From Torquay to the AFP

FORMER Torquay resident and now Australian Federal Police (AFP) Assistant Commissioner Kristy Barrett has shared her story of persistence and success with the class of 2022 at Surf Coast Secondary College.

Ms Barrett, who grew up and went to school in Torquay, was the keynote speaker at the valedictory dinner for the college’s Year 12 students, held at GHMBA Stadium late last month.

Speaking to this newspaper earlier this week, Ms Barrett said her remarks recalled her time as a secondary student – Torquay did not have a high school at the time so she attended Oberon High School in its original location – and her journey to her present career.

“It wasn’t a vertical line, there were a few obstacles along the way but I think what’s really important on that journey is how you deal with those obstacles – how you move around them, how you grow your resilience, how you use your networks around you to help and support you.

“Things didn’t quite go the way I was planning them to go, but in hindsight, everything worked out how it should.

“If you asked me what would I tell myself as an 18-year-old now, there’s nothing I would change, because all of those experiences have shaped me to be the person that I am both personally and professionally today, and now being in a job where I think i’m the luckiest person in the world to be doing.”

She said she “flipped and flopped a bit” about what she wanted to do as a career after Year 12, but credited the support of her mentors in helping her at the time.

“I decided that I wanted to be a lawyer and I actually fell short by about one mark from getting into law, and I was devastated.

“I rang my career counsellor at school, Phil McKenna – he’s a very well-known Torquay person – and he just said ‘you know, that sucks, but suck it up and onto plan B now’.”

She started a criminal justice degree with the intention of transferring into law later, but fell in love with the degree and was inspired by a 12-week internship with the AFP to later join the national law enforcement agency full time.

“The diversity of the work the AFP does is huge, and it’s given me some incredible opportunities,” she said.

“I worked on the Bali bombings, I went to the Solomon Islands as the very first contingent there in 2003.

“I’ve worked on some really high-profile jobs across a really diverse range of crime types – I’ve worked in Melbourne, in Canberra, I’ve travelled all around the world… and I just started in Torquay like those students are now, and here I am with more than 20 years of amazing experiences.”