The Australian Federal Police ignored the recommendation of a psychologist not to clear an anti-child abuse taskforce member for work.
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In a report tabled in parliament earlier this month the Australian National Audit Office found major deficiencies in the mental health services provided to members of the Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Teams.
It also found one member of JACET was not cleared for work by an AFP psychologist, but this was ignored by the AFP.
The audit office found a lack of compliance with AFP mental health policy across JACET, whose employees are exposed to explicit material like child pornography and face a high risk of psychological injury.
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Protection Operations, the AFP branch which includes JACET, is one of the four branches in the AFP with the highest number and cost of compensation claims for mental health injuries.
The audit office said the AFP "did not accept" the recommendation of the psychologist and it was unclear to them whether the employee remained in the team .
An AFP spokeswoman said those who didn't complete the clearance process weren't allowed to continue work in the team but wouldn't comment on the particular employee.
The report found 13 of the 38 current JACET employees had no record of a psychological clearance before beginning work in JACET recorded in the AFP's mental health database.
Upon review it was revealed four employees' clearances hadn't been recorded due to error, four had joined the team before the database was established, three had not received a final sign off from an AFP psychologist, one had withdrawn from the process but it was unclear if they were still in the team , and another had their recommendation not to be cleared ignored.
The mandatory clearance process includes a psychological assessment and a graduated exposure to explicit materials before employees begin work.
The report also found the JACET employees had not been receiving their mandated annual psychological assessment, with three having never been assessed.
Of those who had been assessed, at least half hadn't been assessed for over a year, with three having had no assessment for nearly two years.
"Mental health assessments are supposed to occur annually, and a mental health screening test take places at the six month point between annual mental health assessments," the report said.
The audit office warned non-compliance with the AFP's mental health policy could expose employees to mental health injuries, leaving the AFP open to compensation claims.
"The ANAO suggests that the AFP monitor long-term exposure of its employees and implement workforce planning for specialist roles," the report said.
It pointed to an internal AFP report from March last year, which stated "the removal of regionally based psychologists combined with the 30 per cent increase in operations over the past 12 months has reduced the resilience of members to deal with this exposure".
The audit office said AFP employees had a responsibility under work safety laws to report negative psychological experience, but "self-reporting is a mechanism of limited effectiveness".
Through interviews, the auditors were told the required assessments did "not occur routinely, particularly in relation to exit assessments".
Employees leaving the team are to be assessed to help provide closure, assist with career transitions and ensure they continue using support services.
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