On Tuesday, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirmed a dramatic shake-up of Australia's security, police and intelligence agencies, set to alter Canberra's public service landscape and see right-wing minister Peter Dutton in charge of the sprawling security portfolio.

Public servants, spies and Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force officers will watch the changes closely, with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to lead a taskforce planning the moves due in 2018.

Staff from a range of departments and agencies will be affected, including within the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, AUSTRAC and the Office of Transport Security.

The Australian Signals Directorate will be established as a statutory authority within the Defence portfolio and a new Office of National Intelligence will be created.

Australian Federal Police Association president Angela Smith said her members would welcome reporting to a senior cabinet minister, instead of the more junior justice minister position.

"I'm not going to hit the panic button in relation to it because there's not enough detail yet," she said.

"The government is saying the AFP will retain its statutory independence, just within one portfolio. If the AFP reports directly to Peter Dutton, he's in cabinet and that's always a strong place to be."

Ms Smith said she would seek a meeting with AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin and a briefing from the government.

"The way politics is going at the moment, the federal government is a little unsettled, so who knows how this Home Affairs portfolio will look in a year?"

Former ASIO director-general Dennis Richardson said the changes were difficult to criticise, but were also "difficult to proclaim as some great advance forward".

"I think there is a reasonable argument in respect of immigration and bringing immigration closely together but beyond that it is primarily presentational," he said.

A day after questioning why the government would use the UK Home Office ministry as a guide for the shake-up, Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Nadine Flood warned critical immigration and settlement services could be weakened.

"It appears at this stage that the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, including the Australian Border Force, is likely to be much more significantly affected by this than the AFP or ASIO," she said.

Ms Flood said it was concerning the the shake up was not recommended by a high-level review of intelligence.

"The government is also still attacking the pay and conditions of DIBP workers in the Fair Work Commission while freezing their pay for what's now into a fourth year, so they're feeling pretty bruised going into this change. It's hardly the way forward in ensuring the department is operating as well as it can."

"People working in these areas are understandably worried about job losses and further disruption to their important work."

"Thousands of people the CPSU represents are worried about their job security and the important work they do. They deserve answers."

Canberra MP Gai Brodtmann said Labor was yet to receive any detail on the new Home Affairs portfolio.

"We understand the CPSU's concern regarding the potential for job losses and the Turnbull Government must clarify the effect its actions will have on jobs in the identified agencies," Ms Brodtmann said.