Police officers reject ‘insulting’ pay offer
Working two jobs. Asking for food at food banks. Moving in with their parents in order to rent out their home.
These are all the things police officers have been forced to do to pay their mortgages and put food on the table, Police Association president Chris Cahill says.
Now, officers who are members of the association have been left raging after a “kick in the guts” pay offer that was resoundingly rejected by members, Cahill said, calling it “demoralising”, “farcical”, “disrespectful”.
Cahill said he had never seen police officers as angry as they were now, saying they had been patient but had been getting frustrated with the association as they haven’t been able to afford to live. After eight months of waiting, Cahill said the offer they had received was in fact worse than the one they had received before.
In September last year, the previous government offered a $4000 increase, backdated to April 2023, followed by a 4% pay rise effective April 2024.
The offer that arrived on Friday offered a $5000 increase to base wages, backdated only to November 2023. That would be followed by 4% pay rises starting July 2025.
Clawbacks included removing an $11,000 a year allowance detectives received, leaving them earning $50 less a fortnight. It would also be harder for officers to claim back expenses when they travelled out of town or worked overnight.
“It demonstrates how out of touch police is with its workforce,” Cahill said. “Don’t they know there is recruitment problem for the CIB as it is?”
While there were clearly “some tough economic times,” Cahill said police officers shouldn’t have to fund the budget issues out of their back pockets.
“I've got sergeants that talk about bringing food in for their staff... People are living off noodles and things like that when they're at work.”
Following the increases to pay for nurses, fire-fighters, and teachers, Cahill said the offer they received was lower than the public service pay adjustment they rejected last September.
“They've sat patiently for more than a year. They watch nurses, they watch teachers and they watch fire officers who have made been able to take industrial action, get listened to by governments and to get significant pay rises. And they've been ignored.
“Officers now feel abandoned by the Government and police management.”
Cahill said after six years a social worker or a nurse would earn $22, 000 more than a police constable who had been in the role for six years.
“Over the 20 years it will take a police officer to get to the top of the band, they will earn $240,000 less than a nurse.”
With the Government’s “tough on crime” attitude, many police officers expected to be supported for their hard work they’d done over the past few years.
“This just doesn’t seem like there’s any recognition for that.”
As police officers are legally unable to strike, work to rule had been proposed.
There had been a push for more frontline police officers. Cahill said many police cadets had taken on pay cuts to join the police. However, more and more were choosing to stay in their previous lines of work, being unable to afford the pay cut.
“Aussie recruitment lines will have been red hot since our members heard of this offer last Friday.”