ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses innovations in gender-based recruitment, in the Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania police departments, centred on 50/50 male/female targets and female-focused recruitment campaigns. In Queensland, parity was achieved in recruit numbers for one year. However, it was found that standards were compromised, and the outcome was not sustained. Subsequently, the programme was shut down on grounds of discrimination. South Australia followed a very different course, with female recruit numbers held near 50% and above over five years, and with a large flow-through to female constable numbers and overall female numbers. In Tasmania, female recruit numbers around 50% also fed into increases in female constable and sworn officer positions. Notwithstanding a lack of available details about some aspects of these affirmative action programmes, the results suggest that removing inappropriate physical tests and initiating targeted recruitment campaigns are strategies worth pursuing. At the same time, preferential selection needs to be avoided or carefully managed in ways that ensure fairness, competency and stakeholder confidence.
