiences to guide her.

She says her “old school” approach was shaped by growing up in regional Victoria.

She describes herself as a “country kid” and her upbringing as a “sort of boring childhood, very safe, very well supported”.

Working as a waiter in the family restaurant or hanging around the local football club where her dad coached gave her exposure to a broad cross-section of the community from an early age.

“I was working in the family business doing a lot of front-facing waitress and bar work, and I think that, and the fact I spent a lot of time in a sporting club with adults from a young age, helped my confidence with how to engage and communicate,” Barrett says.

She says being able to talk to anyone proved valuable when she started her policing career.

“I had that life experience of being able to engage with people from all walks of life,” she says.

For me, it’s just been one foot in front of the other since December 14. I think at some point I will stop and reflect on everything that’s happened and everything we’ve done.

A spate of significant crime issues in Victoria across the 1980s and 1990s inspired her to pursue a criminal justice degree at university.

“I always had a bit of a fascination with policing,” she says. “Growing up in Victoria through the 80s and 90s, of course there was a lot of very significant crime issues.”

A 12-week placement with the AFP was her “sliding door” moment.

“They literally had to escort me out on that last day. I just didn’t want to go. They kept saying, ‘It’s time to go, you need to leave’,” she says.

Barrett was so eager to return that she took whatever job she could, which turned out to be as an administrative assistant in the finance area, before she was accepted to join as a police officer.

Her career has spanned various States and other countries. She worked on the Bali bombing investigation and was among the first AFP officials to be stationed in the Solomon Islands.

She now leads more than 8000 staff scattered across more than 30 countries. And she wants to ramp it up, with ambitions to “supercharge global operations” as part of a push to boost international efforts to stop crime before it reaches Australian shores and to catch bad actors who reach Australians online.

And as artificial intelligence revolutionises the world, she wants to empower the AFP to use it where possible.

She describes herself as a “learning adopter” and admits it’s been a shift for someone who still considers herself old school and handwrites all her notes.

A major restructure of the organisation is also in the works.

While it may seem like a lot to carry on her shoulders, Barrett says it is her feet that take a pounding.

“I need to exercise, like that’s a lot of my stress release or a lot of my downtime to just think things through,” she says.

“For me, it’s just been one foot in front of the other since December 14.

“I think at some point I will stop and reflect on everything that’s happened and everything we’ve done.”

Barrett is aware of the opportunity she has to be a role model for people in the force, or those who might be drawn to a career with the police, particularly women and girls.

But she is still getting used to being approached by those who want to let her know she is an inspiration.

“(It happens) much more than I ever imagined, which is really nice. It gives me a lot of confidence,” she says.

“I get young women come up to me when I’m out in public or I get mums or dads come up saying, ‘my daughter or my son saw you talking on TV and now they want to join the AFP’.

“It’s a big responsibility but it’s lovely to think that you might be able to inspire someone’s trajectory in life or at least open their minds about what might be possible for them.”

It also reaffirms her own choices and path.

“It centres me back to why it is so important that I am doing this job and that I’m doing it the way that I’m doing it.”