Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Police Association President Paul McCue says the NT Government's latest pay offer is "a complete and utter insult"

Transcript

NT Police Association President Paul McCue says the NT Government's latest pay offer is "a complete and utter insult" · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The Northern Territory Police Association says that the Northern Territory
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: governments proposed two percent pay rise for police is grossly
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: inadequate to reward our hard working police and combat skyrocketing
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: cost of living pressures. As we know, yesterday the Australian
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Bureau of Statistics released those figures which did highlight that
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the rise of the annual inflation rate to seven point
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: three percent. Well and here in Darwin an annual rise
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: of seven percent. They're massive numbers no matter how you
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: look at it. The Northern Territory Police Association President Paul
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: McHugh said that the inflation rate in regional and remote
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: areas of the Northern Territory where a large number of
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: police officers are stationed, would be significantly higher. Paul mceue
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: joins me on the show. Now, good morning to you.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Paul, morning Katie.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: How are you very well?
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Now, Paul, what exactly are police asking for here?
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, obviously it's an extremely competitive time around
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: the country for policing and what we've seen, you know,
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: right from the beginning of negotiations with government is a
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: wage two which does nothing at all to retain our
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: police that we really need desperately to keep and stop
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: them moving into State, as well as combat the obvious
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: cost of living pressures. You know that everyone's facing, and
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: you know, no more than in the territory here where
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: it's already expensive to live. So, you know, we've been
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: in discussions for a long time with government. It's taking
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: a long time to get nowhere. Our members are frustrated.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: They have done more than ever before for this government
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: over the last few years and this two percent that
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: they're putting on the table in short terms, A response
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: from one of my members yesterday is a complete and
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: utter insult. So that's how they're feeling about it right now, Paul.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: I know that I've seen in Queensland also in wa
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: obviously they've come to those pay agreements and have made
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: some pretty decent sort of changes. I guess for police officers,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: what's happening into state and what do you think could
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: be happening here in the northern territory.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, one of the biggest things happening into State
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: is a really active recruitment drive for experienced police. It
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: is a you know, it's a difficult time to recruit
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: police across the entire country. Have seen some of our
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: biggest states, who are traditionally got people lined up for
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: years waiting to become police, suddenly have shortages. They are
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: now actively targeting the northern territory for our experienced officers.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: We know the Federal Police for example, have got an
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: active campaign on social media targeting our experienced detectives many
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: of our specialist skills that we've gained up here. And
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: we've now seen of course Queensland, which should really be
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: seen as one of our main competitors given the attractive
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: nature of living in Queensland.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: They've just put a paydal out which is about to.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: Go to the vote of their membership over there, which
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: far outstrips anything we've got here and is a real
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: concern about lose more people over the border.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Now, can I ask where are things at with these negotiations,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: because from that statement that you'd sent out yesterday, or
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: that your team had sent out yesterday, it was pretty
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: scathing of the fact that the government have not sat
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: down at the table with you. It said that there's
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: been crickets.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: Well, well, I mean essentially, I mean this shouldn't be
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: a surprise. These deals, wage deals and negotiations come around
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: regularly for three years. The government had been aware come
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: February of this year, we will be ready, and we were.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: It has taken an extraordinary amount of time to receive
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: any feedback from the government in relation to what their
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: position is. Weeks and weeks and weeks they announced to
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: two percent, a flip on their wage freeze to two percent, which,
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: of course, based on the latest CPI figures, is a
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: negative wage growth of five percent. We are yet to
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: receive any other correspondence that we can put to our members.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Who are without a pay deal and without a.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: Pay rise since the end of June of this year.
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: So they're very frustrated. They're getting to the end of
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: their tether and if the feedback back's coming into our
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: offices in the to go by, they've just about had enough.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: What's going to happen, Paul? Are we going to see
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: police officers leave the Northern Territory?
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: We already are.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: I mean, this is a reality, Katie. We're sitting at
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: high attrition rates as it is. You know, I'm sure
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: the Commissioner would want to be spending you know, his
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: budget more on retaining and developing our members rather than
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: continual recruiting to cover the loss of so many people
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: each and every year, and this pay deal does nothing
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: to want to want to keep people here in the end.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Ten There's no doubt about it.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Now, Paul. When I read the statement that the Association
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: sent out yesterday on air, I did have some members
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: of the public say, Katie, I get it, police need
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: to be paid well, but most of us are in
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: the same or worse situation in the private sector, Paul.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Are police and other public servants being greedy?
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: No, not at all.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: I mean you want police, you want good police, and
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: you want people to stay here. It is one of
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: the most difficult jobs you can imagine here in the
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: Northern Territory, being.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: A police officer.
