Public pressure mounting on Govt as police pay negotiations stall

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will front his post-Cabinet press conference today and will likely be asked about how police pay negotiations are going. Photo / Marty Melville

The Government is under increasing pressure to provide an acceptable pay offer to police as negotiations stall.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Police Minister Mark Mitchell both made social media posts from Christchurch last week, in which they paid testament to emergency service staff who responded to the mosque terror attack five years ago.

Many in the public commented on the posts and urged Luxon and Mitchell to improve the latest police pay offer, which some officers rejected as “insulting” and “disgusting”.

“Maybe give them a non-insulting pay offer, then,” one person said under Luxon’s post thanking Christchurch St John and police first responders for their service.

“How about paying these heroes more,” was another.

Today’s Cabinet meeting is another opportunity for Mitchell to pitch for more money to boost the latest offer, which included a wage increase of $5000 from November 1, 2023 and wage increases of 4 per cent from from September 1 this year and July 1 next year.

The next meeting between the Police Association and police - the parties negotiating the offer - was set for tomorrow morning.

However, Police Association president Chris Cahill said last week’s meeting indicated there had been no increase in what the Government could offer.

Backpay remained a central issue. Cahill argued police had been waiting months for a pay offer that had been delayed and believed no offer would be agreed to without backpay to July last year.

Cahill was not surprised by the feedback Luxon and Mitchell had received online.

“We realise we’ve got great support from the public,” he said, saying people were aware of how the Government’s proposed gang policies would increase police’s workload.

Police Association president Chris Cahill has received an unprecedented response from officers following the pay offer. Photo / Mark Mitchell

He said there had been an “unprecedented” response from association members critical of the offer. Cahill said it was stark just how “hand-to-mouth” some officers were living, including waiting for payday to clear their bills and resorting to using food banks.

Earlier this year, Mitchell warned one of the Government’s promises to train 500 new police officers in two years would be challenged by recruitment drives from Australia, where police were better paid.

Cahill said talk of moving to Australia had “increased greatly” among members but he hadn’t seen large numbers leave yet. He noted how many had been waiting for the pay offer to be finalised before deciding.

Mitchell, a former police officer and a vocal advocate for police, has been largely unable to comment on the response to the offer as it was still being negotiated. However, he has cited the economic challenges facing the current Government as one factor restricting improvements to the offer.

Cahill said officers were aware of that but said their “sympathy drained a bit” when they saw the Government “making other choices to spend or to give up potential income” - such as the $2.9 billion the Government wouldn’t receive over four years by reinstating full interest deductions for residential property.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis would need to sign off an increase in funding to improve the police pay offer. Photo / Mark Mitchell

He accepted Mitchell was in a difficult position but hoped public pressure would help him secure extra funding.

“I would think that the feedback he’s had from this offer must give him ammunition to give Christopher Luxon and [Finance Minister] Nicola Willis a pretty clear message that they need to look after us better than they’ve offered at the moment.”

Cahill was critical of Luxon, claiming the Prime Minister had shown through his public comments that he wasn’t across the issue.

If both sides couldn’t agree on an offer, it would go to final arbitration where one proposed offer from either side would be chosen.

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.