Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And we know that the Northern Territory Police have sent
a message to the Northern Territory Government around their pay negotiations,
that message we will not be taken for granted now
in what the Union sees is a clear show of
unity and frustration. One thousand, one hundred and twenty members
of the Northern Territory Police Force participated in the consent
(00:23):
agreement ballot, with a staggering eighty one percent voting no
to the government's latest offer. Now joining me on the
show is the Northern Territory Police Association President Nathan Finn.
Good morning to you, Finny.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Good morning Katie, Good morning to your listens. And I
note the Assistant Commissioner steering me up on the way
out of the studio this morning saying getting stuck in
the media as he walked down, I didn't have a
chance to listen to the entirety.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
No, Well, we did ask him about, you know, about
the pay negotiations and he said, well, it was an
overwhelming result and obviously they'll be for the further discussions.
Had Finny, where are things at from your perspective, I mean,
you had anticipated that this result would indeed come through.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Definitely members are quite frustrated. They're voted. As you can see,
eighty one percent of our members that actually voted. Was
about sixty four percent of our members that actually could
vote did vote. So it provides a positive response back
to the government to say, hey, this is not good enough.
We need to come back to the table. We need
to start renegotiating what that looks like for police and
how that going to be, how they're going to be
respected going forward. So I've had an opportunity to provide
(01:28):
some correspondence back to the OCP and also the Commistry
of Police yesterday in regards to this result and hoping
to get back to the table to renegotiate some of
the terms and conditions of the offer that's currently on
the table. Yep, we haven't seen any correspondence back as yet.
I had a meeting with the Chief Minister this.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Morning, okay, and what was said there.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Definitely it wasn't something that she wanted to discuss with me.
She basically stated it was out of her wheelhouse at
the moment and it was with the Minister for Public
Employment being Joe Heersey.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
So she reckons she can't discuss it with you. It's
got to go through the Minister for Public going to the.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Minister of Public Employment that's actually dealing with it, Katie.
So I've reached out tried to reach out to her
again this morning. I tried to reach out to the
Commission for a Public Employment yesterday and didn't return my call.
And I've asked Joehersey to give me a ring is
today to discuss where they want to go with it.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Finny, what are the sticking points from the Police Association's perspective, like,
what are members saying to you?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
The sticking points, which we've clearly identified to our members
were the actual length of the agreement being the four
years and the unknown CPI increased, et cetera. For Darwin,
et cetera. We've seen that outstrip our last concent agreement.
We don't want to make that same mistake again for
our members. We want to make sure they're supported and
the quantum actually the percentage increased. So we're obviously negotiating
with three percent wage policy currently, which we've been trying
(02:37):
hard to get over for our members, and we got
to a point where we're just over the wages policy now.
But again, I think our membership has voted eighty one
percent of them saying that's not good enough. We need
to come back to the table. You need to rethink
what you're doing. Our members are frustrated. Our members are tired, Katie.
I don't have to keep going on about it. They
feel this pressure and they want this government to make
sure that they're being supported by this government.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
What are they saying would be unacceptable payoffer at this point?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
As we've said, Katie, we wanted a percentage increases of
over five percent, and that's what their members are predominantly
asking for. And we want to see that. We want
to see come back to the table, whether that's in
annual increases or whether that's in with other benefits as
well attached to this agreement. We're happy to discuss that.
We're happy to work through that and what that looks
like for our members.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
But look, I know we've like we've had some people
message in and go, you know, woofee. We can't afford
to give everybody a pay increase. You know, if every
public servant's asking for five percent pay increase, how's the
government going to be able to afford it? Now? I
get what people are saying, but I think we are
literally like the police are there. We're expecting the police
to turn up to the worst of the worst situations.
(03:45):
You know, you're heading out to fatalities. You're heading out
when you know we've got ten and eleven year olds
breaking into homes Like this morning, I'm reporting on a
police vehicle being rammed by a group of kids and
adults in Alice Springs. Like the police are dealing with
some of the most ordinary situations you can imagine. Are
(04:07):
they saying to you that they're feeling seriously undervalued right now?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
They are feeling undervalued, Caddie, And this government was a
point on a law and order platform. Who delivers that
law and order platform is the police. Who delivers the
legislative changes that they're introducing. Who polices this legislation, It's
the police. So the reliance on the police to make
sure that the community is safe. And we all want
a community that's say for our members live here, they
want to work here, they want to do the best
(04:30):
thing for their community. They want to provide that service
to the community to make sure the community is protected.