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: They do some of the most incredible work you can imagine.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: Some of it is the toughest work you could ever imagine,
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: and they live in some of the harshest environments you
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: know that we experience up here in the NT, in
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: all parts of the territory. You know, it's not being greedy.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: This is being fair and reasonable. And our original offer
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: to government was fair and reasonable. You know it was
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: along the certainly on the back of evidence provided by
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: our membership through surveys so we know exactly what they
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: were after and the government have failed to come to
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: the table. And now we're in a situation, of course
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: where inflation is sky high, it's even going higher, and.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: We yet to resolve the issue.
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: So absolutely our members deserve it.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: So Paul, what exactly do officers want at this point?
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: What do they you know, what do they want the
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Minister for Public Employment to sit down at the table with,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: What do they want to say.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: They want to come to What they actually want to
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: see is the commitment from government to negotiate quickly, negotiating
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: good faith and put something to our membership that we
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: are going.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: To say this is a good deal.
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: This is going to want to make you stay here
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: in the Northern Territory, you know, stop looking into state.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: We want to retain our people. But right now, our
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: government taking so long to even get to the table,
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: our members are starting to go and I know full
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: well there are many officers with applications for interostate jurisdictions.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: It's happening every single week that we're losing people of
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: these other forces, and you know, it is a real
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: concern and we just want to see a commitment from
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: government and we're taking that up with the minister this week.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Paul. I've got a message that's come through from Kim
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: in Humpty Do and it says, Hi, Katie, can you
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: please ask Paul Mcue if they've sorted the exit interviews
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: out for police. I'm still waiting for mine, as many
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: others are as well.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: Look, I understand they're putting a more formal process sorry
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: in place.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: You know, we certainly support that.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: If people have left and they wanted an exit interview
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: and didn't get it, they need to let the department know,
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: they need to let us know and we can follow
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: it up because it's so important to get reasons why
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: people have less and people need to be one hundred
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: percent honest about those reasons.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Paul, can I ask where to now? What is going
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: to happen now with this? You know, with the situation
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: on the pay with the police, what we've done.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: Katie on behalf of our membership has written to the
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: Commissioner of Police earlier this week. We've advised him that
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: were yet to receive an updated offer from government. We've
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: asked for that to be provided within seven days or
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: we'll issue a new A lot of claims on behalf
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: of our members and then we'll continue negotiations from there.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: But we've written this week to the Commissioner. We'll be
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: speaking to the Ministry as well, and then we'll update
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: our members accordingly.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Paul, you know the last time you and I spoke,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: I know it's sort of said something similar in terms
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: of writing to the minister. You have there been any action.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: Now?
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: Probably one of the most disappointing aspects to be Frank
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: Kate is the lack of engagement from the Minister for
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: Public Employment. Now it is his responsibility to resolve these
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: issues whilst he has the Office of the Commissioner for
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: Public Employment in negotiations. He is a responsible minister and
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: right now he's got a very very unhappy police force.
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: He's not engaging with us at all. He is handballed,
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: simply handballing it to his Office of Commissioner for Public Employment.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: Our members expect the ministers to be actively involved in
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: resolving these issues now that it's dragged on so long
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: and there's been no engagement whatsoever, that is probably the
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: most disappointing aspect at this point.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: And are police feeling disappointed or disrespected because of that feeling?
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: Let down, completely let down. You have a look at
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: what police have done for the government.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Over the last few years.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: Police were expected to be ready to be deployed at
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: the drop of a hat through the COVID pandemic.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: They did it. They left their.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: Families, They went to all parts of the territory while
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: everyone else got to go and go and live at
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: home and stay at home and be safe. Aside from,
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: of course, all the other health workers that contributed. And
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: now they're feeling completely let down. They're feeling like the
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: government just don't care.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Paul. You know, the last look. In the last few months,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: there has obviously been that survey that you and I
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: have spoken at length about. Would you say that morale
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: is better or worse since that survey was released?
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: I certainly can't imagine it's improved at this point in time.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: I mean, we've thankfully got some incredible police officers in
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: this police force, many many new young police officers of
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: course that we see regularly out and about doing a
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: great job. But I can tell you there's no way
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: the morales improved since that survey are given. We're still
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: struggling to fill out. We still haven't resolved this pay issue,
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: and we're still losing so many people, and that is
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: the key fact. We're losing so many people still that
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: we really need to retain, and that's a problem for
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: the community if we're not going to retain those experience members.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Well, Police Association President Paul mchu or, I always appreciate
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: your time. Thank you very much for speaking with me
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: this morning.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: No worries, cheers, Katie.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Thank you