Former Australian Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg to publish explosive memoir Tour de Force with Melbourne University Publishing | Out 5 March 2019
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Tour de Force
by Roman Quaedvlieg
In-store: 5 March 2019
Paperback RRP: $34.99
ISBN: 9780522875300
Genre: True Crime/Politics
Tour de Force is an explosive memoir, revealing a lifelong quest for justice against the ugly underbelly of cronyism, corruption and colleagues with unbridled ambition.
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‘The ignominious end of my 32-year enforcement career was such that I wasn’t even allowed to pack up my own office, let alone be the guest of honour in the time-honoured tradition of a stellar valedictory, so I have written a few parting words for posterity,’ writes Roman Quaedvlieg.From the mean streets of Fortitude Valley, to undercover with bikies and gangs; working alongside colleagues on the take and in the nation’s corridors of power, Roman Quaedvlieg has seen it all during his 32-year enforcement career.
Tough, resourceful and disciplined, he was always destined to make his mark: the school dux’s first street arrest was the city’s most wanted escapee.
Roman Quaedvlieg rose through the ranks to become top cop in Canberra, run covert operations at the Australian Crime Commission, then was appointed the first head of Australian Border Force. His has been a life of action—from major drug busts to turning back boats on international waters.
On 15 March 2018 the Governor-General in Council, Sir Peter Cosgrove, acting on the recommendation of the Government, terminated the appointment of Roman Quaedvlieg as Australian Border Force Commissioner listing several grounds for dismissal including failure to disclose a change in his relationship status and modifying policies to advantage a candidate for recruitment
Tour de Force (MUP, March 2019) is a personal and political story that exposes a deeply conflicted national security system and asks, whose interests were served by his spectacular sacking?
‘Roman Quaedvlieg appeared to be the tough cop on the beat of border control. He had been appointed by Liberal politicians proud to have contravened international conventions on the rights of asylum seekers, ‘stopping the boats’ and incarcerating children for years,’ said Louise Adler, CEO, MUP.
‘Then Roman Quaedvlieg became news in an extraordinarily drawn out and public sacking. Tour de Force explains what went wrong in a remarkable career from policing our roughest streets to striding through the corridors of power. It is a revelatory story of true crime and raw politics.’
Roman Quaedvlieg
Roman Quaedvlieg started his 32-year law enforcement career as a Queensland police officer before moving into federal policing, where he held senior positions in the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. Ultimately he was appointed as the inaugural Commissioner of the Australian Border Force.
