[3] The role of the PFA is to protect and promote the workings and interests of those police officers, should any requirement be needed for their representation.

[5] As of December 2018, the PFA represented over 63,000 members nationally, which gives it the greatest density level of membership of any union organisation within Australia.

We've said for some time it's unfortunate these things are finding their way into the country and then it's left to State and Territory police officers to clean up the mess and the carnage after they've been used.

Through much deliberation and after numerous meetings and countless objections, by state governments and individual police commissioners, the final phase in the formation was the formal change from association to federation.

[9] It is also viewed by the union as a means of rewarding and encouraging those who are experienced and operational police officers to work in locations and jobs which are hard to fill.

[12] Due to their 24/7 nature, police officers in Australia have been expected to deal with persons presenting with symptoms of mental health disorders within the community.

In response to this trend, many officers nationally have expressed their concerns over feeling there is a lack of necessary skills, knowledge and resources to respond and assess appropriately to individuals with mental illness.

[12] The consensus amongst officers is that this lack of resources stems from deficient deinstitutionalisation reforms that overtime have crippled Australia's mental health system.

This creates the overburden mentioned for police officers on the front line as responders to mental health issues.

A 2004 survey found that 93% of police officers stated that 'caring for people with a mental illness is affecting their ability to do core work responsibilities.

There is evidence to suggest that officers spend substantial amounts of time across numerous hospitals in the emergency departments in so-called caretaker mode.

This included the monitoring of cruise ships and dealing with those passengers, controlling state borders as well as issuing fines to those who violates the social distancing measures.

[16] Beaches were talked about as being an important place for police officers to show their presence in the aim of warning off people from breaching social distancing and attaining a fine.

[17] The Chief Executive Officer of the PFA, Scott Weber highlighted that the situation in the community was "a moving feast every day".

Scott Weber also stated that "at the start it was very prescriptive, it was health orientated, and on top of that – people didn’t know where we were heading".