All we're saying is you need to sacrifice some of
this monetary value for the benefit of our police officers
going forward to make sure they are staying and our
experienced members are staying. I know, we're trying to recruit heavily. Again,
attritions at that same point. It's quite low at the moment,
or has lower than what it has been for the
(04:51):
highs of four or five years ago. But again we're
still losing that percentage of members. Our increase is not
very increasing too much over this time. So we're still
trying to get and our biggest thing is to maintain
that experience and experienced police officers. Experienced police officer in
the Northern Territory go through a hell of a lot
more than other jurisdictions right across Australia. The level of
offenses we deal with, the veracity of the offenses that
(05:14):
we deal with is tenfold compared to other jurisdictions right
across Australia. So their experience is quite vital and how
we operate here in the Northern Territory.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Where too from here from the association's perspective, I mean,
you said you met with the Chief Minister this morning,
and you know, I really didn't get to where you
wanted to get to.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Have a discussion with where they see fit, where we
want to go, what we can do for our police officer,
our hard working members that are protecting the community every day, Coatie.
We want to get to a position where we can
actually put an offer to them so they feel valued,
they feel supported by this government. We've seen a number
of decisions being made without the input of our members
and our thoughts of our members, and unfortunately, our members
are quite frustrated about this, and they will vote for
(05:56):
their feet, Katie, and I don't want to see that.
I don't want to see experienced members being from the
Northern Territory Police Force. That's who we rely upon to
keep our community safe, and they're the ones that have
done the hard yards and been through everything and always
putting themselves forward, missing sacrifices they make every year to
go to work.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Finny, before I let you go, I mean to anybody
that is listening this morning that's sort of going, oh,
come on, guys, you know you're expecting too much. What
do you say to those people?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Put yourself in our shoes every single day. Our members
struggle every single day, the violence that they see, the
traumatic events that they go to every single day. We
are losing police officers at alarming rate right across nationally.
Right across Australia, average police officer career is about just
over six years. That's because of the trauma and the
impacts they have and the scrutiny that they're under. Our
members work in the hardest conditions within Australia. In the
(06:46):
Northern Territory. We see the highest number offenses per capita
being committed within the Northern Territory. They are working extremely
hard and they want to feel supported and they want
to feel valued in their role and when decisions are
being made about their wage and going forward, they're seeing
offers from other jurisdictions right across Australia where they're going. Well,
if I can choose where I live, choose where I
(07:07):
go to and get more money, why wouldn't I? And
I want to see that is the main thing for
the Northern Territory to make sure we're attracting and retaining
our experienced members to remain in the Northern Territory so
they can provide the job that they love to do
and being supported in the role they want to do well.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Nathan Finn, President of the Northern Territory, Police Association just
very quickly before I let you go. I mean this
situation from overnight in Alice Springs. Six male offenders have
now been arrested. There are five that still remain outstanding.
This vehicle stolen a land Cruisers, stolen this car, then
allegedly driving at the police without any warning and ramming it,
(07:46):
causing significant damage. Have you spoken to those members?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
No, I haven't. I I wasn't aware of it until
I was driving in this morning and actually heard you
speaking about it. I did get a message from Alice
Springs just before I walked into the studio too this morning.
Another person that's on on leave because of an injury
because of the same similar event that happened some five
months ago, Coatie. He still hasn't returned to work because
the injuries received by being rammed. We've asked for different
(08:11):
techniques and tactics to be deployed to the Northern Territory
and be trained in other tactics to stop these kind
of events, and obviously to tour these types of events
as well. They're extremely dangerous and I'm surprised that none
of our members have actually died because of these.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Events, which is terrible.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And no member goes to work thinking they're going to
have a stolen car ram their police vehicle. Again, when
there's consequences that flow from this, when they continually target
our police, we're going to have to take lethal force
options and it's going to end up in another crisis
in a media circus we've seen and all the members
are trying to protect their own lives.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
So essentially, what the association's calling for in this space
is for some other tactics to be able to be
deployed so that you're actually able to deal with these situations.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah, we've spoken about a number of times CATIE and
vehicle interdiction and I obviously boxing in vehicles, having technical collisions, etc.
We're asking for those training to be expedited to our
General Duties members and now obviously our Task force members
such as Viper and that sort of stuff that operate
NALLA springs, to make sure they're adequately trained so they
can deal with these situations as they rise instead of
(09:15):
being sitting ducks as like they are at currently at
the moment.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Well, Northern Territory Police Association President Nathan Finn, good to
catch up with you, as always.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Always, Katie, and thank you to the women and men
out there in blue that serve our community. Will continue
to have the fight that we need to have to
fight to make sure that you're recognizing your value is
worth
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Good on your finny thank you, thanks so much for
your time this morning,
And we know that the Northern Territory Police have sent
a message to the Northern Territory Government around their pay negotiations,
that message we will not be taken for granted now
in what the Union sees is a clear show of
unity and frustration. One thousand, one hundred and twenty members
of the Northern Territory Police Force participated in the consent
(00:23):
agreement ballot, with a staggering eighty one percent voting no
to the government's latest offer. Now joining me on the
show is the Northern Territory Police Association President Nathan Finn.
