The head of the federal government's Australian Border Force has left active duty following an external investigation.
![Australian Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg is "on leave" pending an investigation.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170703201803im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/1/q/3/o/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gx3m49.png/1499080152206.jpg)
Sources say Roman Quaedvlieg has taken leave for a matter relating to his personal behaviour, rather than his official duties.
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection failed to respond to questions about Mr Quaedvlieg's status on Monday.
![Australian Border Force commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg, centre, with Peter Dutton and then prime minister Tony Abbott.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170703201803im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/i/2/c/0/2/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gx3m49.png/1499080152206.jpg)
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton is on leave, but a spokeswoman for Justice Minister Michael Keenan's office said: "The ABF Commissioner is on leave. A matter is under consideration by appropriate authorities."
She said the government would make no further comment "until that process is complete".
Mr Quaedvlieg – the man charged with implementing and enforcing the Coalition's tough border protection policies – has not tweeted from his "ABF Commissioner" Twitter account since May 25.
Former Immigration Department spokesman Sandi Logan tweeted on Monday that Mr Quaedvlieg had been "suspended" and was "under external investigation".
!["On leave": Roman Quaedvlieg.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170703201803im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/z/t/3/f/m/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gx3m49.png/1499080152206.jpg)
Mr Quaedvlieg was appointed to the role when the Australian Border Force started operations almost exactly two years ago.
Mr Quaedvlieg had been considered a frontrunner to become the next NSW police commissioner earlier this year after Andrew Scipione announced his retirement.
However the job eventually went to Mick Fuller.
Mr Quaedvlieg is two years into his five-year term in the $731,000 a year job, which sits alongside the AFP commissioner and the head of ASIO in the public service hierarchy.
The ABF was created in July 2015 after a merger between Immigration and Customs. The move was part of the Abbott government's Operation Sovereign Borders, to stop asylum seeker boats.
ABF officers have substantially greater powers than Customs and Immigration officers had previously. They carry weapons, gather intelligence and have the power to detain offenders.
The organisation shot to public prominence later in 2015 when it spoiled a police operation in Melbourne.
Operation Fortitude had to be cancelled after a public backlash to an ABF statement that suggested its officers would be stopping people on the streets for random visa checks. Mr Quaedvlieg at the time blamed the mishap on a "clumsily worded" press release that mischaracterised the agency's role.
Critics lampooned the agency on social media and labelled it Border Farce.
Prior to becoming the ABF Commissioner he was the chief executive of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service.
Prior to that he was the Chief Police Officer of ACT Policing, the Canberra community policing arm of the Australian Federal Police. He joined the AFP in 2005 after serving in the Queensland police force.
He holds a Bachelor of Justice from the Queensland University of Technology and a Master of Business Administration from the Melbourne Business School. He was awarded an Australian Police Medal in 2011 for serving the Australian community with distinction, particularly in the areas of police operations and administration, his official biography says.