NSW Police receives record pay rise, nurses still waiting for their due

NSW police officers widely agreed to accept the Minns government’s four-year pay agreement. Police officers will see a historic pay rise, while the pay negotiations for nurses across NSW continue to be sidelined.

The incentives to remain an NSW police officer have never been clearer, as a record-breaking four-year pay agreement put forward by Chris Minns’ Labor government has been agreed to.

The agreement was reached between Minns and the Police Association of NSW (PANSW) yesterday morning (26 November) as the majority of members voted yes in a timely fashion.

The proposal that the PANSW agreed to includes:

• Nineteen per cent base pay increase to non-commissioned officers over four years, plus allowances, which will enhance this base pay rise.
• Accelerated pay scales.
• Consolidation of pay scales for senior constables, sergeants and inspectors to remove overlapping pay scales, retain experienced officers much longer and accelerate progression for currently serving officers.
• Updated and improved allowances.
• Moving to a full-time equivalent (FTE) model to allow police to work part-time or job-share if they can’t manage a full-time workload but don’t want to leave.
• A one-off $5,400 leadership retention payment to senior police officers who undertake a leadership and wellbeing training program focused on supporting and rehabilitating injured officers and helping them return to work wherever possible;

Under the new agreement reached by the two parties, the starting salary of a probationary constable will increase from $81,517 to $84,777 and further increase to $97,206 by 2027.

“This four-year pay agreement with the Police Association of NSW recognises and rewards the efforts of our officers,” Minister for Industrial Relations Sophie Cotsis said.

“We were elected on a mandate to fix the recruitment and retention crisis in essential services, and that is what we are doing.”

Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism Yasmin Catley agreed with Minister Cotsis, describing it as a “historic breakthrough for police” that offers a generational change in terms of retention and recruitment for NSW Police.

“I am proud and delighted to have delivered this historic breakthrough for our police. It’s the result of a lot of hard work over almost a year and tough negotiations.

“I want to pay tribute to the leadership of the Police Association of NSW. They are hard bargainers and go all out to achieve results for their members, NSW cops. Working together, we’ve achieved a monumental result for our cops.

“From day one in this job, I’ve said I’m only here to back the police. Officers risk their lives every day to keep us safe, and it’s critical we recognise and thank them with a pay rise they deserve,” Minister Catley said.

Minister Catley praised the Minns government for getting the agreement done, taking a swipe at the Liberal government in the process.

“This is generational change that will pay police properly for the first time in more than a decade. It will attract a lot of recruits and, crucially, encourage a lot of experienced officers to stay on in a police force that values them, their service, and their unique knowledge,” Minister Catley said.

“The former Liberal government had no plan for recruitment, no plan for retention, and they sent police wages backwards. That ends today under the Minns Labor government.”

In its press release, the Minns government claimed it was elected to “rebuild public services and reinvest in our front-line workforce and ensure we provide support when people in NSW need it most”.

However, it didn’t take long for detractors to call out the inconsistency in this notion, as nurses across NSW have been scrambling for a fair pay increase for an extended period.

Earlier in the year, both nurses and midwives collectively turned down a 10.5 per cent pay rise over three years, with industrial action increasing from that point.

As the NSW government has failed to play ball with the nurses, delays and higher wait times have increased across NSW hospitals as a result of this continued industrial action.

The general sentiment throughout the nurses is that of frustration. As reported by ABC News, NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) general secretary Shaye Candish said: “We are so beyond frustrated, really our members are so angry that they continue to be undervalued and disrespected by this government.”

Minns has, however, defended the perceived lack of action from his government, saying general attempts have been made and that more time is needed to fix the situation.

“The suggestion that the government hasn’t moved, there’s been no genuine negotiations, there’s been no good faith offer is just not borne out by the facts.”

“We are dealing with 10 years of neglect for public health in NSW, the Nurses Association would like us to turn that around in 12 months, we’re going to need a little bit longer,” Minns said.

Despite these remarks, frustration among nurses is at a boiling point, and with the Minns government seemingly taking a victory lap for the police pay increases, the salt in the wound may not bode well.