Good morning to you, Finny.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Good morning Katie, Good morning to your listens. And I
note the Assistant Commissioner steering me up on the way
out of the studio this morning saying getting stuck in
the media as he walked down, I didn't have a
chance to listen to the entirety.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
No, Well, we did ask him about, you know, about
the pay negotiations and he said, well, it was an
overwhelming result and obviously they'll be for the further discussions.
Had Finny, where are things at from your perspective, I mean,
you had anticipated that this result would indeed come through.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Definitely members are quite frustrated. They're voted. As you can see,
eighty one percent of our members that actually voted. Was
about sixty four percent of our members that actually could
vote did vote. So it provides a positive response back
to the government to say, hey, this is not good enough.
We need to come back to the table. We need
to start renegotiating what that looks like for police and
how that going to be, how they're going to be
respected going forward. So I've had an opportunity to provide
(01:28):
some correspondence back to the OCP and also the Commistry
of Police yesterday in regards to this result and hoping
to get back to the table to renegotiate some of
the terms and conditions of the offer that's currently on
the table. Yep, we haven't seen any correspondence back as yet.
I had a meeting with the Chief Minister this.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Morning, okay, and what was said there.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Definitely it wasn't something that she wanted to discuss with me.
She basically stated it was out of her wheelhouse at
the moment and it was with the Minister for Public
Employment being Joe Heersey.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
So she reckons she can't discuss it with you. It's
got to go through the Minister for Public going to the.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Minister of Public Employment that's actually dealing with it, Katie.
So I've reached out tried to reach out to her
again this morning. I tried to reach out to the
Commission for a Public Employment yesterday and didn't return my call.
And I've asked Joehersey to give me a ring is
today to discuss where they want to go with it.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Finny, what are the sticking points from the Police Association's perspective, like,
what are members saying to you?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
The sticking points, which we've clearly identified to our members
were the actual length of the agreement being the four
years and the unknown CPI increased, et cetera. For Darwin,
et cetera. We've seen that outstrip our last concent agreement.
We don't want to make that same mistake again for
our members. We want to make sure they're supported and
the quantum actually the percentage increased. So we're obviously negotiating
with three percent wage policy currently, which we've been trying
(02:37):
hard to get over for our members, and we got
to a point where we're just over the wages policy now.
But again, I think our membership has voted eighty one
percent of them saying that's not good enough. We need
to come back to the table. You need to rethink
what you're doing. Our members are frustrated. Our members are tired, Katie.
I don't have to keep going on about it. They
feel this pressure and they want this government to make
sure that they're being supported by this government.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
What are they saying would be unacceptable payoffer at this point?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
As we've said, Katie, we wanted a percentage increases of
over five percent, and that's what their members are predominantly
asking for. And we want to see that. We want
to see come back to the table, whether that's in
annual increases or whether that's in with other benefits as
well attached to this agreement. We're happy to discuss that.
We're happy to work through that and what that looks
like for our members.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
But look, I know we've like we've had some people
message in and go, you know, woofee. We can't afford
to give everybody a pay increase. You know, if every
public servant's asking for five percent pay increase, how's the
government going to be able to afford it? Now? I
get what people are saying, but I think we are
literally like the police are there. We're expecting the police
to turn up to the worst of the worst situations.
(03:45):
You know, you're heading out to fatalities. You're heading out
when you know we've got ten and eleven year olds
breaking into homes Like this morning, I'm reporting on a
police vehicle being rammed by a group of kids and
adults in Alice Springs. Like the police are dealing with
some of the most ordinary situations you can imagine. Are
(04:07):
they saying to you that they're feeling seriously undervalued right now?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
They are feeling undervalued, Caddie, And this government was a
point on a law and order platform. Who delivers that
law and order platform is the police. Who delivers the
legislative changes that they're introducing. Who polices this legislation, It's
the police. So the reliance on the police to make
sure that the community is safe. And we all want
a community that's say for our members live here, they
want to work here, they want to do the best
(04:30):
thing for their community. They want to provide that service
to the community to make sure the community is protected.
All we're saying is you need to sacrifice some of
this monetary value for the benefit of our police officers
going forward to make sure they are staying and our
experienced members are staying. I know, we're trying to recruit heavily. Again,
attritions at that same point. It's quite low at the moment,
or has lower than what it has been for the
(04:51):
highs of four or five years ago. But again we're
still losing that percentage of members. Our increase is not
very increasing too much over this time. So we're still
trying to get and our biggest thing is to maintain
that experience and experienced police officers. Experienced police officer in
the Northern Territory go through a hell of a lot
more than other jurisdictions right across Australia. The level of
offenses we deal with, the veracity of the offenses that
(05:14):
we deal with is tenfold compared to other jurisdictions right
across Australia. So their experience is quite vital and how
we operate here in the Northern Territory.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Where too from here from the association's perspective, I mean,
you said you met with the Chief Minister this morning,
and you know, I really didn't get to where you
wanted to get to.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Have a discussion with where they see fit, where we
want to go, what we can do for our police officer,
our hard working members that are protecting the community every day, Coatie.
We want to get to a position where we can
actually put an offer to them so they feel valued,
they feel supported by this government. We've seen a number
of decisions being made without the input of our members
and our thoughts of our members, and unfortunately, our members
are quite frustrated about this, and they will vote for
(05:56):
their feet, Katie, and I don't want to see that.
I don't want to see experienced members being from the
Northern Territory Police Force. That's who we rely upon to
keep our community safe, and they're the ones that have
done the hard yards and been through everything and always
putting themselves forward, missing sacrifices they make every year to
go to work.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Finny, before I let you go, I mean to anybody
that is listening this morning that's sort of going, oh,
come on, guys, you know you're expecting too much. What
do you say to those people?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Put yourself in our shoes every single day. Our members
struggle every single day, the violence that they see, the
traumatic events that they go to every single day. We
are losing police officers at alarming rate right across nationally.
Right across Australia, average police officer career is about just
over six years. That's because of the trauma and the
impacts they have and the scrutiny that they're under. Our
members work in the hardest conditions within Australia. In the
(06:46):
Northern Territory. We see the highest number offenses per capita
being committed within the Northern Territory. They are working extremely
hard and they want to feel supported and they want
to feel valued in their role and when decisions are
being made about their wage and going forward, they're seeing
offers from other jurisdictions right across Australia where they're going. Well,
if I can choose where I live, choose where I
(07:07):
go to and get more money, why wouldn't I? And
I want to see that is the main thing for
the Northern Territory to make sure we're attracting and retaining
our experienced members to remain in the Northern Territory so
they can provide the job that they love to do
and being supported in the role they want to do well.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Nathan Finn, President of the Northern Territory, Police Association just
very quickly before I let you go. I mean this
situation from overnight in Alice Springs. Six male offenders have
now been arrested. There are five that still remain outstanding.
This vehicle stolen a land Cruisers, stolen this car, then
allegedly driving at the police without any warning and ramming it,
(07:46):
causing significant damage. Have you spoken to those members?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
No, I haven't. I I wasn't aware of it until
I was driving in this morning and actually heard you
speaking about it. I did get a message from Alice
Springs just before I walked into the studio too this morning.
Another person that's on on leave because of an injury
because of the same similar event that happened some five
months ago, Coatie. He still hasn't returned to work because
the injuries received by being rammed. We've asked for different
(08:11):
techniques and tactics to be deployed to the Northern Territory
and be trained in other tactics to stop these kind
of events, and obviously to tour these types of events
as well. They're extremely dangerous and I'm surprised that none
of our members have actually died because of these.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Events, which is terrible.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And no member goes to work thinking they're going to
have a stolen car ram their police vehicle. Again, when
there's consequences that flow from this, when they continually target
our police, we're going to have to take lethal force
options and it's going to end up in another crisis
in a media circus we've seen and all the members
are trying to protect their own lives.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
So essentially, what the association's calling for in this space
is for some other tactics to be able to be
deployed so that you're actually able to deal with these situations.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah, we've spoken about a number of times CATIE and
vehicle interdiction and I obviously boxing in vehicles, having technical collisions, etc.
We're asking for those training to be expedited to our
General Duties members and now obviously our Task force members
such as Viper and that sort of stuff that operate
NALLA springs, to make sure they're adequately trained so they
can deal with these situations as they rise instead of
(09:15):
being sitting ducks as like they are at currently at
the moment.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Well, Northern Territory Police Association President Nathan Finn, good to
catch up with you, as always.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Always, Katie, and thank you to the women and men
out there in blue that serve our community. Will continue
to have the fight that we need to have to
fight to make sure that you're recognizing your value is
worth
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Good on your finny thank you, thanks so much for
your time this morning,
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